Gasoline prices are constantly changing right now. That means prices within a few miles of your home or office can vary greatly.
A lot of drivers rely on gas apps to help them find the cheapest fuel. These apps count on fellow motorists to report on prices when they fill up.
But are they accurate in today’s marketplace, where prices can change several times a day?
Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com, cautions that the information provided by these apps is sometimes outdated
“So, it’s important to shop around, but take it with a grain of salt,” Rossman said. “This is evolving rapidly, and not all the apps and websites have the latest information.”
To get a first-hand look at the marketplace, Checkbook.org surveyed prices at 14 stations in the Seattle area using two popular apps, GasBuddy and GasGuru. Both were wrong nearly half the time, six out of 14 stations – sometimes too high, sometimes too low.
Checkbook’s advice: If you use any app that tracks gas prices, check to see when that listing was last updated before you drive out of your way to that service station.
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