The Car Coach: Think Gas Prices Are High? Not When You Think It Through

Price of gas overseas, as well as soda and mouthwash, is more

Dear Car Coach,

Gasoline is getting expensive, and food prices are rising. How expensive is gasoline in other countries? BB

Dear BB,

Around the world, most gasoline prices per gallon is much higher than in the US. This is the case in most European countries, for example, where prices can be the equivalent of $8.00-10.00 per gallon. In oil-rich nations like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, though, it is less expensive, often far less than $1.00 a gallon.

In Venezuela, gasoline sells at around 12 cents per gallon. It's literally cheaper than water. And in Saudi Arabia it was about 45 cents per gallon. In Qatar, gasoline prices recently increased 25 percent to a whopping 88 cents per gallon. Here is a look around the world. Maybe we shouldn't complain so much in the U.S.

Spain - $7.60 per gallon;
Italy - $8.79 per gallon
France - $9.24 per gallon
Germany - $ 9.07 per gallon
Portugal - $9.13 per gallon
Czech Republic - $8.21 per gallon
Greece/Sweden - over $9 per gallon
Denmark - $9.69 for gasoline
The Netherlands - $9.58 per gallon

Think a gallon of gas is expensive? But did you know gas compared to other liquids is still cheaper, gallon-to-gallon?

This makes one think, and also puts things in perspective.

Name Brand Bleach - $2.56 a gallon
Soda - $3.84 a gallon
Diet Snapple ($1.29 for 16 oz.) - $10.32 per gallon
Starbucks Coffee - $7.00 per gallon
Lipton Iced Tea ($1.19 for 16 oz.) - $9.52 per gallon
Gatorade ($1.59 for 20 oz.) - $10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray ($1.25 for 16 oz.) - $10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid ($3.15 for 12 oz.) - $33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil ($8.35 for 6 oz.) - $178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol ($3.85 for 4 oz.) - $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout ($1.39 for 7 oz.) - $25.42 per gallon
Scope ($0.99 for 1.5 oz.) - $84.48 per gallon
Name Brand Cough Syrup - $128 per gallon
Champagne - $755 dollars a gallon
Nail Polish - $1,024 dollars a gallon.

And this is the REAL KICKER...

Evian water ($1.49 for 9 oz.) - $21.19 per gallon for WATER

So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Scope, or Whiteout, or Pepto Bismol or Nyquil.

One could argue that gasoline isn't used in the same way that other liquid products are. For example we don't use 15 gallons of honey in one week. Where as gasoline is a sort of a requirement, you have to have it, if you're going to get from point A to point B, but we do have other choices when some of our favorite products go up.

The average American worker spends $1,100 annually on coffee. In 2011, the average household spent $4,155 on gasoline. That's an all-time high, as was the year's average price for a gallon of regular continues to climb.

Share This Photo X