GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- Where can drivers buy the cheapest gasoline in the country? According to GasBuddy's Top 100 Most Competitive Brands ranking, it's Costco for the third year in a row.
To develop the annual ranking, gas-price app developer GasBuddy crunches almost 35 million gas prices from all fuel brands with at least 30 gas stations. It compares each brand's price, by ZIP code, to the average price of its local competition. Each brand is then rated by the average discount it offers vs. the average prices in its markets.
Costco again led the national ranking, selling gasoline from its nearly 400 sites at an average daily discount of 16.29 cents per gallon (CPG) vs. its local competitors. And as the warehouse club marked its third year as the top value-price brand, Costco actually priced even more aggressively than the year prior: the 2014 average daily discount was almost 16% higher than its discount over competitors in 2013.
Tesoro Corp.'s ARCO brand, which operates in several Western states through 1,280 gas stations and convenience stores, ranked second with an average daily discount of 14.55 CPG, which was 7.7% more aggressive than its discount in 2013. At third was Kroger Co.'s Quik Stop convenience-store fuel brand, with 80 sites selling gasoline at an average daily 13.66-CPG discount to their competition in 2014.
Supermarket chain Fred Meyer placed fourth with an 11.45-CPG price differential, and big-box chain Sam's Club ranked fifth with a 10.79-CPG differential.
Costco also topped every regional ranking of the most aggressive fuel brands except for in New England, where BJ's led with a 12.01-CPG differential over its competition. (This is likely because Costco's Northeast footprint is smaller than in other parts of the country.)
"We applaud these chains that clearly do their best to keep gas prices low for consumers," said Jason Toews, founder of GasBuddy, Gaithersburg, Md. "Our goal at GasBuddy is to help consumers save money when buying fuel, and identifying the consistently cheapest sites is a key step."
For a list of the top 100 most aggressive fuel brands, click here. And click here for region breakdowns.
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