|
Home | Cars And Trucks
Generic Gas Can you save you money and not harm your car!
By: Scott Siegel
As the price of gas continues to go up more consumers are thinking about using generic gas from gas stations that are not part of the international gas companies. The question in many drivers minds is, can I get the same quality of gas from ABC station as I can get from Shell or Exxon? Will the ABC gas be OK for my car?
The answer plain and simple is, there is not much difference between the generic gas and the branded gas other than some additives which each company has added to it's gas. To really understand why it is so similar a quick look at how the gas refining system works makes the picture clear.
By and large gas produced at refineries is a generic product. An example often used to illustrate this is California because it has a standard different from most other states. In California all gas sold has to meet specific environmental specifications. Because of that all gas in California terminals are produced to the same specifications. Since all the gas is the same, gas refiners often share and exchange gasoline and store it at shared terminals in common tanks.
The gas that is made at one refinery is pretty much the same as any other refinery. They all make generic gas. The additives that are put into the generic gas are what makes one brand of gas different from another brand of gas. Each has it's own particular recipe or formula of additives.
Such blending or adding of these brand chemicals or additives typically takes place when the gasoline is being loaded into a tanker truck for further distribution. In other words all the brands are starting with essentially the same generic gas as their main component. So generic gas is basically the same as the branded gas.
Just to make sure, there have been some studies on the difference between generic gas and branded gas. A joint study on this was done by ABC News and the Maryland State Comptroller's office.
The Maryland Fuel Testing Laboratory was where a battery of tests were conducted. The gas was checked for contaminants like excessive sediments or diesel accidentally mixed with the gas. They ran the gas through an elaborate test engine to ensure that the gas was all the same 87 octane level. They even made sure that the gas was formulated correctly for the season.
The good news for the consumer is generic and branded gas had nothing but minor differences. They found that by and large the gas was one and the same. The primary difference between competing brands of gasoline is the amount of detergent or additives the distributors add to it. Even then the differences are small.
Essentially gas is gas is gas. All fuel sold for your vehicle regardless if it is generic or branded will work just fine. The one big difference is really what you already knew, the non branded gas has the lower price.
It is estimated that the average consumer can save between $100 and $200 per year by using generic gas. Save yourself some cash next time you fill up. Go to the generic station.
Article Source: http://www.ezarticles.info
|
