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im sure most of you fellas know of "am-pm"? if no, its a gas station with a snack shop, but not sure if their nation wide but im in california.

so im on the way to work and i always drive by "am-pm" gas station and their pretty known but not the best gas station out their if your looking for quality. their gas prices are cheap like arco but the most akward sight came to my mind... at the am-pm gas station, their was a guy in his late 20's with an caddy escalade with fresh kandy orange pearl paint sitting on 22" chrome and spinners. now why the **** is this guy cheaping out on gasoline @ am-pm since he obviously got the money for his other uneccesary items? i can understand the gas prices but if you got money for huge rims, tires, paint, ICE..you definately got to have money for quality gasoline

i pass by am-pm every day and i dont only see escalades, but other various cars that shouldnt belong their imo: bmw m3 (late 90s model), bmw m5 "", older and newer corvettes, mustang cobras, honda s2000s, porsche suv (cheyanne?), bmw x5, porsche boxsters, many many z28/SS camaros and other cars i cant think of right now.


i know im not the only person who spots high end cars that are filling at the cheapo gas stations .. post up some stories

 
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i know what you mean... i only put shell gas in my baby...

 
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Arco and AM-PM are the same.

Arco is the gasoline company.
AM-PM is the name of the food store at Arco.

I wouldn't say the Atlantic Richfield Company is cheapo gasoline.
They've been around for a pretty long time and compete with the likes of Shell, Mobil, and Chevron.

My guess as to why their gas prices is so cheap is that Arco is mainly a "CASH ONLY" gas station.
Arco is the only major name gas station that I know of in SoCal that charges you a "transaction fee" for any credit/debit purchases.
Some places don't even take the plastic money.

Arco is also the only major name gas station I know of that doesn't offer a "gas credit card."
Places like Shell and Mobil offer credit cards but Arco doesn't.

So the idea is that a cash only business is more preferred over the hassles of credit cards and such. So with the money they save, they can pass that on to the consumer.

This is just my guess so please correct me if I'm wrong.

 
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^^^^ that may be true, but not everyone may know that

my best guess is that those people spent all their money on nice cars.......theres not any left for expensive gas

 
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Yea that thought came to mind immediately too.

 
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only texaco for me... or base gasoline, which i think is shell

 
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Well, you said you're from Cali right? Plus escalades and a lot of the cars you mentioned need more gas to get similar mileage. They end up paying A TON compared to other places with higher quality gas.

 
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Arco isnt as refined as some other fuels so I've been told, thats why its cheaper. I use to run Arco for years. I stopped using Arco after wondering why I had to replace my fuel filter every year. Could of been the tanks underground were dirty.. dunno. Since then I've switched to Chevron, no problems yet.

 
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Some people just dont really care or know what gas is good. That guy only bought that Escalade 'cause he saw a rapper in a music video with one. Doesn't mean that he's a car enthusiast. IMO Cheveron is the best.

 
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i like sheel and hess mobil and amoco are too expensive

 
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You can't get away with selling 'less refined' gas, there are emissions and fuel guidelines that have to be met and you can be more or less sure that every gas station, especially larger chains meet those requirements to a minimum.

If the tanks were leaking into the ground leading to dirtier fuel you could be sure that the station would be closed down and subsequently possibly fined. Thats why theres a maximum time gas stations are allowed to go and then they are mandated by law to change their tanks. I've seen one station that had leakage into the ground from it's tanks, they had to demolish the building, remove the tanks and the site still sits as an empty lot owing to the gasoline in the soil that is proving rather difficult to extract, understandably, you wouldn't want to build a building on top of that as gas fumes leaking into the basement isn't the best thing for potential occupants.

As for nice cars at cheap gas stations, just because you've got a nice car doesn't mean you don't want to save money. I just finished staying at a 5-star hotel in Vancouver for 5 days and on a few days I went out to Subway for lunch, doesn't mean I'm cheap, it just means theres no reason to waste money if I don't have to.

 
Rep Power: 320

Wal-Mart

 
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Some cars don't require premium fuel so there isn't really a reason to get "good" gasoline.

 
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sunoco for me

 
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Quote:

Originally Posted by shmik1

Wal-Mart

99 cents store!!!

seriously though, the only difference between arco and chevron is the additives the chevron puts in (techron), which are questionable at best whether it does anything to your engine or not. Well that and about 10-20 cents price..........

People are easily duped into believing that is gas is more expensive, "it must be better by clever advertising and big words about additives." The oil industry is one of the most regulated markets in the US, and ESPECIALLY in cali. Cali has its own blend of gas, different from the whole world!

I'll go to arco, thanks.

 
Rep Power: 276

i was always told that it did not matter what gas i put in my vic since it is only a vic with a d17, but thats what i was told

i have been putting arco am-pm for over a year and i have not had any probems yet

 
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does anybody know if costco gas is 'acceptable' ?

 
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Quote:

Originally Posted by mexinaction

i was always told that it did not matter what gas i put in my vic since it is only a vic with a d17, but thats what i was told

well, what you are probably referring to is the level of octane you put in. I think most pumps are 87, 89, 91. When you were told "it doesnt matter what gas" they were probably saying 87 is okay to use, not which brand name to use. Engines that are more performance based, like a camaro or porsche or something will ofter require at least 91 octane. Using anything lower in an engine like that will eventually cause engine knock among other things.

 
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I think dre2600 said exactly what I'm thinking. Some, not all people who have nice cars, homes, and possessions, save on the stuff that really doesn't matter. Examples could be gas, food, clothing, etc. In some cases being smart with their money and making sacrifices is what got them the "nice" higher end items such as Escalades and BMWs in the first place.

Also AM-PM is a rip IMO. They charge you 35 cents to use your debit card! Using your debit card saves you and the store time by not having to go in and pay. I don't see why they should feel the need to charge you for a 2 way convenience.

 
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arco uses chevron refineries if i am not mistaken

 
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holy cow its only 35c!

 
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LOL It's really not the money it's the principle.

BTW sevenplaces, off subject but I want a TSX too!

 
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Gas is gas yall...no matter if it is from Arco, Chevron or Shell. It is a matter of simple economics--Arco has lower overhead and therefore offers more competive prices to its customers.

 
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No one here can really prove whether Arco is better or worse than other brands of gasoline. However, in my experience, I've noticed no difference in performance between Arco and say, Chevron. Except pf course for the lower prices. That's where I go when I have the choice. But when I'm running low on gas, I take what I can get, and I guessing that's what our friend in the Escalade was doing. Besides, who cares if it's cheaper, just because he can affort more expensive gas, doesn't mean he's gonna spend more on it. I've heard bad things about Chevron anyway. One of my mom's friends worked for a company (the corporation, not a station.) and she warns about it. I forget why.

But common, seriously. We all know that there are more than enough people who buy cars and other toys beyond their economic means. I have a friend who works at Mc Donald's, minimum wage, and just bought a '04 Celica GT. Last I heard, he was bumming food off me and my buddies from work, because he can't afford food with rent and car payments. People can be dowright retarded when it comes to money. I did my homework before I bought my car, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it.

 
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the escalade owner was trying to save money alright. but spending big bucks on uneccesary spinners that prob costed him over 1g isnt saving. if anyone can throw out money for items like that, they got to have money for higher standards. (food, car maintaince, clothes, etc)

its look spotting p-diddy at the 99c store, you'll be like whaaaa

 
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if he's in a escalde w/ some bling bling...then yes...he is ballin. the hoes dont care about wut kinda gas you use.

 
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Yo living outside of NYC you would be surprised to see how many expensive cars you would see at these cheapo gas stations like Gasteria, City Gas, Raceway.... if anyone is from the greater NY area they would know wat im talking about...

but for my civic i put nothing but Sunoco gas in it.

 
Rep Power: 333

more like low budget ballin'. who the hell brought up abot hoes? lol

 
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i ve heard bad things about arco thats why i dont use it. I use Costco though, . I also use Mobil, Shell, Chevron, 76. But on a roadtrip if i dont have any choice then i ll just take anything.

 
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in dallas the gas stations vary, some shell station gases suck booty such as the one at my place and you can tell b/c you can't even smell the fumes of the gasoline, but go to another town and use their shell, you can smell the strong fumes there. I use Tom Thumb gas and Costco gas b/c they're decent and is the cheapest. I few cents per gallon really does add up quickly.

BTW, I don't believe that V-Power BS is real at the Shell stations as they do not tell you what's in it. It just says it cleans ur engine as you drive. I smell cow turd!