Apr 22, 2008 6:31 pm US/Eastern
With A Bullet: Gas Prices Nearly $4 In NYC
State Average Up 23 Percent From This Time In 2007; Westchester Co. Residents Also Taking A Beating
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBS) ―
Hold on to your gas cap.
Prices at the pump are painfully close to the $4-per-gallon mark. But there are some things you can do to get more mileage out of your dollar.
From $3.99 a gallon at an Exxon in Queens to $3.69 a gallon at the Getty in north White Plains, New Yorkers are seeing firsthand what's looming around the corner for the rest of the country – record high prices for fuel.
"It's a shock but I knew it was coming!" one driver told CBS 2 HD. "Gas is ridiculous nowadays."
Triple-A says the average price for a self-serve gallon of regular unleaded stands at $3.64 in New York state, up a whopping 23 percent from a year ago.
Tony Burgio of White Plains can't believe it costs $55 to gas up his sedan.
"I used to pay by cash, now I have to use my credit cards because I don't carry that much cash on me," Burgio said.
This is the time of year when gas prices typically rise as stations switch over to summer grade fuel and the vacation driving season begins.
But this year the hikes really hurt, thanks to a string of record-high prices for a barrel of crude oil. With gas prices up, stations say coffee and snack sales are down. The clerk at Paper And Puff told CBS 2 HD the gas crunch is taking a bite out of his business.
"Really, gas prices so high, not many people buying nothing," Sanjay Jikaria said. "Yeah, we're all suffering right now."
Some drivers are leaving it in park whenever they can to save gas.
"Sometimes I walk to work, I live right up the street," said Will Butler of North White Plains. "Some days I walk to work, some days I drive. I gotta do what I gotta do to survive."
One survival strategy is to tune your car for the best mileage. That includes proper tire inflation, a clean air filter and the right motor oil.
And ease up on the accelerator. Aggressive driving can cut your gas mileage by 20 percent.
You'll find cheaper fuel in New Jersey, which has a lower gas tax. There, regular unleaded sells for an average of $3.32 per gallon.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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