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Extra Profit for Car and Gas Companies When You Buy Premium Gas!
By: Scott Siegel
Gas companies and auto makers love it when you buy premium gas. They like it so much that they try to perpetuate myths about premium gas. Myths like premium gas will lead to better fuel economy. Myths like premium gas will make your car perform better. Why do the gas companies and auto makers like premium so much?
Gasoline retailers and refiners love premium gasoline because it is so much more profitable than regular gasoline. You end up paying about 20 cents more per gallon for premium gas and the retailer only ends up paying about 8 cents more. The retailer makes 12 cents more on every gallon of high octane gas he sells.
The refineries, when they sell fuel to it's distributors only make a few extra cents per gallon for high octane fuel. Remember though, this extra profit per gallon is multiplied by the thousands and thousands of gallons of fuel that refineries sell. That equates to thousands and thousands of additional profit dollars.
The gas refineries and retailers are not the only ones that make more money from premium gas. Auto makers use premium gas to add to their profits too. One way they do that is by creating a higher perceived value for their cars.
If a car has to have premium gas it must have a more expensive engine therefore the car must cost more. Using that logic the car companies can get higher prices on some models by recommending only premium gas can be used in those models. This adds credibility to their contention that the car is worth more money.
Another benefit of premium gas that auto makers capitalize on is to take advantage of the anti-knock properties of premium gas. By designing engines to be optimized for that property of premium gas they can create engines that in fact do get more horsepower out of premium then out of regular.
Since these engines do have some horsepower gain it enables the auto makers to advertise bigger horsepower ratings for their "premium engines". Higher horsepower means more expensive auto which means more cost for you and more profit for the car manufacturers.
The optimized for premium engines do perform with a small increase in horsepower running on premium gas. Most engineers and car experts seem to agree that you can use regular in a premium engine and you probably can't tell the difference.
Regular gasoline can be used in a "premium engine" without any noticeable difference. Premium gasoline does not enhance fuel economy. In the end it all comes down to this: By making you believe you need to use premium gasoline, the oil companies and auto makers are able to put more money in their pockets by taking more out of yours.
Article Source: http://www.ezarticles.info
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