Should you buy your gas at night to save money?

[Alan Mendelson]

There is a new page on our site with gas price information for Southern California from www.gasbuddy.com and here's a direct link to our page:

http://www.alanbestbuys.com/id262.html

Also on the page are some tips for saving gas. I included one tip which is not "official" and can be disputed.

And that's what this discussion is about. Do you believe that if you buy gasoline when it is cooler that you will get more gas for your dollar than if you bought your gas during the heat of the day?

I know some people who religiously buy their gas early in the morning when the air and ground are cooler thinking that the gas will not be expanded from heat.

But critics of this say that gas is stored underground, and the hot temperatures above do not affect the gas below.

I've also heard that sometimes adjustments in the quantity of gas delivered when gasoline deliveries are made by big tank trucks during the heat of the day. But you have to keep in mind that gasoline in tankers may not be shielded from heat like gas in underground tanks.

So, what's your opinion on this? Do you buy your gas when it's cooler because you think hot temperatures will make the gas expand and give you less gas for the dollar?

Or, do you think it's the same gas and the same quantity no matter what time of day or night it is?

Do you buy your gas at night or in the early morning thinking you will save?

Or do you buy your gas when it's convenient and you don't care if there is expansion of the fuel caused by heat?

Take into consideration this report from 2007 from a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives which said:

The oil industry has known for 100 years that gasoline expands with
temperature. As it warms, gasoline expands by volume but not by weight or
energy content. Since the 1920’s, the oil industry has taken temperature into
account for wholesale transactions, and use a 60 degree Fahrenheit standard
when measuring gasoline at wholesale. But the oil industry does not adjust
for temperature in retail sales to consumers. As a result, consumers pay a
Hot Fuel Premium when gasoline temperatures exceed 60 degrees, as they do
during the summer.
• 513.8 million gallons of gasoline sold in the summer 2007 will be attributable
to the thermal expansion of gasoline.
• Consumers will pay a hot fuel premium of about $1.5 billion in the summer
2007.

[watson65]

Wow, amazing information. I haven't known this but now I do this. This is a very good information and the website you mention have some more tips on saving gas as well as money.