SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Gas prices are adding insult to injury for one Southern California station owner already watching customers scrape together change for enough fuel to get to work. Dave Bohorquez, who has owned Valley Center Oil for 16 years, said he is trying to hold on as California drivers face some of the highest fuel prices in the country and another tax increase is set for July 1.
Gas prices in California hovered around $5.93 a gallon on Sunday morning, compared with a national average of $4.09. Bohorquez told 10 that his station is “just holding on, hoping to ride through it,” and said the pressure is showing up at the counter. He said customers have come in and “literally” put a pile of change down to buy enough fuel to get to work for the day.
The strain is not limited to drivers. Bohorquez said sales at the station are down 15 to 20%, while profits are down probably 25 to 30%. On a normal day, he said, many gas station profits come from mini mart sales, but that cushion shrinks when customers can afford little beyond the pump. His remarks echo a larger problem for small fuel retailers: when households are pinched, the whole business model tightens with them.
California’s gas tax is scheduled to rise on July 1 in an annual increase tied to inflation, adding another layer of pressure in a state where fuel already costs more than most of the country. The market itself has been volatile, Bohorquez said, with wholesale fuel prices falling overnight when the Strait is open and then surging again when it is closed. That volatility makes it harder for family-run stations to keep pace, especially when they cannot cut prices on fuel already bought at a higher wholesale cost.
Bohorquez said the swings hit smaller operators hardest because they do not have the volume to absorb them. He said his station may have about $6,000 worth of fuel in the tank that was purchased at a higher price, leaving little room to undercut competitors or ease the burden on drivers. For Valley Center Oil, the challenge is not just whether gas prices stay high. It is whether a small station can survive long enough to wait out the next turn in a market that keeps moving faster than owners can reset their signs.
