Road Travelers to Pay More This Year Than in '06

Raleigh, N.C. — Most road trips from the Triangle cost $20 to $25 more this Thanksgiving – due to higher gas prices.

WRAL did the math to three popular destinations. The estimates are based on a Ford Explorer, the best-selling sports utility vehicle in America. It gets 18 miles per gallon on the highway and has a 22 gallon tank.

The 250 mile trip from Raleigh to Asheville will cost $23.62 more this Thanksgiving.

Drive the 226 miles to Columbia, S.C., and you will pay $22.17 more to fill the tank. A road trip north to Richmond will cost $16.72 more. Both Virginia and South Carolina have lowers gas taxes than North Carolina does, which will help.

Air travel seems to be going more smoothly than expected this holiday. Crowds filed into Raleigh-Durham International Airport starting with the first flights out Wednesday morning. RDU expects a 7 percent increase in traffic this Thanksgiving holiday. Nationwide, experts expect a 4 percent jump in air travel.

More than 1.5 million travelers from North Carolina and South Carolina are expected to take car trips over the Thanksgiving holiday.

AAA Carolinas estimates that about 163,000 passengers will travel from North Carolina and 79,600 from South Carolina. The auto club said the number of people traveling is a 2 percent increase over the record numbers of 2006.

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Don't hate Ford... They aren't the biggest car manufacturer, but they have some of the best selling SUV's and trucks in the country. Ford must be doing something right. The F-150 has been the best selling truck in America for 30 years.

Only 17 MPG in an Explorer? My wife's Expedition gets better highway MPG than that. It's a heck of a lot bigger than the Explorer.

Worland
November 22, 2007 1:08 p.m.

I've been investing in oil for over 20 years. Oil companies make very little per gallon of gas. Depending on the price of crude, profit ranges from 8 to 15 cents per gallon. That's one of the lowest profit margins of any industry.

Oil companies make billions of dollars, but they do so because of volume of sales. The media constantly bashes the oil industry but never tells the whole story. As usual, Americans are sheep and believe everything the media tells them.

Worland
November 22, 2007 1:03 p.m.

We might as well enjoy 3$/gallon now because as global demand increases and the available raw crude decreases, as well as the dollar decreasing in value, the price is only going to increase.

68_polara
November 22, 2007 11:49 a.m.

Did ya'll like the plug for Ford? :

The estimates are based on a Ford Explorer, the best-selling sports utility vehicle in America

mrtwinturbo
November 22, 2007 10:13 a.m.

Oil companies get 8.5 cents on the gallon as profit. With this they have to pay taxes, do exploration, pay employees and stockholders (like me and you, and I am far from rich.) Government, state and federal, averages around 44 cents per gallon and they do NOTHING to earn it. Who needs investigating? It is pathetic that I have never seen a news article that points this out. All they do is attack the oil companies.Of course, liberals want socialism and will do anything to get it, and 98% of the mainstream media is ........???????

weasleyes
November 22, 2007 9:30 a.m.