Gas prices set new lows for year

Last week, it was $3.19 gas has arrived; Professor Farnsworth approves.

Just about an hour ago, I went out and saw that all four neighborhood stations had lowered their prices from $3.22 to $3.19.  That means, as I pointed out in Professor Farnsworth likes yelling "Whee" on the gas price rollercoaster, that the corner gas station has set a new low for the year while the rest of the neighborhood stations have matched theirs.  It also means that gas is now a dime below where it was last year on this date.  Furthermore, the corner station has only four cents to go before it matches its low for last year, while the rest of the stations have eleven cents to match their low of $3.08, which they reached the week before Christmas.  That's six to seven weeks away.  I'm sure they'll hit those lows before then and then pass right through them.

This week, as predicted, gas prices have continued to fall, setting new lows for the year.  On Monday, the three stations down the block lowered their prices to $3.17.  Yesterday evening, the corner station joined them.  That means that the corner station is only two cents above its low for last year and the rest are nine cents away from their lowest price for 2012.  I expect the corner station will fall below $3.15 by Thanksgiving, while the rest will fall below $3.08 soon after.

The GasBuddy widget at Econobrowser supports this prediction.  The Detroit average continues below the national average, falling to just above $3.17, while the current U.S. mean sits at $3.22 and a fraction.  The Michigan average has finally caught up (or is it down?) with the national price at $3.22.

Lower gas prices along with the improving economy are helping most car sales, as WXYZ reports in Chevy Volt sales down 31.7% in October year to year.


The lower Volt sales alone were enough to not make me not post Professor Farnsworth, although the rest is good news.