Spirit (now a Shell) offered competitive prices at the intersection of Mace Blvd. and Interstate 80
Gas Stations provide a place to buy fuel for some of the vehicles in Davis. Gasoline and Diesel not the only fuels used for transportation in town.
Fuels range from the traditional gasoline or ''gas'' and diesel to the exotic hydrogen for hydrogen powered vehicles. There are also options for Natural gas at the Davis Natural Gas Fueling Station and electric power at charging stations.
The Davis Shell gas station was previously the only one in the City of Davis that offered Automobile Repair. The repair shop closed down. Many offer free water and air (required by California law).
The website http://www.gasbuddy.com is a very good place to compare gas prices before you fill up. Anyone can sign up and report on the most current gas prices in Davis.
Gas quality varies depending on the brand of gas. Top Tier gas is gasoline that meets the standard for premier detergent gas. Additives called detergents are added to gasoline to prevent deposits on critical engine parts. Deposits reduce engine performance.
Top Tier gas is available at 76, ARCO, Chevron, Shell, and other stations.
Debit Card $75 Hold When Paying For Gas
Please note that when you pay by debit card without using a PIN, some gas stations put a hold of up to $75 on your card. That means that up to $75 of your checking account can be off limits (in addition to the price you paid for gas). The time of the hold can vary and depends on your bank. (i.e. 72 hours, 5 days, etc.) This could cause overdrafts fees, bounced checks, or insufficient funds on your account.
How can you protect yourself at the filling station?
- If you must use a debit card, pay inside where you can use your PIN number; PIN-based transactions are registered immediately.
- If you pay at the pump, use a credit card.
- Oil companies' proprietary charge cards often don't have any kind of block feature on them, but not always. Chevron, for example, briefly blocks out $18.
- Cash is still good - many gas stations, tired of paying high credit-card fees, now give a discount for cash. Look for such deals.
- Some gas stations offer gift cards that you can buy. The gift cards at some stations offer a certain percent off gas purchases made with the gift card.
ARCO: $75 hold Chevron: $1-$18 Shell: $1
By location
Downtown
Near the Richards exit from I 80
- University Shell — near the In-N-Out
- Fast & Easy Chevron (Diesel, E85 ethanol and B5 bio-diesel)— near the KFC aka South Davis Chevron, Research Park Chevron
Central Davis
- Anderson Road Chevron — Anderson and Covell
- Arco AMPM - Russell and Anderson
- Davis Shell
East Davis
- 5th and L Gas and Mart Price/gallon is sometimes 20 cents more to use a credit card.
South Davis other than near Richards
West Davis
- Circle K (Diesel) - Top 5 slowest pumps in the city, says JesseSingh
- Davis 1 Stop — At the intersection of Covell and 113 near the Sutter Davis Hospital
unsorted
Cheapest Gas
The cheapest in town tends to be Arco (at Russell & Anderson or Mace & 2nd Street) — a downside is they don't take Visa, only cash or ATM plus $.45 annoyance fee. Circle K and Spirit seem to be competitive, yet are still independently owned.
Lowest Davis regular gas prices in the last 60 hours
National color-coded price map
Pump Speed
Serious request: Could people time how fast the pumps are? Log the station address, pump number, pump mfr. (or whatever you can), and the rate (gallons/minute)?
| Date |
| Station |
| Pump # |
| Flow rate |
| 2006-02-06 |
| Arco AM/PM |
| unknown |
| 6.56 GPM (.414 liters/second) |
Derived figures: Using 135MJ/gallon, 6.56 GPM becomes 14.8 MW -that's 14.8 megawatts of power (over 12000x what you can get from a home electrical outlet) when you fill up!
Alternative fuels
Biodiesel
- Are there any non-private sources? See biodiesel.
CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)
- The Davis Natural Gas Fueling Station, also listed on Clean Car Maps.
Electric Vehicle Charging Stalls
Located throughout downtown and on campus, these are places where you can charge your electric vehicle.
- City Hall parking lot
- South F parking lot, to the rear of the Brinley Building
- Bottom level of the USDA parking lot
Hydrogen Fueling
- Fleet Services which is part of the California Hydrogen Highway program. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came and gave a speech here to kick off the program.
Zucchini, Tacos, Bagels, Alcohol, etc.
- I.e. fuel for your own leg-power. Ride a bike!
2008-01-23 11:32:04 Does anyone know of a station that has a free air pump? —StephenPriest
- The El Macero Chevron near the Chiles/Mace exit from I-80E has free air and water.
2008-05-11 12:47:58 I've noticed the Circle K tends to be only about two to three cents more expensive than the Arco on Russell and Anderson. —ElleWeber
2008-06-05 10:34:28 Beware of this gas station "76" in front of Chevron in South Davis. The price in their pump may be different from the posted (road sign) price. They have two posted prices for regular gasoline, one is 10 cents cheaper but only if you will purchase their full service car wash (this note is written in very small text relative to the price text). Anyway, the regular price (without car wash purchase) was 4.359 went I went there this morning, then while refuelling, a guy went out and change it to 4.419 but I noticed from the time that I went in there that the price shown in the pump was 4.459. I didn't have time to go to another station so I just pumped 10 gal. I went inside the store to get my receipt and tell the guy about the price but this guy pretended to be so busy on the phone and only said that he's working on it. —odyssey
2008-06-18 09:43:15 Careful of the North Davis 76 (Covell and 113). Last night I was filling up my car with diesel. I began to be alarmed when the pump said that it had already put in 13 gallons, since my tank holds 14.5 and I had at least 1.5 gallons already in there. It started to make a new sound, like the fuel coming through the hose was trailing off, but the numbers kept going at the same speed as before. By the time I stopped it, it read 14.51 gallons. I went in and talked to the owner, who refused to admit that there could be anything wrong with the pump (he was giving me about 20 different reasons, including that fuel expands and contracts with temperature, so somehow my tank could actually hold more than what the owner's manual states). He finally said that he'd have the pump checked out "for my peace of mind" and took my name and number, but I don't expect to get any money back. —nicolemans
2008-07-27 22:57:02 For some reason, though Arco and Circle K are, respectively, 4.15/ and 4.14/gallon, currently the Chevron and Shell stations at the intersection of Anderson and Covell are both at 3.99/gallon. Weird, but I cannot complain. —JoePomidor
2009-04-11 10:58:18 Something I've found to help just a tiny bit. Gas is measured at the pump by volume, therefore when it is cold it's volume is decreased. If you buy your gas late at night once the tanks have cooled you get just a little bit more for your money. Admittedly the tanks being underground means the temperature change is slight, but there is a disclaimer on the pumps @ Costco in Woodland. —MasonMurray
2010-01-08 09:33:05 Be aware that many cars get worse gas mileage when using Arco gas, which has some ethanol in it. Several years ago when gas was nearing $5 a gallon, I switched to Arco to save money, but my on-board MPG calculator showed I was losing almost 5% in mileage - which completely negated the cost savings. —NotSure
2010-03-07 13:10:37 Gasoline in Woodland tends to be far cheaper than anywhere in Davis—usually 10-20 cents/gallon cheaper. Because I'm over there about once a week anyway, I typically wait until I'm in Woodland to fill up. I personally like both the Arco and the QuikStop on West St. (especially the QuikStop... it's about $0.02 more expensive, but without the Debit charge), since they're both cheap and always very clean. —TomGarberson
2010-07-03 23:54:51 Davis's selection of gas stations sucks. All premium stations except Arco, which is owned by BP and thus not anywhere I'd like to purchase gas. Bah! —RobertM525
2012-02-12 23:43:41 Which gas stations in Davis sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts? —AlexandraS
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