Fight Back Against High Gas Prices With a Surprise Ending
Posted: Sunday, May 06, 2007
by Mark Gittelman
certifiedmastertech.com
I have two old ideas and one new idea that I have not seen posted, to help you fight back against high gas prices. I just got back from the gas station, and I got $20 worth of fuel and that equaled less than 6 gallons. The price of gas is truly making me sick to my stomach. Yes I know we're spoiled, and in some countries they are paying up to eight dollars a gallon for regular fuel. But this fact does not make me any happier about the high gas price situation.
So forgive me but my first suggestion is to replace your air filter on a regular basis. The air filter is one of the most overlooked parts that can easily help you fight back against high gas prices. It is easy to forget about the air filter replacement as far as regular maintenance. But it is a large bang for your buck, car maintenance investment. The easier your car can breathe, the better the air fuel mixture and the more efficiently the engine will burn your precious gas.
Yes, and the next one I am sure you have heard a million times, but I must mention it. Keeping your tires properly inflated. This is the second easiest way to fight back against high gas prices. You do not want to overfill the tires, what you do want is to keep the tire pressure at the maximum recommended level. The harder the tire is the less resistance it takes to roll it down the road. A soft tire is not only a safety problem, but is also the leading cause of poor fuel economy.
Keep in mind that your vehicle is designed to get a specific amount of miles per gallon. You want to make sure that your vehicle is at least close to this maximum figure. Once you are at that point, almost nothing that you do will help the situation in the fight against rising gas prices.
I am trying a new twist in my own personal flight back against rising gas prices. As I was driving down the road burning my fuel, I noticed many vehicles that were wrapped in advertisements. At first I didn't understand what this was all about, but after doing some research on the Internet I found out that these people are either receiving a free car to drive in exchange for exposure for advertising companies or receiving monthly payments for driving these mobile billboards. I did some research on the subject and found that you can also place advertisements on your own vehicle and receive a modest monthly payment for your advertising services. If you receive only $200 a month for placing a small ad on your vehicle. This may alone, cover your monthly fuel costs depending on how far you drive.
The website that I visited to do some research on this subject was called free car index.com before you embark on your journey to help with your fight back against rising gas prices, I wanted to share something I learned about the process. These advertising companies are looking for vehicles that do a lot of daily driving and keep their cars clean. So when you fill out these applications make sure you meet the profile the advertisers are looking for.
Mark R Gittelman is an ASE Certified Master Technician. Mark provides free DIY auto repair tips on his car questions web site.
This Article has been viewed 1,193 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Thanks for the reminders of regular car maintenance that we so often overlook. Do you have to make a deal to drive so many miles a week if you get your car "wrapped"?Thanks for the kind comment. You do not have to make a deal for daily mileage you tell them how many miles you normally drive and answer a few other questions such as the roadways you use and how much traffic you see on a daily basis. Your application is either approved or denied on these and other factors. Thanks again for taking the time to comment.
The miles driven daily will differ with each advertising company. It would seem from their side the more miles you drive the more they get for their advertising dollor.This is a true statement and thank you for the high rating.
THATS GREAT BUT IT LOOKS LIKE THERES NOTHING WE CAN DO ON THE RATIONAL SIDE - THIS IS TERRIBLE YEAH SOME COUNTRIES MAY BE PAYING $8/GALLON, BUT THERE ARE OTHER COUNTRIES PAYING LESS THAN $1...WE NEED TO UNITE.......
FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE OIL GIANTS WE CAN DO SOMETHING TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE PROFITEERING OIL COMPANIES. On Independence Day 2008 we can start our revolution and say enough!!! July 4th 2008 we stop buying from one particular oil company. In this phase it will be Shell Oil. Don't buy one single item from Shell Oil until they lower their price on regular gasoline to $2.50 per gallon and $2.50 per gallon for diesel. Let's see how long it takes to get the message. Buy your gas from anyone you want, just not Shell Oil! When their prices comply with OUR demands we can then buy from them at the reasonable price until it goes up $2.51 per gallon, then we just stop again. You want to price fix? Well try this on for size big guy!! The next phase will be EXXON. After Shell Oil has complied we can say EXXON now you comply. We can single each one out until they all get the message that we won't take these billions of dollars profiteering from them anymore. This is a win/win situation for us and a wake up call for the price gouging and greedy oil companies. They might be big but we're much bigger if we stick together we can send them all a very powerful message that they need us more than we need anyone of them. Let's prove it at the pump. They need us more than we need them FIGHT BACK JULY 4 2008 our independence.Hi Steve: This is a great Idea. I like your spirit and the choice of independence day to call for your rally. I'm in 100%
$20 for 6 gall try $10 a gall uk but the Brits have no bulls.. from a Brit
I have an idea on how we can lower gasoline prices in Geneva, New York. Gas prices are horrible, and getting worse. No news flash here. But, I am dissapointed in American's, reaction to them. A shrug of the shoulders, perhaps an exlplitive or two, and then off to the cashier to pay with a credit card that still might have some head room. In psychology, there is a syndrome called "learned helplessness." An individual's situation seems so hopeless, that they simply give up and accept "whatever" as inevitable. But we are the people who defeated the British against all odds; fought brother against brother, and then managed to heal ourselves. We have made the world, in the words of Woodrow Wilson, "safe for democracy." But at the pump, we simply shrug our shoulders? There are those who will say that I am naieve. Perhaps. Gas prices have been higher in Europe for years, but in Argentina, it's only 12 cents per gallon! Yes, global energy speculation, regulation, and disasters do have an impact, but I'm dealing with the cashier at the local station - - not Houston or Baghdad. And the ultimate threat (from one who remembers) is running out of gas, and waiting in one of those horrible lines. I, like you, also believe we need a true concerted effort at an effective, non-fossil energy policy. But in the meantime, gasoline is a commodity, and lucky for us, there's competition. So, the plan. As I have watched the three gas stations in and around the plaza, here's what I've noticed: Fast Trac is the station that raises it's prices first -- sometimes as much as 10 cents per gallon. Then, if the other two stations follow suit, it will raise the price again. If they don't follow suit, Fast Trac drops its prices back a bit. This price leap-frogging has been going on ever since they came to town. So, if Geneva BOYCOTTS Fast Trac gasoline for one week, and buys its gas elsewhere, the message will be loud and clear -- we're not simply going to take it anymore. If this actually works (I have no delusions here, by the way), then perhaps, at least short-term, a national boycott of particular brands may be our only effective weapon against absurd prices AND learned helplessnes. So, starting the day after this editorial is printed (if it is), and for seven days, don't buy gas at Fast Trac. Isn't doing something better than doing nothing? PS - - This should work in ANY town where there is more than one gas station - - sorry Hopewell.This reminds me of an article I read back in the late 70's written by an economist during the last "energy crisis". He claimed that consumers can have a big impact on the local price of gas by using a strategy he called "picking on the big guy". The strategy went something like this. Step 1: determine which chain of gas stations has the greatest market share (the most stations) in your area. If you don't already know, it is pretty easy to figure out with just a little research in your local yellow pages. For example, in Kalamazoo Michigan, Speedway has the most stations (9). Therefore, Speedway has the greatest market share in Kalamazoo. Usually, the chain that has market share ("the big guy") has almost total control of the prices in their area. Step 2: Don't buy from the chain with market share unless they are at least 5 cents cheaper than all the other stations in your area. Chances are pretty good that they are going to do everything possible to retain their market share and to do this they need to keep their stations in business, so their price will come down. Then, when all the other stations see that "the big guy" has lowered his prices, they follow suit. Now "the big guy" isn't 5 cents cheaper than everyone else anymore so you stop buying from him again, and then the whole process repeats itself. Almost every other commodity's price is determined by what the consumer is willing to pay for that commodity. Gasoline is a comodity who's price seems to be locally determined by price fixing and whoever has market share in the area. If all consumers followed this strategy, Gasoline would become a comodity who's price is determined by the consumer. Which is how it should be. Also, the reason I like this strategy is because it attacks the guys who have been fixing the prices in your area all along. Which is also how it should be. There is really only one obstacle to this strategy, how do you get everyone on board? In the 70's there weren't websites, blog pages or mass e-mailings. Today, this strategy could be heavily publicized and made to work, which is why I have decided to resurrect it and post it here. Spread the word to everyone you know before "the big guys" start trying to put the screws to all of us this summer. Circulate E-mails about this strategy to all your family and friends. Start consumer group websites or blogs in your area that publicize this strategy. Cut and paste this post on to any websites or blog pages that seem appropriate. Remember $4.00+ a gallon gas prices last summer? Remember how the oil companies all made obscene record profits last year? What makes you think they aren't planning to do it all again?
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