Gas prices and you

[i_am_Doug]

I wonder what Bill Gates pays for gas.... OR does he use a electric car?

[KenWittlief]

Sit down with a calculator and figure out how much your car costs you a month.

If you bought your car new start with the sticker price and sales tax, and figure it will last you 120,000 miles

add in yearly registration, your yearly insurance, oil and maintenance costs, tires, batteries

figure out how long you will own the car - then divide it out and see how much it cost to drive per mile?

then take your gas milage and figure out how much more it cost with the present price of gas?

even at $5 a gallon, the gasoline is only a small percentage of what it costs to drive a car.

for example, if you get 30mpg then at $3 a gallon your fuel cost is 10 cents a mile - but I think you will find all the other costs of owning a car are around 30 to 35 cents a mile

even at $5, the fuel cost is only 17 cents a mile. Thats still very cheap compared to the cost of the car itself.

[Denman]

Originally Posted by i_am_Doug

I wonder what Bill Gates pays for gas.... OR does he use a electric car?

if its electric you reckon it runs windows ?

[Denman]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

Sit down with a calculator and figure out how much your car costs you a month.

If you bought your car new start with the sticker price and sales tax, and figure it will last you 120,000 miles

add in yearly registration, your yearly insurance, oil and maintenance costs, tires, batteries

figure out how long you will own the car - then divide it out and see how much it cost to drive per mile?

then take your gas milage and figure out how much more it cost with the present price of gas?

even at $5 a gallon, the gasoline is only a small percentage of what it costs to drive a car.

for example, if you get 30mpg then at $3 a gallon your fuel cost is 10 cents a mile - but I think you will find all the other costs of owning a car are around 30 to 35 cents a mile

even at $5, the fuel cost is only 17 cents a mile. Thats still very cheap compared to the cost of the car itself.

but even at 30 mpg it will cost you $20000 for petrol over the time. depends how quickly you use it ... if your doing a few hundred a day it will be expensive as you will need a new card sooners
however some cars are better such as the renault megane will do around 45 miles per gallon

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by Denman

if its electric you reckon it runs windows ?

I suspect Linux. It wouldn't get very far otherwise. Back in the day, I found myself rebooting my Windows computer every other day or so. My Linux record is 47 days...my desire to improve my video card overwhelmed my desire to improve my uptime.

yeah itll effect me terribly lol cuz i haveta pay for gas and insurance and all that...i think im just gunna stop driving period lol its way too much....why is it so much??? its like 3.29ish here...its moving up to 4.00 here soon...ayee

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by CourtneyB

yeah itll effect me terribly lol cuz i haveta pay for gas and insurance and all that...i think im just gunna stop driving period lol its way too much....why is it so much???

It is simple supply and demand. When supply is down, demand goes up. Merchants all along the supply line realize this and raise their prices. Once the prices go up and people start thinking "im just gunna stop driving period", then these same merchants think twice about raising their prices.

Also, when the cost to supply raises, the prices raise.

In this case, before Katrina, we already have the price for crude oil over $60 per barrell. Combine this with the fact that 10 oil refineries had their supply cut off due to the hurricane AND many drilling rigs in the Gulf are non-functioning, gas prices are going to remain high for quite a while.

Once the supply recovers and catches up with the level of demand, then prices will recede.

At this time, if governments capped gas prices (like they did in '73), then people would continue to buy gas at the same rate they have in the past and not change any of their habits. This would lead to a continued demand and an ever-decreasing supply. That situation would be scary since the supply side of the situation would not have a chance to catch up with demand. It is good that people like Courtney are thinking about "not driving period"... that helps the process much more than government control. This change of habit decreases demand and allows supply to recover.

A big fan of Adam Smith,
Andy B.

[KenWittlief]

another way to look at this - if you have a car and a job, figure out the total cost of driving your car (per mile)

and figure out how many hours you have to work for each hour you drive your car

then you can calcuate your real 'speed' when you drive

for example: lets say you drive one hour a day to and from work, at 65mph

speed = 65 miles / 1 hour = 65mph

but your car is costing you 40 cents a mile to drive (total cost like I mentioned previously), then to go 65 miles costs you $26.

if you make $7 an hour at work, then for each hour you drive you are working $26 / 7 = 3.7 hrs

add that back into the speed equation. To drive your car 65 miles takes an hour + you must work 3.7 hrs for each hour you drive:

65 miles / (1 + 3.7) = 13.8 mph (real speed)

Ironically, the more expensive your car is (ie, Mustang, Lexus...) the lower your real speed will be!

I have to point out, a healthy young adult can easily average 15mph on a 27" ten speed bicycle (and you can usually find them at garage sales for $25).

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

Ironically, the more expensive your car is (ie, Mustang, Lexus...) ... average 15mph on a 27" ten speed bicycle (and you can usually find them at garage sales for $25).

Wow, Ken, I don't know where you shop! A Mustang an "expensive car" in the same price class as a Lexus??? I got my first Mustang for $25 - the price of a garage sale bicycle!

-dave

[David Kelly]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

another way to look at this - if you have a car and a job, figure out the total cost of driving your car (per mile)

and figure out how many hours you have to work for each hour you drive your car

then you can calcuate your real 'speed' when you drive

for example: lets say you drive one hour a day to and from work, at 65mph

speed = 65 miles / 1 hour = 65mph

but your car is costing you 40 cents a mile to drive (total cost like I mentioned previously), then to go 65 miles costs you $26.

if you make $7 an hour at work, then for each hour you drive you are working $26 / 7 = 3.7 hrs

add that back into the speed equation. To drive your car 65 miles takes an hour + you must work 3.7 hrs for each hour you drive:

65 miles / (1 + 3.7) = 13.8 mph (real speed)

Ironically, the more expensive your car is (ie, Mustang, Lexus...) the lower your real speed will be!

I have to point out, a healthy young adult can easily average 15mph on a 27" ten speed bicycle (and you can usually find them at garage sales for $25).

The computer in my car calculates all this stuff for me. My average speed seems to be around 26mph and my gas milage seems to be running at about 28-30mpg right now.

I've been experimenting with my driving habbits between tanks of fuel and I have noticed a real difference. If I am easy on the pedal: not trying to launch off, using the brakes all the time, doing a lot of coasting, and using cruise controll on the interstate; it makes a heck of a difference (21mpg).


Adjusting your driving habbits can do wonders for managing fuel consumption and extending the life of your car.


I lub my new Pontiac G6 GT.

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by David Kelly

The computer in my car calculates all this stuff for me.

your car may calculate mpg and even fuel cost per mile (if you punch in the price of gas)

but how can it possibly know how much your car costs you overall ? sticker price, tax, insurance, title and registration fees, maintenance....

?!

[i_am_Doug]

Originally Posted by Denman

if its electric you reckon it runs windows ?

Hmmmmm Most likely but

Originally Posted by sciguy123

I suspect Linux. It wouldn't get very far otherwise. Back in the day, I found myself rebooting my Windows computer every other day or so. My Linux record is 47 days...my desire to improve my video card overwhelmed my desire to improve my uptime.

Hmmmm what to go for.... O-well way off topic....

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by dlavery

Wow, Ken, I don't know where you shop! A Mustang an "expensive car" in the same price class as a Lexus??? I got my first Mustang for $25 - the price of a garage sale bicycle!-dave

And I wouldn't pay $2.50 for a lexus, let alone 25 dollars. Maybe 25 cents.

So, I guess it all evens out in the end.

And, oh where oh where Dave was this magical Mustang sitting that you paid 25 dollars for it? Or should I say when. And in what kind of shape?

[santosh]

A little revival really quick. HOw do you all think that gas is going to be effected by th new coming Hurricane. We don't have to go to school monday or tuesday because Georgia closed schools due to the fact that it apparently is going to be way to expensive to keep the busses running on those days or something like that (due to gas prices).

[greencactus3]

Originally Posted by santosh

A little revival really quick. HOw do you all think that gas is going to be effected by th new coming Hurricane. We don't have to go to school monday or tuesday because Georgia closed schools due to the fact that it apparently is going to be way to expensive to keep the busses running on those days or something like that (due to gas prices).

you brought back an oldish topic. but since you did. ill reply. right now, the gas prices in MI are relaticvely normal. i filled up (well to a quarter tank.... which i call full) at $2.599 . and ive heard theres a couple 2.49s around and a rumor of a .42 too. and i heard that Rita is getting weaker now? im hoping so.
buses go on diesel. the price for diesel didnt jump too much around here. maybe in georgia but here, diesel was the cheapest gas when 87 was going at over 3.