CINCINNATI — The national average for a gallon of gas is $4.21, but prices in the Tri-State are drastically different depending on where a driver fills up their tank.
At one Cheviot station, a gallon is about $4.34. Just down the road in Westwood, resident Terry Donald sees signs for 30 cents more. Donald said he's been tracking the rise and fall of gas prices and noticed an odd trend.
"It's 30, 40, 50, even 60 cents higher per gallon than in some other parts of town," Donald said. "I feel isolated in Westwood. Why Westwood? Why is it that Westwood is more expensive than driving over to Colerain Township or driving to Finneytown?"
The UDF on Glenmore Avenue was selling gas for $4.63. A mile away, it was $4.34. In Middletown, gas was $3.91 per gallon.
"If I get gas here as opposed to going to Finneytown, I'm gonna spend 14 dollars for a tank full of gas more here than I will in Finneytown," Donald said.
So what's with the differences? Gas Buddy expert Patrick De Haan said some stations lower prices aggressively in an effort to get consumers inside the store to make purchases.
"It's been a difficult year for stations so some of them may be passing it along slower to pull themselves out of when prices were going up," De Haan said.
De Haan said drivers should use a gas app to find the cheapest prices in their area.
"We could continue to see prices falling but we could also see a reversal if we see a shutdown of a refinery or a disruption from a hurricane, that could put prices right back up," De Haan said. "There is very little margin for error, so any little events that may seem mundane can really cause prices to either go way up or potentially go down."
To check out prices near you, click here.
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