Gas prices plunge along border in Baja
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060509-9...
But heading south to fill 'er up has added costs for U.S. drivers
By Diane Lindquist
May 9, 2006
TIJUANA ? You won't find the cheapest gas in the region on one of those handy consumer Web sites. You'll find it south of the border.
While U.S. gas prices have been on a steep upward trajectory, the cost of fuel fell dramatically in Baja California over the weekend.
As of midnight Saturday, prices at Tijuana gas pumps dropped to $2.59 a gallon for magna, the country's 87 octane fuel, and $2.78 a gallon for 91
octane premium. Prices are even lower in Mexicali and Ensenada.
The new price is the lowest since around Christmas. It compares with about $3.25 for a gallon of magna that Pemex stations were charging a couple of
weeks ago and the $3.42 price per gallon that was the average Sunday at San Diego County gas stations.
The sudden drop surprised some motorists as they pulled up to pumps around Tijuana yesterday.
?Many Mexicans are coming here and saying, 'What happened?' ? said Horacio Vega, an attendant at a station in the Tijuana River Valley.
Not that they're complaining.
Doing the math
Cost of regular gas (magna) in Tijuana: $2.59 a gallon.
Average cost of regular in San Diego County: $3.42 a gallon.
But there are hidden costs to buying fuel south of the border.
Cost of Mexican auto insurance: $14 a day.
Distance between downtown San Diego and the San Ysidro border crossing: 15 miles.
Northbound wait at the San Ysidro Port of Entry at 4 p.m. yesterday: one hour.
?It's super,? said Geneva Rodriguez, who was buying gas for her gold Mercedes. ?It had been very expensive.?
Tourists are starting to discover the low prices, too. But before San Diego County residents make a dash for inexpensive gas, they might want to
consider some other factors: the cost of Mexican automobile insurance and the gas they'll use while waiting to get back into the United States. The
wait at 4 p.m. yesterday at San Ysidro was an hour.
Taxi drivers in Mexicali were a major force in causing the price to fall.
Last Monday, they staged a protest that blocked the city's main border crossing. On Tuesday, they prevented tankers from the area's Pemex gas
distribution center from making deliveries to gas stations throughout the region, including San Luis Colorado in Sonora and the Sea of Cortez coastal
resort of San Felipe.
?We were very concerned because we had a lot of reservations in San Felipe for the Cinco de Mayo weekend,? said Mary Rivera, a representative of Baja
California's Tourism Secretariat. ?You can paralyze a city without gas.?
In response, she said, Gov. Eugenio Elorduy Walther flew to Mexico City on Thursday, and, after meeting with officials of Pemex, the government-owned
oil company that operates all the country's gas stations, secured Baja California's release from an arrangement that keeps gas charges along the
border roughly equal to those north of the border. They agreed to drop the price as much as 6 percent.
?He got a fast resolution,? Rivera said. ?The people are pretty happy about this.?
?If I have a choice now, I'll fill up here,? said Jorge Perez, who lives in Ensenada and works as a machinist in El Cajon and puts hundreds of miles
on his Toyota Tacoma pickup each week. ?They say the gas in the U.S. is better. I don't really care so long as it's cheaper.?
Fabian Guzman of Tijuana said family members from Chula Vista visited over the weekend, and they returned to spread the word about the low-priced gas.
?They have a lot of friends that are coming down now,? he said.
Manager Ricardo Chairez said business had picked up considerably at his Tijuana River Valley station. By noon yesterday, the establishment had run out
of magna and was selling only premium.
Chairez's other station in Playas de Tijuana near the tourist-traveled toll road tripled its business Sunday, he said.
?It'll be good. If we have a better price on gas, people will stay in Tijuana. Or people will come from San Diego, have a few beers and fill up on
gas.?
Not only will they pay less, but an attendant will fill the tank and wash their windows.
Still, those who live in San Diego and Imperial counties might want to assess how much they'll really save if they drive south of the border to buy
gas, said Paul Gonzales, spokesman for the Automobile Club of Southern California.
?If you're going across the border anyway, you might as well fill up,? he said.
The average savings, compared to the median price in San Diego yesterday, could amount to $15.60 on the cost of filling up a 20-gallon tank.
But a 24-hour Mexican insurance policy recommended by tourism officials on both sides of the border costs about $14 for basic liability coverage, thus
eating up the bulk of the savings, Gonzales said. In addition, drivers will burn up a fair amount of gas on the trip back and forth across the border
and idling at the ports of entry before re-entering the United States.
?Anybody who's been in that long line, saving 10 cents a gallon (net) isn't going to do it for me,? he said.
?There are lots of really wonderful reasons to go to Mexico,? he said. ?But going across the border to save $15 in gas ? you've got to think about
those costs and what's the best use of your time.?
Gonzales also said Mexican gas doesn't have the same quality as fuel sold north of the border because California regulates the refining process so
that all grades, no matter where they are sold, are consistent.
?You don't have that guarantee when you go across the border,? he said.
Tourism spokeswoman Rivera agreed. ?For Mexican people it makes a big difference, but for Americans it might not seem that much,? she said.
It's uncertain how long Baja California gas prices will stay at their current low points ? or even fall further to the lower prices that are being
charged in the Mexico's interior.
?The taxi drivers want prices at the same level as elsewhere in Mexico,? Rivera said. ?We want to equate the prices in the center, in the south and at
the border.?
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