Corner station challenged to limbo, accepts

Here's what I wrote last Wednesday in Stop the limbo, get back on the rollercoaster.

Today, I drove by all the stations.  The three down the street were all at $3.25, while the corner station had already lowered its price to $3.29.  Within a day or two, it will join them at $3.25.

Sure enough, that Thursday, it did.  That's where prices remained until Tuesday, when one of the three stations down the street lowered its price to $3.21.  Tonight, all four of the neighborhood stations matched it, including the corner station.

The prices should continue to drop, as the Detroit average listed at Gasbuddy.com is just a hair over $3.19.  The local stations are usually not only lower than the metro average, but up to a dime lower.  $3.09 within the week, anyone?

As for the rest of the averages, the Detroit average is once again below the national and Michigan means, both of which are at slightly over $3.21.

The price trends on crude oil also supports my prediction of lower prices, as Oil-price.net shows that Brent dropping $1.55 (1.45%) to $106.92, lower than last time, while WTI up $0.31 (0.33%)to $93.34, which is still lower than last week's $93.88.

As for how low the bar will go, it still has between 12 and 17 cents to go before it drops below this year's record so far.

In the meantime, I've found out the answer to "how low can you go?"  It's $3.04 for the corner station and $3.09 for the rest.  That's still lower than last year.  Also, the year still has six or seven weeks to go, so the price war could resume and set a new low.

Here's to watching the stations limbo until the weekend before Christmas.