These Are the Best and Worst Days to Buy Gas

On Mondays, you may feel like you’re running on empty—but to conserve cash, you should make sure your car isn’t. As WCVB Channel 5 Boston reports, Monday is typically the best day of the week to score low gas prices, according to a new survey conducted by tech company GasBuddy.

GasBuddy looked at three years' worth of fuel price data, crunched the numbers, and found that the lowest prices were offered on Monday, followed by Sunday. In contrast, Thursday had the most expensive prices, as did Saturday.

This phenomenon probably isn’t random, according to Patrick DeHaan, a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy. “The rise in average prices towards the weekend could be to blame on an influential report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued weekly on Wednesdays, which could push prices higher the day after, depending on if data in its report is as expected or a surprise,” DeHaan explained in a press release. “Since commodities trading isn’t active over the weekend, it typically allows stations to ‘let it ride’ over the weekend, culminating in lower prices by the start of the work week.”

Fuel price data changes every year, and varies across the country—so it's smart to take stock of trends in your own state.

Not looking forward to adding another errand to your Monday to-do list? The money you save in the long run will make the hassle worth it, according to GasBuddy. "To put the amount of savings into perspective: If every U.S. motorist bought gasoline on Thursday for an entire year, they’d collectively spend an extra $1.1 billion versus filling up on Monday—the lowest priced day of the week,” the company said in a release.

[h/t WCVB Channel 5 Boston]