This Northern California gas station has the most expensive fuel in the country - SF Gate

Mendocino is known for its Victorian architecture and striking setting on the bluffs of the Pacific Ocean in rural Northern California, 155 miles and three and a half hours north of San Francisco. But its beauty is not the only thing that has put Mendocino in the national spotlight in recent months. Now the small coastal town of about 1,000 people has another distinction: the most expensive gas in the entire United States.

The sole service station in the tiny pastel-hued village, Schlafer’s Auto Body & Repair, is currently charging $6.73 per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, according to the station’s owner, Judith Schlafer. According to Patrick De Haan, head of Petroleum Analysis at the travel and navigation app GasBuddy, which tracks fuel prices, that whopping per gallon figure makes Schlafer’s the single most expensive gas station in the entire country.

De Haan notes that this particular service station has been on GasBuddy’s radar for some time. “[I]t appears to be priced much, much above the average for as long as we've tracked this station,” De Haan wrote in an email.

A recent call to the service station was unexpectedly answered by Schlafer herself. The business has operated in Mendocino since the 1930s, according to Schlafer, and her ex-husband’s family took it over in the 1940s or ‘50s. Now 70, Schlafer has worked at the family business since 1968 and has run it herself since 2004.

This clifftop town had the most expensive gasoline in the United States on June 1, 2021.
Walter Bibikow/Getty Images

When I asked whether she’s received complaints about the cost of fuel at her station, which sells Chevron fuel, she laughed with barely concealed resentment. “They say, ‘you’re ripping us off,'” she said of her customer’s criticisms. “I tell them, ‘If you want to take my seat and my helm over, you're welcome to do so.’”

Running a small town, independent gas station is “a real hard business,” said Schlafer. Because she buys in comparably small quantities compared to high-volume stations in the city or places like Costco and Safeway, the price she pays, she says, has gone “sky high.” For years, she said, she carried up to $80,000 in debt for the Chevron gasoline she was buying. “I said, ‘I can't keep going like this.’” Now she prices it to pay for a truckload in 10 days.

Another contributor to the high costs, she says, is the fact that her station sells only gas and offers basic maintenance, like wiper replacements and brake light repairs. Other stations, she notes, have convenience stores. “It's really hard up here to stay in business,” Schlafer said. “I don't have a convenience store to mark up the food and the trinkets.” At one point, she said, she was offered the opportunity to attach a convenience store to the station, but it would have cost $100,000. She didn’t have it, she said.

The village of Mendocino at dawn.
S. Greg Panosian/Getty Images

Schlafer, who raised her kids and grandkids on her income from the family business, said she kept her station “old-fashioned.” It used to be, she said, that she had 19 employees, many of whom were mechanics. But contemporary vehicles are more difficult to service. “The dealerships want them back,” she said. “The normal repairman can't fix them.” She’s now down to just two employees.

When I broke it to Schlafer that I’d confirmed her station was selling the most expensive gas in the country, she didn’t believe it. She said she’d heard from customers about one station in Virginia that was charging nearly $9 a gallon. Another, out in the desert, was charging the same, she insisted. Regardless, she said, “It has to be that way, or I’d be out of business.”