Arco gas? (2025 Update)

I hate ARCO. Too many of them won't let you use a credit card without making a trip inside because they charge more for the gas if you charge it.

Call your credit card company and report them. This practice is specifically against every credit card issuers policy that I have ever read, and I have personally been witness to Mastercard removing a shop's ability to accept their card because of violation of this rule.

The 2-3% that the shop pays in fees is part of the cost of doing business. If a company cannot accept that cost, they shouldn't accept credit cards...

It's fine.

Arco and Valero are the least expensive here in SoCal.

Of course, Arco doesn't accept credit, only ATM, debit, cash and Arco fleet cards. That may contribute to the lower cost...

Valero does accept credit.

None of the company-owned stations I know of do. Some dealers do, but no one out here in the Inland Empire. The one at I-15 and Fourth Street accepted credit cards on a trial basis but I'm told they had a lot of problem with credit card fraud and went back to ATM/debit/cash only.

Gas is gas, unless part of it is water :-(

The ARCO stations here (SoCal) only let you use debit cards and charge a quarter (maybe more) for the privilege. Better to find a station that takes the CCs with a 5% rebate for gas, groceries and drugs.

This is strictly illegal in the state of Texas.. A provision of the state Deceptive Trade Practices Act prohibits it, and fines and prison sentences can result.

Unless you drive the same trip all the time, I think it'll take way more than a few tankfuls to average out the noise in that measurement. I went through ten tankfuls of regular in my car, and ten of premium, and got slightly better gas mileage with regular (about 1%), which I don't believe for an instant, especially since the car feels slightly better running on premium.

It might be possible to make this measurement if your car has an MPG meter, and you do the same test run on a particular piece of road at a particular speed, on windless days.

Even then....

It's cheaper because they are not paying merchant discount on credit cards. I tried buying gas twice in Arco stations outside of San Diego and twice they screwed up the amount of the prepayment. There are enough other gas stations around who have their act together that the minor price difference with Arco is not worth it.

You think "premium" means "better", which is what the gas company wants you to believe.

you measured but you don't believe it???

anyway, depending on whether you have a knock sensor, running a car tuned for regular on premium /will/ result in slightly inferior gas mileage. higher octane means lower combustion rate, so the gas needs to be ignited earlier. if it's tuned for regular [with no knock sensor], that won't happen, and you'll be getting less from each combustion cycle.

even then, different producers use differing catalysis yielding slightly different base product qualities. results are within a few percent, but they exist nevertheless.

Cars can run better or worse on different octane ratings. I've experienced cars with an aggressive lean burn mode run less efficiently when the octane is too high. The symptoms were exhaust buzzing, loss of power, and reduced milage during light throttle cruising.

High performance cars may be physically designed for 91 octane. Most of these can run on on 87 octane too but the engine will loose some performance as the ECU tries to avoid pre-detonation conditions. I've heard that lower octane reduces the milage but I haven't experienced that personally. Driving conditions is likely the biggest factor in what happens with de-tuned operation.

Good info:

Heh. My car runs better when it's clean.

You must be a lawyer... ;-)

What, pray-tell, is the difference between the two to the consumer?

Exactly correct, Gene. From the original post, it would appear that he was referring to credit surcharges. A cash discount would come off the pump or advertised price.

Maybe. But maybe only in the local blend you're using.

It is really easy to find out. Carefully check your gas mileage running your favorite gas and then try the Arco and check.

I have an older carburetor 'non computerized' engine tuned for 91 or higher octane. When I run ESSO premium I can get over 350 highway miles to a tank or 23 mpg and have one normal 200 mile trip to test mileage on.

When I run regular, I drop to 275 'max' per tank and when I run any alcohol mix, I am 'out' of gas before 225 miles. On both of these the engine has a serious bog and rattle over 65 mph no matter what gear I am in, it just can't push the wind...

I was stuck once and tried 'Olco' premium gas and was pleasantly surprised to have all the power and all the gas mileage of ESSO.

If I run Petro Canada or Shell gas of any octane, I get the 225- 250 mile per tank and loss of power. Petro Canada 'fuel' is so bad my engine won't even idle stable on it. These folks boast fancy additives and who know how much alcohol...

Your Honda isn't likely to have near the extremes my old Jeep engine has, but it still could show a difference, if not, then your engine will not likely mind the brand.

Mike

A Honda engine is no different than any other. As for ARCO, they pulled out of my area so long ago that I didn't even realize they were still in business.