{"id":608219,"date":"2026-04-26T22:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/608219\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T22:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:49:15","slug":"gas-station-owner-speaks-for-every-californian-with-four-word-message-to-gavin-newsom-as-another-hike-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/608219\/","title":{"rendered":"Gas station owner speaks for every Californian with four-word message to Gavin Newsom \u2014 as another hike looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Southern California gas station owner is capturing the frustrations of many drivers as they\u2019re feeling fuel prices put a dent in their wallets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding insult to injury,\u201d Dave Bohorquez, a local gas station owner told ABC 10<\/a>. \u201cWe are just holding on, hoping to ride through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comment points to a looming July 1 hike in California\u2019s gas tax \u2014 an annual increase tied to inflation \u2014 set to hit drivers already paying among the highest prices in the country.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The strain on customers is also translating into declining business performance. abc10<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The local owner had strong words for Newsom. Nathan Posner\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Across\u00a0California, gas prices hovered around $5.93 a gallon Sunday morning \u2014 well above the national average of $4.09 \u2014 even after a temporary easing of global oil tensions tied to\u00a0Iran.<\/p>\n

Bohorquez, who has owned Valley Center Oil for 16 years, the impact is showing up both at the pump and on his balance sheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have people coming and literally putting a pile of change on the counter trying to get enough fuel in their vehicle to get to work for the day,\u201d Bohorquez said.<\/p>\n

The strain on customers is also translating into declining business performance.<\/p>\n

\"California<\/p>\n

California gas prices are highest in the nation. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sales are down 15 to 20%. Profits are down probably 25 to 30%, because honestly, on a normal day, we make more money on mini mart sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people can only afford fuel in their tank to get to work, it affects the bottom line more,\u201d Bohorquez continued.<\/p>\n

He described the current oil market as \u201cvolatile,\u201d pointing to rapid swings in wholesale fuel costs driven by uncertainty in global supply routes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis situation is more difficult to handle because it\u2019s sporadic. One day, the news says the strait is open. Wholesale prices fall overnight.<\/p>\n

\"commuters<\/p>\n

commuters feel the pinch of gas prices. Carlin Stiehl for California Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taken a load at a high price, and it takes several days to get rid of it. By the time ready for another load, the strait has been closed again, and the fuel prices skyrocket,\u201d Bohorquez said.<\/p>\n

Those fluctuations, he said, hit smaller, family-run stations the hardest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tougher for smaller stations that don\u2019t do as much volume. We can\u2019t drop the prices because of wholesale prices if we\u2019ve got $6,000 in the tank that we paid higher prices for. It\u2019s very hard to grasp where the trend is going and stay ahead of the game,\u201d Bohorquez said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Southern California gas station owner is capturing the frustrations of many drivers as they\u2019re feeling fuel prices…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[264260,28,264259,189781,29429,125811,14267],"class_list":{"0":"post-608219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-adding-insult-to-injury","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-dave-bohorquez","11":"tag-fuel-prices","12":"tag-gas-prices","13":"tag-gas-station","14":"tag-wholesale-prices"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}