Holiday travel caused a spike in gas prices to close the year, but price hikes have stalled. 

According to AAA, gas prices will continue to dip but probably won’t reach Christmas Eve lows. 

“As we head toward February, pump prices will likely dip, barring any jolt in the global oil market,” said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson. “But it is likely that the national average prices we saw heading into Christmas may have been the lows for this winter.”

Holiday Demand Drives Gas Prices Up

A half-million barrel-per-day spike in domestic gas demand partly spurred the two-week rise in prices that began on Christmas.

That demand has since dropped by nearly two million barrels per day, explaining the current dip.

Current Price Lower Than Last Month and Last Year

As of Wednesday, the average national unleaded gasoline price was $3.26 — down one cent from Tuesday and level with last Wednesday’s average. 

Despite wild fluctuations in the gas market of the past year, today’s average national unleaded gasoline price is one cent less than it was a month ago and three cents less than it was one year ago. 

So while gas is higher than it was on Christmas Eve when the average national price was $3.09, it’s certainly lower than it was a year ago and much lower than it was this summer when it set all-time records. 

Gas Prices and the Used Car Market

The small blip in gas prices over the holiday didn’t have a noticeable effect on larger used vehicle sales on the Carmigo marketplace, though it’s too early to tell with the larger market. 

Likely this week’s halt in raises will be enough to continue to give consumers confidence in larger vehicle purchases.