What day of the week is cheaper to buy gas?

Gas prices are down significantly from the highs hit going into the summer of 2022 when the national average topped $5 per gallon. The reduction is thanks to crude oil prices, which make up the majority of fuel costs, coming down since spiking after Russia invaded Ukraine. But, OPEC has restricted production in order to keep the price from falling and further.

While the price of gasoline rises and falls generally with the price of crude, you can find big differences between gas stations on any given day. Shopping around to find the best price can save you $100 per year, perhaps as much as $300 according to Patrick De Haan, lead petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.

But going out on the right day to fill up is another strategy to find cheaper gas as prices fluctuate throughout the week. If you fill up your car strategically you could save yourself another pretty penny, between $50 and $100 per year according to GasBuddy estimates.

What day of the week is cheaper to buy gas?

Analyzing data from its app, which tracks gasoline prices at over 150,000 gas stations in North American, GasBuddy found that over the course of 2021, Monday was the best day to fill up. Drivers saving the most by filling up on the first day of the business week has been the case since 2017. However, De Haan says that it isn’t always the case that Monday is the cheapest as other factors can play a role.

Generally, as the week rolls on prices go up until they peak on Friday and stay high through the weekend. Surprisingly, in 2021, Friday was also one of the best days to fill up. This was a change from previous studies of data collected from the app which found Friday to be one of the most expensive days. They attributed the shift to the covid-19 pandemic and people working from home.

The GasBuddy analyst theorizes that prices rise through the week because “energy markets are closed over the weekend, but they’re open Monday through Friday.” Also the wholesale price can influenced by key government data that is released every Wednesday.

“By the time the weekend rolls around, (gas stations) may be passing around any increases that happened earlier in the week,” he told Nexstar. “They’re also less likely to lower prices at the onset of the weekend,” De Haan says “because a lot of people fill up on the weekend, so there’s less of an incentive.”

He says that gas station owners, eight out of ten are owned independent operators, keep an eye on price of oil. If they see it is rising, they may pass the cost onto customers as they have very tight margins on what they sell at the pump. However, generally the owners try to insulate their customers from swings in the oil market according to ‘The Economics of Everyday Things,’ relying more on what they sell inside to make a profit.