Some Look for Gas Prices, Just in the Knick of Time

My gas tank may be nearly empty, as usual, but at least my mailbox is full.

Orange County drivers still have plenty to say on several subjects that we’ve discussed in this column recently, including fueling up: when, where and how we do it, and what can happen if we don’t.

“I hate spending time waiting in gas lines, so I drive until I’m almost on empty,” writes Ping Gee of Anaheim, a woman after my own heart. Since she traded in her old car for a new--and unfamiliar--one a couple of months ago, she says: “I’m not too sure where ‘empty’ actually is. The manual says 15 gallons, but the most I have put in is 14.08 gallons.” (If that’s true, Ms. Gee, then I would say that you run it down way below “almost empty.”)

“I use the trip odometer,” Gee continues, “to gauge how far I actually drive between fill-ups, so fortunately I won’t really run out of gas.” (Hey, my philosophy is, if you’ve still got .92 of a gallon stashed away, you’re good for a week.)

Gee says she always pays cash, pumps her own gas and usually sticks to one brand because “they tend to have the cheapest name-brand gasoline.” However, she has found price variations of several cents per gallon even within that same brand, so she tries to avoid the pricier ones, unless she’s desperate.

“My husband just rolls his eyes when I point out which gas station we should go to when we’re out and about, but I figure, why should we pay up to 10 cents more per gallon of gas, when one of the cheaper stations is in the vicinity that we’re headed to? Of course, he always points out that the most I’m going to save anyway is about 60 cents. Big deal! But 60 cents per fill-up is a big deal when I’m filling up once every 10 days. Since my work commute is only six miles, most people would save a lot more than I do, since they commute further.”

But Marilyn Vanderwarf of Garden Grove points out that not everyone has the choice of saving with self-serve. “It is impossible for me to use self-service due to rheumatoid arthritis. Prices per gallon of gas for full-service are much higher; the difference between full- and self-service is as much as 10 to 30 cents per gallon. Consequently, the customer who cannot use self-service is penalized by the high cost of full-service.

Good point. We make spaces for people with handicaps to park their cars, so why couldn’t some gas stations offer assistance and/or a price break when they fill up?

Several readers wrote about the times when they tried to keep going on nothing but fumes. Henry C. Meyer of Laguna Beach remembered the time that he and his friends, Howie and Stu, were on the San Diego Freeway in Los Angeles, climbing up Sepulveda Pass.

“About a hundred feet from the crest . . . the big car began to buck and stutter. ‘I forgot to get gas!’ Howie exclaimed. Stu let out a long wail. ‘Howie,’ I yelled, ‘put her in neutral; maybe we can coast over the top.’

“That’s what he did and pulled over to the far right lane. Slower and slower the overpass approached. Would we make it? 50 . . . 45 . . . 40 . . . 35. We all hunched over forward, like cutting down the wind resistance. At 25, we groaned. Would we make it, already in the shadow of the overpass? 25 . . . 20 . . . 15. We were over!”

Fortunately, there was a gas station at the bottom of the hill, and they coasted--”neat as you please”--right up to the pump.

After enduring my lecture on seat belts, Jeff Draugelis of Newport Beach wrote to say that he’s a true believer in buckling up. Draugelis says that he believes that “driving with seat belts can make one a better driver. Not to insist that there is an absence of a threat of harm, but to declare a different, assured attitude toward the art of driving. I feel more confident and certain of my actions and reactions.”

Draugelis says he comes from a family of bucklers. “I do believe it is a genuine example of both intelligence and concern for one’s self and for others with whom one shares the highways.”

He says he began to appreciate seat belts about 10 years ago when he delivered cars all over Southern California for a leasing company. Buckling up, he says, gave him a “relaxed assuredness” whether he was behind the wheel of a Fiesta or a Ferrari.

“I have owned three automobiles. . . . I tend to keep them quite a while and maintain them well. Just as each car was unique in its road manners, each had a different type of seat-belt system,” Draugelis says. His first, a 1970 Cutlass Supreme, had a three-point, two-strap setup. “I really liked this one. A driver truly got the impression he was buckling up for a ‘race’ for sheer survival. Though the belts hampered freedom of normal movement, they made up for that deficiency by making their presence absolutely known.”

His two other cars have had passive restraint systems, which Draugelis prefers. “I have yet to drive a vehicle with the new, motorized belts that ‘entrap’ you--not my terminology or sentiment. But I’m looking forward to such an encounter.”

Ken Daily of the California Highway Patrol’s San Juan Capistrano station passed along some new seat-belt statistics. In case the other arguments for seat belts haven’t swayed you, here is one that might: CHP officers wrote 616,701 citations in 1988--more than 50,000 a month--for violations of the seat-belt law. (The fine is $20 for the first offense, $50 for a subsequent offense--plus court costs and assessments, which can be several times the amount of the fine itself, depending on the court and the judge.)

Looking Like New

Do you wash your car often? Or do you wait until the kids can write graffiti in the dust? We would like to know about your car-cleaning habits, inside and out. Do you wash it yourself? What kind of cleaner works best? Do you insist on a chamois or will paper towels and rags do just as well? Maybe you go to a carwash. Or do you prefer having your car detailed?

A Little Road Music

What’s the sound track for your daily commute? Do you prefer rock to get you going, or easy-listening to calm your nerves? Maybe you keep it on the all-news channel. Tell us what you like to listen to when you drive and why.

Send your comments to Life on Wheels, Orange County Life, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Please include your phone number so that we can contact you. To protect your privacy, Life on Wheels does not publish correspondents’ last names when the subject is sensitive.