California drivers run dry to beat gas prices

'Addiction To Oil' Forum

California drivers run dry to beat gas prices

Government-funded program gives free gallon of gas to stranded motorists

LOS ANGELES - Some California drivers are resorting to desperate measures to beat the surge in gas prices at the pump — deliberately running dry on the state’s freeways and simply waiting for rescue.

“Every time fuel goes up, we start noticing it. But right now we are noticing it a lot more,” Andy Lujan, owner of California Coach Towing in Orange County, said Tuesday.

Lujan’s 20 trucks roam the busy freeways of Orange and Los Angeles counties as part of a publicly funded patrol that gives a free gallon of gas to drivers who have run out of fuel. It also offers other basic assistance to drivers whose vehicles have broken down.

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“You say to some of them ‘hey, you’ve run out of gas’ and they say ‘yeah, it’s too expensive.’ I think the percentage is going to increase,” Lujan said.

Gas prices in California, where the car is king, are some of the highest in the nation at more than $3 a gallon and rising.

Moshe Ben Dayan, whose TipTopTow company performs a similar service in Los Angeles’ affluent west side, said some people were taking advantage of the freeway service patrol.

“There was one guy a while back who was stopping every morning and trying to get his one free gallon,” said Dayan. “I think it is going to be more drastic when the price of gas is closer to $4 a gallon.”

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-HECK!

I'm barely driving... and the same goes for a lot of my family.
I live three blocks from work... and have two good legs, and a nice bike.
Screw the gov't and these outrageous prices to fill a tank.

I wish I lived three blocks from my work! My job is in another city from where I am.

Yeah, I purposely moved close to work!

And if you run your tank dry, the sediments at the bottom of your tank start to mess up your engine performance. The cost to fix that definitely outways just paying for your gas now.

I have a hard time believing that anybody would calculate to be on a freeway, let their tank run dry, pull over and wait for the highway helper, get the free gallon, and make their way to the nearest gas station to get more gas-- all for $3.

This is a made up story for TV news hype.

Man, I couldn't find gas for cheaper than $3.29 yesterday. So, I put in $20 and got 6.3 gallons. What a crapper.

The price will come back down--for a while. In 1998 oil was $10 per barrel. Just wait until everybody in China and India start driving cars within the next couple years. Get ready for $6-10 per gallon gas. The good thing is that it will step on the gas to find alternatives.

Right now the rise in gas price seems like small potatoes compared to the rising interest rates. I have a home equity line of credit. Every month the interest payment alone goes up $20-30 over the previous month. Natural gas was double price last winter.

I don't think the Chinese should own cars. There are too many of them and they raise the price of oil nation wide but in some places, for instance in North Dakota, where I went last summer, the price of gasoline was like 1.00 or 2.00 dollars. My teeth nearly dropped out.

Why is it in less populated states, the price of gas is cheaper.

Generally, the Chinese government does not limit where they can drill for oil, where they can refine it, or how big their cars can be. I heard that the most popular car in China is the Buick. I suppose that in a few years, we will all be forced into driving tiny, cheap, Chinese-made cars, and the Chinese will all be driving Buicks.