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Methodology

Methodology and editorial standards

How we verify claims, source our data, handle corrections, and stay editorially independent from the affiliate programs that fund the site.

Last reviewed 2026-05-20.

How we verify claims

Every specific numerical, structural, or attribution claim in a Gas Price Check research article is verified against a primary or secondary source before publication. Numerical examples: refinery utilization rates, crack spread levels, SPR drawdown volumes, EIA survey percentages, GasBuddy forecast figures. Attribution examples: who said what, which agency published what report, when a regulatory action took effect.

The verification process for a typical research article:

  1. Source the claim from a primary source where possible (EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report, official press releases, regulatory filings, peer-reviewed academic literature). Where primary sources are not accessible, we use established secondary sources (Reuters, Bloomberg, Axios, RBN Energy, established industry trade publications).
  2. Cross-check the magnitude against at least one independent source. Reported numbers in industry coverage often round, lag, or use methodologically distinct definitions. Cross-checking surfaces those discrepancies before they become reader-facing errors.
  3. Date-stamp the source. Energy market data shifts fast. A "current refinery utilization rate" from three months ago is not the same claim as a current rate today. Citations on our research pages include publication dates for every cited source.
  4. Web-verify on publication day. For time-sensitive analyses (Memorial Day outlook, SPR drawdown crisis, motor oil squeeze), we run a final pre-publication batch of web searches to confirm no material development has changed the claim chain since the article was drafted.
  5. Track the verification date on the article footer. Every research article carries a "Last verified" stamp showing when the full claim chain was most recently reviewed.

Our data sources

Primary government and regulatory sources

  • US Energy Information Administration (EIA) — weekly petroleum status reports, Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), state-level retail gasoline averages, refinery utilization rates, PADD-region inventory data.
  • US Department of Energy (DOE) — Strategic Petroleum Reserve release announcements, official inventory communications.
  • US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — fuel formulation standards, Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) program data.
  • US Census Bureau — ZIP code geographic data, regional demographic context.

Real-time and station-level data

  • Commercial real-time gas price feed covering 50,000+ US stations, refreshed every 48 hours per ZIP code via our caching layer.
  • Mapbox Directions API for real driving distances from a user's ZIP to nearby stations (not straight-line approximations).
  • User price confirmations via the "Still accurate?" button on station cards. Crowd-sourced freshness signal that supplements the data feed.

Industry, trade, and academic sources

  • Industry trade publications — RBN Energy, S&P Global Platts, Argus Media, CSP Daily News, JobbersWorld, Axios Business, Reuters Energy, Bloomberg Energy.
  • Affiliate partner reports — public press releases and survey data published by GasBuddy, AAA, Consumer Edge, and similar consumer-facing organizations. We cite their reporting when relevant but maintain editorial independence (see below).
  • Peer-reviewed academic literature — papers in Energy Economics, Journal of Industrial Economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and similar publications for structural claims (e.g., rockets-and-feathers asymmetric price transmission, refining margin behavior).

Correction policy

Mistakes happen. When we publish an error and a reader, editor, or our own audit catches it, our correction process is:

  1. Acknowledge the correction in-place. We do not silently overwrite incorrect text. The corrected claim is updated, and an inline note or article-footer disclosure flags what changed and when.
  2. Update the article's dateModified on the JSON-LD Article schema. Search engines pick up the freshness signal automatically.
  3. Update the "Last verified" stamp at the article footer to reflect the correction date.
  4. Email the original source if we wrongly attributed something. We reach out, acknowledge the error, and confirm the correction with them where appropriate.

If you spot a factual error, please email us at contact@gas-price-check.com with the article URL and the specific claim you are disputing. We respond within 2 business days.

Update cadence

  • State and regional averages from EIA refresh weekly per their official publication cadence.
  • Research articles are refreshed when a material claim chain changes. Examples: the Memorial Day Outlook article was rewritten on 2026-05-20 when geopolitical context shifted; the Motor Oil Squeeze article was refreshed when new dealer bulletins were issued.
  • Review pages (Insurify, AAA Membership, OEDRO auto parts, etc.) are reviewed quarterly at minimum, plus on any material change to the underlying program terms (commission rates, cookie windows, coupon codes, geographic eligibility).

Editorial independence from affiliates

Gas Price Check earns revenue through affiliate programs (Insurify, AAA, Expedia, OEDRO, Rexing, Amazon Associates) and display advertising. We disclose these relationships on every page where an affiliate link appears, and we hold ourselves to the following standards:

  • We do not run sponsored content. Every research article and review page reflects our independent editorial judgment. No affiliate program pays us to publish a positive review or a specific claim.
  • We do not pay for placements. Backlinks, mentions, and rankings on our site are based on editorial fit with our audience, not financial arrangements.
  • We publish honest assessments. Our affiliate review pages include "Best for / Not for" sections and acknowledge competitors. When an affiliate's offering is worse than an alternative for a given reader, we say so.
  • We accept losing revenue when warranted. If our independent assessment of an affiliate program shifts negatively (program changes, quality decline, ethical concerns), we update the review honestly even if it reduces our commission stream.

About the team

Gas Price Check is operated by the Gas Price Check Team, a property of Braman Analytics LLC. For corporate, partnership, or editorial inquiries, see our Contact page. For more on what we do and why we built the site, see our About page.