![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/LH2TESAIPVAUTKMEJWKNRO4ANY.jpeg\")
Canada fuel prices The national average gas price on May 15, 2026 was above $1.90. (CTV News) <\/p>\nJohn Vennavally-Rao looks at the rising cost of gas across Canada and what experts say are the best ways drivers can save ahead of the long weekend. <\/p>\n
TORONTO \u2013 Perhaps no one in the country knows more about gas prices than Dan McTeague. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s been watching them for 30 years and founded Gas Wizard, a website that helps drivers find the lowest prices near them. With the national average now above $1.90 a litre, he says people are hungry for ways to save this long weekend. He has one piece of advice that still surprises many of them.<\/p>\n
Never buy gas before 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who takes advantage of that is going to wind up with a few extra bucks in their jeans,\u201d McTeague said. <\/p>\n
Canada fuel prices The national average gas price on May 15, 2026 was above $1.90. (CTV News) <\/p>\n
He\u2019s noticed a consistent pattern: prices at many Canadian gas stations drop in the late afternoon and into the evening \u2014 anywhere from three to seven eight cents a litre. It doesn\u2019t happen at every station, but McTeague says it happens at most. <\/p>\n
The exception is Atlantic Canada, where prices are regulated.<\/p>\n
The reason comes down to margins. He says gas stations control only about 12 cents per litre on fuel and the rest is crude oil costs, refining costs and taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s their profit retail margin,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd usually, by mid to end of day, they\u2019ve covered what they need to cover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once they\u2019ve hit that threshold, station owners are willing to trim prices to drive traffic because the real money isn\u2019t necessarily at the pump: it\u2019s in the merchandise sold inside. <\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the other day a can of Canada Dry ginger ale selling for $3.99,\u201d McTeague said. \u201cThe money is in food. It\u2019s in donuts. It\u2019s in coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/NXYTS7JRGRHOJH6QYN6CCK2K5Y.jpeg\")
Canada fuel prices Fueling up after 6 p.m. can save motorists hundreds of dollars a year, according to gas price expert Dan McTeague. (CTV News) <\/p>\n
If cheap gas gets you in the door, McTeague says convenience store attached to the gas station makes up the difference.<\/p>\n
Stations also benefit from volume. Moving more fuel because of a cheaper price can earn them better rates from their supplier on the next order.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like clockwork,\u201d he said. \u201cMost gas stations, not all, but most will drop their retail margins after 6 p.m. And the price goes right back up at midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says the pattern holds in cities including Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.<\/p>\n
Weekends can be even better. McTeague says Sunday night after 6 p.m. is probably the best time of the week to fill up, sometimes shaving off an extra few cents a litre compared to weekday evenings.<\/p>\n
His own wife started following the advice a few years ago after they talked it over.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s figured out that we\u2019ve saved close to $500 a year on two vehicles. So, $250 a vehicle,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the tried and true.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Vennavally-Rao looks at the rising cost of gas across Canada and what experts say are the best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":["post-672463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}