Forum Discussion

CA_Traveler's avatar
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Oct 31, 2013

Alaska Trip Fuel Log

Below is my fuel log from our 2013 Canada/Alaska trip. Future prices will change but the normalized graph shows the high and low areas on our trip. This should be good information to help predict costs for future trips.

Our average diesel cost for the entire trip was $4.35 and my pre trip estimate was much higher. Note: In Canada (except near the lower 48 border) diesel costs less than regular gasoline.

The posted prices are the pump prices and do not include any discounts that may be available. The OP label is Observed Price as we drove by the station.

13 Replies

  • Trackrig wrote:
    And in the larger towns (meaning larger than one or two streets) we found it paid to go looking around. Usually in the industrial areas, or back off of the main highway where the truckers and tourists are, the stations there that are serving the locals have lower prices because the locals will go shop around. You're on vacation, take some time, see the towns, find a lower fuel price.


    Dawson City and Tok and notable in that regard. In Dawson, it's much cheaper in the Callison Industrial Park, and in Tok at the Three Bears on the Alaska Highway - both unattended with card locks.
  • Oh yes, our friend gas buddy. We use it all of the time and I think it's a good app, but I do remember one time in Canada this summer. I think it was in Whitehorse, where fuel isn't cheap, we found one station that had a good price on GB. When we found it, someone must have fatfingered the price because the last two digits were backwards. The real price ended in .73 instead of .37 as someone had entered. That would have made a $36 savings on a 100 gal fillup.

    And in the larger towns (meaning larger than one or two streets) we found it paid to go looking around. Usually in the industrial areas, or back off of the main highway where the truckers and tourists are, the stations there that are serving the locals have lower prices because the locals will go shop around. You're on vacation, take some time, see the towns, find a lower fuel price.

    Bill
  • There is a lot of additional fuel information posted on rv.net. But I'll add: We have a PenFed Cash Rewards Vista CC that gives up 5% cash back on fuel every month and we received well over $200 cash back savings for the trip. This card requires a qualifying account and we opened a money market account for $25. We also have a Capital One CC that gives us 1.25% cash back on every purchase. Both of these cards are good in Canada and the US and there are no Canadian transaction fees.

    Also as you drive north Gas Buddy information will be limited so don’t count on it to determine fuel costs. Also in a Canadian “city” expect that all fuel stations will have the same price. As a Canadian told me “it’s not that there is any price fixing, it’s just that all the prices are the same”.