As gas prices continue to rise, it seems that automobile owners are more aggressively seeking out the stations that offer the cheapest price on gasoline. A number of web sites have risen in recent years to assist you with this, and many local radio and television stations will point consumers to the places with the least expensive fuel prices.

Personally, I almost always purchase gas at the same station, which is on my regular driving route. As I hear more about people driving further distances to save pennies on gas, I started wondering how much they were actually saving, and is it really worth it to drive out of your way to purchase cheaper gasoline.

I knew that there were a number of factors associated with this, including the gas mileage of your vehicle, how much gas you will buy, the price of the gasoline, and how far you need to drive to get the cheaper gas. I decided to set up a spreadsheet to see how much I would save. I was actually surprised at how little the savings was in most cases. I discovered that it usually isn’t worth my time to drive to another station that isn’t on my regular route. Your results may be different than mine, however.

I have created a web based Gas Savings Calculator to help you determine for yourself what the actual cost savings is for you. Try it out and let me know what you think in the comments.