Will Gas Prices Change Driving Behavior?

What price is the tipping point? The past may give guidance to the future.

February 28, 2011

ALEXANRIA, VA - Oil prices hitting triple digits, analysts predicting $4 gas and gas prices making the news around the clock.

We have all those conditions today, but we first saw them in January 2008, and that??s when NACS asked consumers, among other things, what price would gas prices have to reach to change consumer driving habits.

The answer: $3.71, and that mean response number was the focus of a NACS Magazine cover story in March 2008. Three years later, it??s clear that record gas prices that peaked at $4.11 per gallon in July 2008 changed driving behavior, but it??s less clear where that tipping point actually occurred, with $3.71 being legitimate answer.

The article looked at five "so what?" findings from the NACS Consumer Fuels Report, and these findings may be as relevant today as they were when they were first published:

  1. Consumers treat your brand as your price.
  2. Certain customer groups prefer certain payment methods.
  3. High gasoline prices present new opportunities to grow in-store sales.
  4. Consumers don??t blame retailers??or do they?
  5. There may be a tipping point for cutting back on consumption.

Read the complete article.

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