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Daily Auto News

Fill up quickly. Gas prices are on the rise, and experts say they aren’t coming down for a while.

USA Today reports, “Thanksgiving travelers will find gasoline prices much higher than last year with little hope for respite heading into the rest of the holiday season, oil and gas analysts say.” According to a AAA survey of gas stations, “The national average for a gallon of regular gas was $2.64 on Monday, slightly less than a month ago but up 72 cents a gallon from a year ago.” Prices aren’t expected to decline soon. Jim Ritterbusch, president of oil trading adviser firm Ritterbusch and Associates, told USA Today that the market is in “a fairly stable pricing environment.”

Ironically, increasing consumer confidence may be partly to blame. Kicking Tires notes that “that last year at this time we had just seen the crash of the housing and automotive markets and the meltdown of the financial sector. Thanksgiving travel plummeted by 25% from 2007 to 2008, and all the talk was of how to avoid a Great Depression redux.” This year, “AAA says Thanksgiving travel will rise 2% over last year.”

If consumer confidence pushes more of us back onto American roads, gas prices will continue to rise, analysts say. USA Today notes, “The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, expects higher crude oil prices to drive gas near $3 a gallon during next year’s summer driving season.”

If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.