Costco Gasoline Quality: Do you get your gas at Costco?

everyone ignore this person...they just admitted companies add ADDitives yet keeps this nonsense up that top tier is no different than regular gas...they also ignore the various members posting studies showing it does, in fact, clean the engine and keep it clean.

obviously someone wanting to appear smarter/more important than they will ever be...so just...don't listen to them.

So what have we learned...(all backed by legitimate scientific studies I say again)...
Those top tier additives DO clean and they DO make a difference FACT...and they are called "additives" because they are added to the base fuel. And you can't label your fuel as top tier unless it actually has those ADDitives. Lastly, Costco IS top tier so use it with peace of mind knowing your engine will run better/cleaner in the long run

And anyone saying otherwise will have to offer refuting scientific research, please do if you can...BUT...if you can't then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAgRBq2jnz4

 

Do you feel like costco gas burns a lot quicker?

 

I usually get it. Hell....I gassed up with 93 octane the other day for $1.98.

It's got the Top Tier magic juice in it. Gotta be at least decent stuff

 

All I know is that after two tanks of Costco (cheaper) goodness I could fit 35's with no rubbing. Beat that!

 

I don’t drive enough each year to care about a few cents per gallon savings. It’s not worth the wait to me but to each their own.

 

Top tier fuel is better than the EPA minimum on additive, never said it wasn't. But it's nothing more than dosing the exact same base fuel, that everyone in the region uses, with extra EPA approved additives. The truck driver dumps in a bottle at the terminal per the top tier approved dosing as requested. It mixes along the way to the station. Cost per gallon is roughly a cent or two. You can do the exact same thing at the pump with a bottle of Techron from Walmart for roughly 5 cents per gallon.

Those in the know call it marketing because top tier is a licensed advertisement product for additive dosing only. You apply for the license with your chosen additive and dose rate, pay the fee, and now you can use their logo.

Top tier is also purely additive dosing, there are no additional requirements for gasoline, such as tank cleanliness. Any number of issues can occur that could render a tank of top tier fuel out of spec or otherwise poor quality. And yet it has the dosing and they paid the fee so it's good to go as top tier.

A reputable independent fuel chains may have equal or more additives than what would qualify as top tier. But they don't sell it as such because they are unwilling to buy into the licensing fee. Maybe they pass on the savings, maybe they invest that money into better maintenance of their tanks. Or maybe they pocket the profit, or go out of business from lack of sales. As a consumer you just don't know.

End result, your neighborhood mom&pop station could be selling better fuel for a lower price. The shell across the road is selling top tier for 20 cents more, could be better fuel, could be worse. You have no idea because top tier doesn't care about the final product quality as long as it has the approved dosing and the licensing fees are paid.

Who does care about the final fuel quality, why that's up to your state. EPA makes the rules, the states do most of the monitoring and enforcement. The state can add their own rules, California with CARB for example, or chose not to enforce certain rules. States sample the fuel as they see fit to do so. They issue warnings, and penalities, that have grace periods to restore compliance. Has anyone ever bothered to ask the station if they have any open compliance issues, or looked up the states records for that station? If not, for all you know the station could be knowingly selling you out of spec fuel because they have 6 months to correct the issue.

Unless you send off a sample from each station you simply have no idea what is the best fuel for the price. And by the time you get back results, the tanks turned over and the data is fairly meaningless now. The cost of testing would very prohibitive as well.

Hence my comments, it doesn't really matter because you will never know if you're getting better or worse fuel for your money.

 

WOW! After reading this thread my mind is mush....

I get Costco gas when it is convenient. Wife fills her car up there because it is cheap and TBH it does have additives and is "TOP TIER" ...yeah buying into the marketing.

However, I used to be a "petroleum transfer engineer" decades ago read early 80's. And while not gasoline...the trucks came off the interstate to us because we had TONS of turn over in our in-ground tanks.

I have only once encountered a problem in any vehicle when it came to "bad Gas"....not the burrito sense.....

So not much to be added to this thread but will have a nice meal tonight.....will see if it impacts my "gas".....

LOL


BTW I always run Top Tier in our other cars. Whether "hype" or not I do think the additives make a difference.

 

Our closest Costco is just across the state line and they tend to run anywhere from 25 to 45 cents per gallon CHEAPER than the gas stations in town. So whenever we plan a trip we fill up whichever vehicle we're driving plus I load up ALL my spare fuel cans and fill 'em (3ea 5gal cans & a 2gal can) & diesel (2ea 6gal cans). The $$$ we save on gas every year more than pays for our membership (usually a couple of times over), and so therefore any other savings inside the store are just icing on the cake. And, for the record, neither of us have ever had ANY issues running Costco gasoline OR diesel on any of our vehicles (motorcycles(s), tractor, mower(s), DDs, etc.)

 

Take it for what it's worth, but about a year ago here in Socal I saw the fuel truck at the Costco pumps while I was getting gas. I asked the driver his advice on the quality and if he would use it himself, and he gave me a funny look and said that he prefers to go to Chevron or 76 instead. Maybe it was bad advice, but who knows.

 

At least in my experience, there isn't a problem going to any gas station over another. One isn't seizing engines left and right, etc. Yeah there are nuances, but at the end of the day dinosaur go boom boom and wheels go weeeeee



As far as cost, I live near Seekonk MA, we don't have a costco we have a BJ's (giggity). Across the street is a speedway, and up the hill is Stop & Shop gas. Usually the BJ's is within 2-3 cents cheaper than across the street at speedway.

So far this year I have purchased 1017 gallons of gas*,**. If every gallon is 2 cents cheaper at BJ's*** than across the street, I have saved 20.34$ by going to BJ's instead. Membership is 55/year. https://www.bjs.com/membershipEnroll typically you can get it a bit less so effectively closer to 35-40/year. I think the best I was able to pull off was effective 32/year (discount via work, 13 months). So, for me it just isn't worth it. The free air pump is still free (Yes you can get groceries there, too, but it's just the two of us and they don't have my dog's food (high energy blend Victor, not to be fancy or anything, but she's a catahoula and needs the high energy mix)). So. Meh. Hardly seems worth it. I will head in there come January (not dealing with holiday time) and get prices for various groceries that we get a lot (chickens etc) and see if that is ultimately worth it, but I think last time I did that, plus gas, we at best broke even.


* This is assuming all gas was purchased at home. In theory, most of that could have been at home, but I'm sure plenty was up camping in NH/VT, etc. However, at least 6500 miles was a road trip going god knows where out to Michigan, texas, etc, so 1/3 of my miles for the year were not at home. So, this is a generous assessment of all miles being at home

** Wife drives camry hybrid, so she gets about 2x my MPG, drives about the same amount, so you can add in an additional 10$ in theory, but she doesn't track her fill ups like I do.

*** Stop & Shop: we shop there anyway, and they do a membership program where for every 100$ spend you get .10$ off per gallon. So, I use that for my truck since bigger tank, I can fill up more for cheaper than my wife's camry. Out of 87 fill ups, 14 were with a discount at the stop and shop gas station, so BJs would only account for 85% of the gas we buy if it was all local anyway, since stop and shop would be cheaper than BJs. So that 20.34 becomes 17.29, but that also doesn't take into account how much would be spent doing groceries at BJs instead of S&S so there would be less S&S discounts and you would get more at BJs gas.

....I am fun at parties (I have a degree in statistics....)

 

here in Hawaii the average is 75 cents a gallon less than local stations. i do see when i am on the mainland the difference is "a few cents"

 

^ Ditto.

 

Truckers are absolutely the best source of the chemical properties of gasoline.

 

Me too, Costco is 20 cents a gallon cheaper here right now. Screw that I’ll pay full price and show them lol.

 

@Taco critter

 

Costco Fuel is Top Tier, which is a higher standard than the state minimums that are required by all fuel vendors. You can always purchase their fuel with confidence that you are getting quality. There are a number of vendors on the list, including Shell, Chevron, Exxon, Texaco, Citco, and even other discount vendors such as QT, and Valero.

 

Replace the world "gas" with "oil" and this would be a typical TW oil thread.....one of 45 that pop up daily.

 

Top tier great price, every time I can,

 

Absolutely nothing. But asking a trucker about the quality of what he's transporting is a stretch. Truth be told other than the paperwork they have no way of knowing what grade of gasoline they are moving. It is not unheard of for a refiner to substitute one grade of gas for another, either by mistake or intent.