SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — “I think it’s insane,” said Lauren Pettress, a metro Detroit driver when referring to gas prices.
No one likes to pay up at the pump.
Another local driver, Anthony Miller, says gas prices have had an impact on local travel form him and his family
“You know especially with the kids kind of driving all over the city and all over the state for sports and everything,” Miller said.
For Miller, he’s staying in town for Thanksgiving not just because of the gas prices, but really inflation in general.
“Kind of everything, you know, the economy and everything played a little bit into it,” Miller said when explaining why he’s staying home this year.
And he’s not alone.
Eddie Grant, another metro Detroit driver agrees with Miller
“Cause of the gas prices I’m going to stay home. You know, I usually go to Chicago and visit my buddy and his wife, but now I can’t do it no more cause of gas prices,” Grant revealed.
“I think drivers are always going to feel like gas prices are too high because in reality there is no such thing as gas prices being too low,” said Patrick De Haan.
Patrick De Haan is the head of petroleum analysis at Gas Buddy.
He says Gas Buddy recently conducted a survey on Thanksgiving travel that showed 41% of people said they plan to travel for the holiday — up 8% from last year.
However, 20% said inflation is making it more difficult to budget for travel.
“Looking specifically, the average gas prices down about 40 cents a gallon from last year, there are still other cost that are much higher going out to eat, restaurants, renting cars, still quite a bit expensive,” De Haan said.
The good news is, at least at the pump, De Haan expects these low prices to stick around until mid-February.
If you shop around, you might even find prices below $3 a gallon.
When we checked Gas Buddy’s price map, we found stations with gas below $3 a gallon in Royal Oak, Livonia, and Warren.
Pettress says she would like to see gas prices to go down as we head into the winter.
“They should (go down), people gotta stand out here and pump the gas, it’s cold!” she said.
De Haan says gas prices tend to be different at stations based on a number of factors, including where and when they buy oil. That is why it’s so important to shop around.
