Gas Stations Dropping Brand Names

Alpha8472
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Re: Gas Stations Dropping Brand Names

Post by Alpha8472 »

Valero is Top Tier and so is 76. There are some of those stations that are a little cheaper than Costco.

ARCO is cheap, but not Top Tier in California. The independent stations are not Top Tier.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on April 26th, 2022, 12:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Gas Stations Dropping Brand Names

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: April 25th, 2022, 7:09 am Is this all Tier One (top tier) gasoline?
Sinclair is Top Tier.

Arco is advertised as Top Tier in the Marathon regions (Fresno and south in CA; AZ, NV, midwest) but it is unclear what is going on with Arco's Top Tier status in the BP regions (NorCal, OR, WA).

Some of the independents will tell you they get their gas from the same place as the Top Tier stations. Whether or not that could count as Top Tier is up to you. I run a lot of not Top Tier gas; no issues.
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Re: Gas Stations Dropping Brand Names

Post by jamcool »

"Top Tier" is basically a group of additives (which you can buy at the auto store as Techron or Lucas fuel injector cleaner).
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Re: Gas Stations Dropping Brand Names

Post by mbz321 »

Alpha8472 wrote: April 24th, 2022, 9:20 pm

Previously, people would avoid non-brand name gas stations and willingly pay more for brand name gas. Now there are crowds at independent stations. Even car washes that sell cheap gas are becoming popular. Things have changed so much in just the past several weeks. Some of those gas pumps at car washes look so old, but they are popular now.

I think that the majority have come to the realization that 'gas is gas'. Especially with high priced these days, I don't think that many have loyalty to a particular brand anymore, they just fill up wherever is either cheaper/most convenient for them.
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Re: Gas Stations Dropping Brand Names

Post by storewanderer »

mbz321 wrote: April 26th, 2022, 5:41 pm

I think that the majority have come to the realization that 'gas is gas'. Especially with high priced these days, I don't think that many have loyalty to a particular brand anymore, they just fill up wherever is either cheaper/most convenient for them.
Beyond what I see with Chevron on the west coast (where I think there is a pretty large customer segment who thinks that gas is somehow "better" than other gas), I think this is generally how it works elsewhere in the US. At this point unbranded gas has become so common and so widely used that customers have come to realize gas is gas.
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Re: Gas Stations Dropping Brand Names

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: April 26th, 2022, 8:36 pm
mbz321 wrote: April 26th, 2022, 5:41 pm

I think that the majority have come to the realization that 'gas is gas'. Especially with high priced these days, I don't think that many have loyalty to a particular brand anymore, they just fill up wherever is either cheaper/most convenient for them.
Beyond what I see with Chevron on the west coast (where I think there is a pretty large customer segment who thinks that gas is somehow "better" than other gas), I think this is generally how it works elsewhere in the US. At this point unbranded gas has become so common and so widely used that customers have come to realize gas is gas.
I do use Chevron, and will say that in some surrounding towns their prices are more competitive. One thing that is worth mentioning is that, when a fuel quality issue develops (water in underground tanks, drivers accidentally filling an underground tank with diesel, etc.) Chevron, Shell, and the other branded stations do step in to make sure problems are addressed. I am not sure how this works with unbranded fuel. But with many modern vehicles lacking a replaceable fuel filter, I don't mind paying a little more to ensure that fuel meets a quality standard.

I do know of a situation that happened at a Shell station years ago where the driver filled an underground tank with diesel. This was a station that dealerships used to fill the tanks of their parts delivery vehicles and vehicles that were recently sold. Shell stepped in and paid for repairs on affected vehicles and also provided a fill-up of premium after the tanks were emptied and refilled.

I have heard of spotty quality among unbranded stations, as well as some of the grocery store stations. With that said, some vehicles cope with this better than others, and older vehicles with carburetors are a little more sensitive to this.
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