They have fixed that in CT… when my wife uses her card at Exon it puts a $175 hold on for 3-4 days. I won’t “dip” my card at a pump, so I use the app / QR code and don’t see the same hold on my card.

Our two cars cost about 60-80 to fill with 93. I still think its good value, but want that price to come down

Agreed. We put about $65 of 87 Octane into Mrs P's Accord each week, and about the same of 93 octane into the X5, though that does a lot less mileage. (I think the maximum possible at current prices would be about $75 into the Accord and $95 into the X5.) That said, while I find the price annoying, the amount we spend on gas is a very small part of our household budget, so it really isn't worth the stress and annoyance that I tend to give it.

I keep a close eye on the price of gas across the whole area where we drive every week, and always make a point of filling up whenever I'm passing a gas station where the price is lowest, even if that only saves 15¢-30¢ on the entire fill-up. Most of the year it's cheaper in one area, by 10¢-20¢+/gal but on an unpredictable basis it flips to being cheaper in another area for a couple of months from time to time.

$4.99 per US gallon here, for the basic stuff.

Maybe the USA Petrol Stations could diversify a little and you can pop to them and top-up your Health, Car & Home Insurance policies with each visit. Those rates would maybe get the same tears as European's probably shed for the tax on petrol. It all comes out in the wash, or the pump in this case. In fact, USA Healthcare is perfectly suited - swipe your card and push the same three buttons for the type of coverage you fancy this time.

$3.69 on Saturday when I filled up here (petrol/gas)

Not really. My baseline has always been that I pay less in tax and US health insurance combined than I paid in income tax alone in the UK, which is about how it works - the cost of the NHS is being paid by the higher taxes paid. So as I see it, I get US healthcare for less than I was (effectively) paying for the NHS.

Car insurance isn't much, no more than I would expect to pay in the UK - I think we might be paying as much as $360/vehicle per annum, of which about half is for the X5 I bought last summer.

Agree if your a higher earner the tax’s are lower, your NHS bit would not be so if you were on minimum wage. Then the UK would work out better as higher rate tax payers would be subsiding you.

Do your mean $300 a month for both vehicles? Or is it really only $300 a year for one or both? If so that is very low…

The wife is $80 a month and as a man I am $90 a month on an older car than hers based on current low mileage… maybe you have much lower state limits and only do 3rd party? Ours is above minimum limits, fully comp 500/500 before umbrella.

I meant precisely what I wrote "$300/vehicle pa". At no point did I say anything about "months", so no, I did not mean "per month".

Please tell me what other interpretation there could be for "$300 per vehicle per annum"?

I will concede my maths was off slightly, and I should have said $360. ... So I have been back and fixed that.

Part of your confusion may be over how many vehicles we are insuring.

The only part that caused confusion was the low amount…. Making me question if it was wrong… what level of coverage does $30 a month buy you? Assuming it’s decent that’s a great price..

But It still does not make sense, if it’s $300 or $360 per vehicle per annum, how is half for for the X5? If it’s per vehicle? Surely it would then be $720/per annum of which half is for the X5..?

You're still struggling with the denominator I see.

The coverage is Erie, fully comp, good coverage amounts, not silly state-minimums.

Must be because I am an immigrant and english was not my first language….

I seem to recall you also said you were not the first owner of the X5 so that also probably lowers the Insurnace, ours were based on new cars with the new car gap covered, so it’s a higher cost if they have to replace it.

I think you think we only have two cars.

That makes a little more sense, so your saying for example 3 cars, average is $360 per car, for $1080 total… but $540 is for the X5…..

OK.. Good, you're on the right path.

Now suppose I have a truck, 'cos everyone needs a truck, and a Mustang, because who doesn't love a Mustang? Then there's our old Accord, that's in pretty good shape for its age, but the engine is blown so we're still thinking about putting a new motor in it, and of course my wife has a car, another Accord.

We saw a gas station (Bay Area, CA) selling gas for $5:69 / gallon (credit card price) and we were shocked - cheapest we've seen in months. Many stations selling for over $6/gal.

As for insurance - I bought a new car last year (Venza Hybrid, circa $40k sticker) and I had to shop around to get a rate of $800/pa when I was registered in Scottsdale, AZ. Then I re-registered in the Bay Area, and the lowest price I could get was $1,500/pa - for one car only. The biggest increases were in bodily injury (from $367 to $580) and collision (from $176 to $614). My coverages are 250k/500k bodily injury, $100k prop damage, and my collision and comprehensive deductibles are $500 each.