Americans have had to get creative to contend with the high gas prices that are hitting every driver's wallet. The average price for a gallon of regular gas now stands at $4.21, with the highest average reaching $4.33 in early March.
With no sign of relief at the pump, an increasing number of Americans who live in towns along the southern border have been heading into Mexico to pay cheaper prices. Fox 11 reported drivers in the San Diego area have been driving to Tijuana, Baja California to fill up. The average price of gas in California is among the nation's highest, standing above $5.
In Mexico, drivers pay around $2 less due to oil subsides in the country and the exchange rate between American dollars and Mexican pesos. The quality of the gas in Mexico along the border is the same as the U.S. since Mexico imports American fuel.
But it's not just Americans living in California who are taking advantage of Mexico's gas prices. Texans in El Paso have also been increasingly driving to Juarez, Chihuahua to get gas for their vehicles.“The gas is over the clouds — it’s almost $5 a gallon. We already came out here and put gas in Juarez because, in El Paso, it is overly expensive,” El Pasoan Rene Gaucin told KTSM. Other drivers said they never considered getting gas in Mexico until now.
"We’ve had a few days where it was noticeable. The people come very early, they are here at 6 in the morning. The first cars that come in are Americans. They wait for a while and the first thing they ask is how much is the gas, and then they make the comment that it is so much more expensive over there [in El Paso]," said Victor Chavez, a Juarez gasoline vendor.
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