Taking advantage of Pemex's subsidized fuel prices.

[randomness]

When I was in Tecate recently I saw that gasoline prices in were significantly cheaper than they were across the border, and I was wondering if Americans were crossing into Mexico for gas.

Duh.

From http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/fuel_86316___article.html/gas_pemex.html:

With gas prices climbing, Texans fuel up at Pemex
May 1, 2008 - 11:43PM
By Laura Tillman/The Brownsville Herald

Over the past year Pemex gas station attendant Juan Alvarado has seen a jump in the number of motorists with United States license plates crossing the border the fuel up.

As of last year, he estimates that about 30 percent of his clients at the station, located on Calle Sexta in Matamoros, were from the United States. Today, he says that figure sits somewhere between 60 and 70 percent.

Ordinarily, the price differential might not be worth crossing the border for, since a roundtrip ticket to cross the B & M International Bridge costs $4.00.

But with gas in Mexico at $2.70 per gallon - compared to $3.49 in the Brownsville on Thursday - even after the expense of crossing the bridge, a driver with a 30-gallon tank can still save $20.

Comments

[cerebralpaladin.livejournal.com]

Grrr. There is a special place in Hell for government officials who subsidize gasoline use. They risk, quite literally, destroying the world as we know it.

(Not that I have anything against redistributing petrodollars to the people-- just that Mexico and the world would be much better off if they redistributed that wealth as dollars/pesos and then charged full price (or in fact heightened prices) on the gasoline.)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I mean, I understand the social goals the governments are trying to achieve and the political pressures they're under, I just agree it's a terrible idea.

But a remarkable number of countries do it.

[cerebralpaladin.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's remarkably predictable-- after all, the people know that they (collectively) own the national oil reserves, and they know that gas costs hurt a lot-- why shouldn't they get their gas "at cost" and only sell it at a profit to foreigners? A government would have to be remarkably able to convince the people to accept an economically more efficient, environmentally sound policy, or have a high degree of confidence in its control over the people/immunity to uprisings/elections. But it's still tragic.

[meepodeekin.livejournal.com]

The rest of the story aside, who has a 30 gallon tank? I've never owned a vehicle with a tank larger than 16 gallons.

The internet knows EVERYTHING

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/04/suv_fill_up_ind.html

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/suvfillupindex7.jpg

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Or, to summarize that data: really, relatively few vehicles.

31 gallons: Yukon 1/2 ton, Suburban 1/2 ton, Escalade.
32 gallons: Hummer H2
37 gallons: Yukon 3/4 ton, Suburban 3/4 ton.
44 gallons: Ford Excursion
53 gallons: Hummer H1.

I don't know if it's an exhaustive list, but those are some big-ass vehicles, even by the currently inflated SUV market standards.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

My dad had a van with a second gas tank installed, years ago, so there may be people like that as well.

[meepodeekin.livejournal.com]

No wonder people are talking about wallet pinching! If I had to fill up a 53 gallon tank these days I'd be pretty upset. I'll stick to my trusty 13 gallon thank, thank you.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I want a 53 gallon tank in a Prius. :)

Of course, I'd lose significant efficiency--not to mention trunk space--hauling all that fuel around, but still! Imagine the range!

[meepodeekin.livejournal.com]

Let's see: Taking a 40mpg estimate, you could get to Lubbock, TX around about when the gas light went on. :)

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

I work with a guy named Juan Alvarado! Also, isn't there a fugitive by the same name running around loose at the moment? I must ask my cow orker if he's been moonlighting. (-:

Is Mexican gas actually up to the same spec as the US stuff? It'd be kind of sad if people were ruining their cars by using it.

(Good point about the 30 gallon tank. My current vehicle's tank holds 20, but I've never put in more than 16 at one go...)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Is Mexican gas actually up to the same spec as the US stuff?

It is, or it's supposed to be. Pemex Magna is Unleaded 87 octane, and Pemex Premium is 92. There are some complaints that some retailers are selling watered-down fuel, or are shorting people on the pump, but you get those complaints in New Jersey, too.