There is a Shell gas station in my neighbourhood whose price is always about 4 cents/litre (works out to 11.2c/american gallon) less than the prices at the other brand name stations. Not surprisingly there is always a lineup of cars at this station.
Is there any reason why I should not buy gas from this place? Obviously it is a high volume gas station and, being Shell branded, must be selling the same top tier gas as the other Shell stations. I am hoping Shell enforces maintenance standards at all their outlets regarding dirt and water contamination.
Shell discount gas station
- Thread starter George7941
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Might be an independent franchise who may have been grandfathered into an older contract. Of course, I know nothing on how gas stations are set up. Mom and pop stations are nonexistent these days and those that are still around and "struggling" are often using old and inaccurate pumps and some are found guilty of fraud by watering down gasoline, etc.
There is a shell station near me that is cheaper than other top-tier fuels, but the same price as the race track gas across the street.
That shell station near me doesn't look like the others and is using older pumps than other shell stations, so its really hard to tell about the quality of gas.
Wouldn't hurt to try that station out as they would be shut down if they were watering down gasoline.
Originally Posted By: accent2012
...race track gas across the street.....
Sorry, Racetrac is privately held. On the other hand, its founder started out in St Louis.
Certainly in the US, branded stations (nearly all franchises) have contracts that allow the company to set the price of fuel by neighborhood. The franchisee can adjust the prices a bit, but not enough to make that big a dent without losing money. I know of a couple of gas stations across the street from each other that almost always have the identical prices, down to the same difference for cash vs credit. One is a Valero station and the other is Shell.
I know of this happening all the time where there's this one station with a well-known brand that's always cheaper than any other place nearby. It just happens sometimes, and I think the marketing arm of brand owner (not always a refiner) has something to do with it.
The odd thing is that there's a gas station I know of where prices are about $1/gallon higher than any other gas station for miles. There are theories that it's mostly supplying city and wholesale accounts at negotiated prices.
I wouldnt wait in line idling to save 4 cents a litre..no lineup..sure id get gas there.
I hate lining up too but I usually fill up early morning (7am), so lining up isn't an issue. The gas tank is large at 129l/35gal, so I only fill up every two weeks.
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
If it is clean and does a high volume, why not?
Shell is the blessed "Top Tier" fuel. So why sit and second guess whether or not a "Top Tier" fuel purveyor is actually pumping "Top Tier" fuel without a valid reason to do so?
- inaccurate pumps
- bad/old/contaminated fuel
- intentional delivery of lower octane fuel than labeled
- intentional adding of water that isn't filtered out
- fuel that doesn't contain the promised level of detergents
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
If it is clean and does a high volume, why not?
Shell is the blessed "Top Tier" fuel. So why sit and second guess whether or not a "Top Tier" fuel purveyor is actually pumping "Top Tier" fuel without a valid reason to do so?
- inaccurate pumps
- bad/old/contaminated fuel
- intentional delivery of lower octane fuel than labeled
- intentional adding of water that isn't filtered out
- fuel that doesn't contain the promised level of detergents
Originally Posted By: George7941
There is a Shell gas station in my neighbourhood whose price is always about 4 cents/litre (works out to 11.2c/american gallon) less than the prices at the other brand name stations. Not surprisingly there is always a lineup of cars at this station
It is in the west end of Toronto, on Dupont, between Landsdowne and Dufferin.
This one station is significantly cheaper than all the others in the neighbourhood, even cheaper than the non name brand stations. I am under the impression that the retail margin on gasoline is only around 3 to 4 cents a litre, so naturally I wonder how they make any money. This is not a temporary promotion, they have had these low prices for years.
I buy fuel from whatever high volume station comes up cheapest on my gas buddy app. I have never had a fuel related problem of any kind.
Costco around here usually has the best prices but their is always a line and I refuse to wait in line.
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