Gasoline prices are hurting many people’s pockets. Hopefully, things will begin looking up as summer comes to a close. Many may know that you get better gas mileage during cold weather, especially if you fill up on chilly mornings. Or is that a car myth?

Gas prices are affecting everyone

In the past year, gas prices have risen so fast that many are feeling whiplash. In California, some drivers are paying over $6 a gallon, and many are pointing out the benefits of driving an electric vehicle. For example, you don’t have to fill up. Plus, you’re saving the planet. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Not even EV drivers are free from the agony of rising gas prices. Even though they may not have to stop by gas pumps themselves, the high prices are affecting things like the price of food. This is because truck drivers transporting goods are paying more and more to make deliveries, and since we all have to eat, this means that no one is truly exempt from the price of rising fuel.

For those who still drive gas guzzlers, it may mean canceling vacations, cutting trips to visit families short, and making things as simple as driving to work painful. This is especially true for people who have to drive long distances, and some are being forced to choose between a job they love or settling for something closer to home.

Many consumers are clamoring for change, which has given rise to lots of advice online about ways to save at the pumps. However, before trying it out, you must ask yourself if it’s logical.

Just another cold myth?

There are so many tall tales, urban legends, and myths on the internet that it’s becoming difficult to know what’s real and what’s not. One of the rumors is that you can get better mileage if you fuel up on cold mornings.

Given the current state of affairs, it does give us hope that things will lighten up when colder temperatures hit, but this glimmer of hope is about as real as Santa Claus.

According to Erie Insurance, “Some believe that you’ll get more gas if you fuel up in the morning because the lower temperature will cause the volume of fuel to drop and its density to increase, which they argue could save you money. This is fair science when dealing with liquids and cold temperatures. But when it comes to the gasoline you pump into your vehicle, the logic isn’t as easily applicable, and it all has to do with the way that gas is stored. Because the supply tanks for gas pumps sit far underground, gasoline temperatures rarely change.”

Things are slowly getting better

As gloomy as things are looking, the news isn’t all bad. Gas prices are slowly coming down, and while it may not be as fast as many would like, it’s certainly better than a continued rise. Some states are even seeing unleaded gas prices fall below $4 a gallon.

This leads to the question of why gas prices rose so swiftly to begin with. Unfortunately, there isn’t a straightforward answer. If you want to boil it down to one single reason, the oil production currently isn’t keeping up with the demand. 

High prices or not, drivers continue to pull into stations to fill up as they continue to go about their lives. We may be cutting back, but after the Pandemic, many people simply refuse to stay home, even if going out is relatively expensive at the moment.