Research: Why do you choose a particular gas station? - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

tabasco85331 · #31 05-28-2003, 11:33 PM

I chose my station because of convienience (down the street). I had to stop at another station the other day and they had pay air . I refuse to pay for air for my tires ! I pay sky high prices for gas and they want to dig their hand deeper in my pocket for air ? My station has widow cleaning squeegers too .

Palangi · #32 05-29-2003, 01:00 AM

Besides the obvious (quality fuel at competitive price) it's the little things that make me return to certain stations and avoid others.

Free Air is an example. My experience is that less than 50% of the coin operated air pumps actually work! Most of them just take your money! When I find a station with free air and water, you better believe I remember where it is. Sadly, all of them in my town are gone now. I gave up and bought a compressor.

Maintain the equipment. You can't buy gas from a pump with the LCD display not working. Same if the card swipe doesn't work, I just move on, not to the next pump, but to the next station.

Keep the windshield squeege tank filled with CLEAN water. If it's empty, it's worthless. If a swarm of mosquitoes are living in it, it ain't clean.

Post the octane ratings for each grade on the pump.

Keep the pump area clean. I don't like standing in mud and transmission fluid while pumping gas.

Keep the cold drinks cold and the hot drinks hot. Sell a premium brand of coffee, not panther juice like McDonalds sells. There is a lot of money in snack foods, but please limit it to what you can keep fresh.

Clean restrooms. Don't let the TP or the hand towels run out. None of them &%$@# hand drying machines either.

Maps of the local area posted on the wall.

Local newspaper(s) for sale.

Employee's who can speak English.

None of this is rocket science, but it's amazing how many stations fail these simple tests. I get the feeling a lot of the problem is due to absentee ownership.

Good luck in your venture. Be sure to let us know where it is.

MikeTangas · #33 05-29-2003, 04:28 AM

Denis,

Next time you make it down this way you'll have to check out the filling station I use. Lou, the owner, has a pretty good grasp on it. He hires good people for the most part, the ones who know who the regulars are and treat new customers equally well. A good supply of cold drinks, canned/bottled and fountain plus GREAT gas station coffee (and the lowest prices in town). Every day, 2 or 3 times a day, Lou drives around to check the competitors prices, probably a 6 miles radius, to ensure he has the lowest price.

For me, the filling station is a little like my own "Cheers", I always get a "Hi Mike" when I walk in the door. It's the little things like that, that really make the place.

unkl300d · #34 05-29-2003, 04:08 PM

Indeed, these details are important and I will take note.

The idea will be to maintain high standards, yet that does hinge on a good manager.

Food will be selective. It will have a minimart and will have a
Mercedes class car wash. In fact it is the same car wash machine developed exclusively for the Mercedes use, either dealers or factory (Germany and/or USA, I don't know).

Have you all heard of Roman's Pizza? or maybe it is Roma's Pizza.
(Not Tony Roma's) Anyway this apparently is a high quality product not yet established in California.

By the way, in California, stations can not charge for air or water,
however, you are correct, if the service is broken, it is all the same in terms of customer frustration.

I'll post a pic of the building site soon.

unkl300d · #35 05-29-2003, 04:43 PM

The name of the outfit is Noble Roman's, they offer pizza and sandwiches etc.

Can anybody vouch for their quality??

Thanks

unkl300d · #36 05-30-2003, 09:38 PM

sure, the retina reader will be in the small crt monitor that displays an endless loop of ads and such. It will read your retina after you've had an eyeload of ADZ.

You shall be starry eyed afterall!!!!!!

unkl300d · #37 07-12-2003, 10:23 PM

OK, finally squeezed in time for some construction pics.
The station will be a Mobil station.

gas and good quality eats and stuff.

unkl300d · #38 07-12-2003, 10:24 PM

another

unkl300d · #39 07-12-2003, 10:27 PM

Actually these are about 2 months old. So, it has progressed alot.

Botnst · #40 10-10-2006, 08:24 PM

As Deadline Nears, Clean Diesel Widely Available

By FELICITY BARRINGER
The biggest revolution in highway fuels since lead was removed from gasoline is nearly complete, federal officials said today, with most of the nation’s trucks and buses now running on a cleaner-burning version of diesel fuel.

The new diesel mixture, which contains just 3 percent of the pollution-generating sulfur that was in the old one, was to be available at most U.S. filling stations by Sunday under an Environmental Protection Agency regulation.

Like lead, sulfur generates airborne pollution that leads to severe health consequences. It also gums up the works of finely tuned pollution-control devices, making it difficult to produce cleaner-burning engines. So the new low-sulfur fuel will pave the way for new generations of diesel engines that will eventually cut lethal particulate pollution from diesel tailpipes by 95 percent.

On Tuesday, the Bush administration embraced this signal accomplishment as its own, ignoring the 1990’s origins of the underlying regulation and the fact it became effective in the month before President Bush took office.

In a press conference at the Columbus, Ind., headquarters of Cummins Engine, a major diesel engine maker, the EPA administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, said, “Under President Bush’s leadership the pumps are primed to deliver clean diesel and a cleaner future for America.”

Like many of the regulations that took effect in the twilight of the Clinton administration, the diesel rule, covering fuel and the 7 million trucks and buses on the roads, was stayed once President Bush took office. Then the Environmental Protection Agency allowed it to proceed, and, in 2004, supplemented it with a similar rule requiring tight controls on the diesel engines in off-road equipment like cranes, tractors and construction equipment.

National environmental groups linked arms with industry to praise the new fuel and the engines that will follow. They emphasized both the health benefits and the novel design of the rule, which, unlike earlier regulations, linked the development of the new fuel to the creation of cleaner-burning engines.

Richard Kassel, a senior attorney and air pollution specialist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that in 1995, when planning for the rule began, gasoline-powered cars outnumbered diesel-powered trucks and buses by 190 million to 6.7 million. Yet diesel vehicles were emitting 43 percent of the smog- and particulate-forming nitrogen oxides, and more than two-thirds of the soot particles.

Even though the diesel-produced particulates were 3 percent of the total particulate matter in the air, most of which came from industrial sources, he said, “tailpipe particulates are coming out right where we breathe.”

Diesel engines have been, in Mr. Johnson’s words, the “workhorses” of the economy and the vehicle fleet, while consumer-friendly cars ran on gasoline. The relatively high pollution levels of diesel fuel had been a significant obstacle to the production of diesel-powered cars — already a fixture on European highways — that met E.P.A. standards, but several makers of engines and autos have signaled that that new fuel may allow them to build more high-mileage, diesel-fueled cars.

TheDon · #41 10-10-2006, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by engatwork

I get my diesel from the Kroger grocery store here in town. Always lowest price with the Kroger card. Today it is $1.18/gallon.

you suck....

im still paying 2.60$ here which is the cheapest around... if the tax wasnt 13 cents a gallon youd still be paying less

i go where ever its cheapest but prefer shell diesel since its actually a premium rated diesel. my car runs better on it compared to the crap at sunnoco.

Also the gas station itself is a big factor if it looks crappy im not going to it, if the pumps are dirty, i might consider it if the price is right.. all of the fuel stations in my town are not of high cailber.. the town where i work(2 miles away, Champions Gate,FL) the 7-11 and BP are very clean due to the fact the town is a richy type deal, 1 bedroom homes starting $500,000 with no back yard and a golf coruse (search Reunion,FL) yea, all i see at the pumps are either tourists coming off the hwy or a bunch of ML's... and they ML owners scoff at me when i pull up to fuel.

one of the losers said.. thats a dirty engine. i replied.. well then your not a mercedes owner you must least that piece of alabama crap (no offense ML owners).... i promplty left a nice cloud after filling up... jerk

Carleton Hughes · #42 10-10-2006, 08:40 PM

Fortunately I do not have to worry about gasoline,except in my pre-29's.

My diesels use home heating oil bought at the best price wholesale for cash as I have 2 1,000 gallon tanks,one for the home heating system and one under the carriage barn with a hand pump that I restored which serves my diesels.

The engines of my antiques were designed for lower octane lead-free gas,tetra-ethyl lead was simply an additive used to stop "pinging"when motors began using higher compression ratios.

aklim · #43 10-10-2006, 09:11 PM

Woodmans' diesel sucks. Prariefire Biodiesel rapes it's customers. So, all other's seem to be a horse apiece. Therefore, it all boils down to price. This BP station in Deforest WI has been consistantly the lowest price so they get my business.

GottaDiesel · #44 10-10-2006, 09:25 PM

Price.

t walgamuth · #45 10-10-2006, 11:30 PM

normally i use one i have a credit card for.

if i cant find one of those i generally fill at the cheapest place.

tom w