Updated
Updated · ms.now · Sep 7
Sisters' 4,964-Mile Road Trip Cost $642.38 in Gas After Iran Strikes Drove Prices Higher
Updated
Updated · ms.now · Sep 7

Sisters' 4,964-Mile Road Trip Cost $642.38 in Gas After Iran Strikes Drove Prices Higher

1 articles · Updated · ms.now · Sep 7

Summary

  • $642.38 bought fuel for a 4,964-mile, 14-day drive from New York to the Bay Area, exceeding the sisters' 2023 gas bill even though this trip covered 633 fewer miles.
  • AAA put the national average for regular at $4.14 a gallon on Friday — a record for this time of year — while diesel hit $5.85, after the U.S. and Israel's Feb. 28 attack on Iran sent oil prices sharply higher.
  • The route showed how uneven but elevated prices had become: $2.49 a gallon at one Richmond Citgo, more than $4.50 in Arizona, and above $6 in California, where a Goleta fill-up cost $39.44 for just over 6 gallons.
  • Drivers the sisters met said the costs were changing behavior, from a Maryland student expecting to burn a full work shift's pay on a tank to a South Carolina motorist buying only $15 of gas and a New Mexico resident estimating her monthly gas bill was up $100.
  • Had the trip ended before the Iran-related price spike, the nearly 5,000-mile drive would have cost about $227 less; at the same distance as 2023, the total would have approached $750.

Insights

With diesel hitting record highs, how soon will the hidden costs of shipping trigger a massive spike in everyday groceries?
As global tensions choke oil supplies, could the era of the affordable American cross-country road trip be gone forever?