my car runs better on chevron

this post isn’t about gas

my mechanic tells me to only use chevron because it’s the best gas

he also says, don’t run the tank too low because you’ll disturb the sediment deposits in your car, and it’ll be rough riding for a while

i ignored his advice, and didn’t experience anything bad

for the longest time, i just got gas at the local rotten robbie, which wasn’t a “top tier” gas station

i did some research, reading stories from people who worked in gas

like, what is “best”?

gas stations in some area get their gas from the same refinery location

so, it’s the same gas

then under whatever brand it is, there’s variation on the additives, how the station is maintained, and the volume that goes through the station

chevron calls their additives “techron” and they put out marketing materials on how it cleans your engine or some shit

marketing

ok sure, i’ll bite

the other two variables — station maintenance and volume are arguably more important than getting what is 95% probably the same base gas

station maintenance is hard to tell — you can’t really look into the quality of the gas storage tanks and see if there’s ground water leaking in or uncleaned sediment at the bottom

some guy was like, “yeah look to see if it’s in a high-flood area”

lol like i know what that looks like

so maybe i choose gas stations only on a hill /s

what’s more important is probably if the station is well maintained

the shell around the corner from me slowly deteriorated until all the credit card readers were dead and there was one squeegee for four stations

been like that since 2019

how they’re still open baffles me

i saw three cars there the other day and my first thought was, “how are you guys sharing the squeegee?” (rock paper scissors)

one piece of advice was to not to gas up at a station that was getting refilled with a big tanker

refilling = turbulently kicking up sediment in the big tank that you’re getting gas from

i’m sure there’s some kind of filter, but that filter probably has less to deal with if the gas isn’t full of crap

ok makes sense, but it hasn’t stopped me from leaving if i see a tanker

i’m here because … i need gas

maybe now it will, because i’m processing it as i’m writing it lol

but i’m not sure how to test this, nor do i care

volume is important too — are there frequent customers?

frequent customers = frequent turnover = you don’t get old-ass gas that’s been sitting around for months

i see a tanker quite frequently at the rotten robbie, and never at the shell

that’s probably easy to see, but even then it’s a snapshot

it’s funny getting some perspective on this

you realize you’re buying the same product, just under different brands

when in actuality, other variables are probably more important

but most people don’t understand these variables

so fancy additives is what’s advertised 🎉

perception, trust, and the story is more important than reality

and that’s fine, that’s kinda how marketing works, reality is ugly

but it’s fun occasionally to pull the veil and see what the fuck is going on

you might find interesting details

my car runs better on chevron, i’m sure of it 😉