Clark Howard: ‘The trend is not your friend,’ as gas prices are expected to rise

Jacksonville, FL. — Weekly numbers from Gas Buddy show the national average has fallen 0.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.65.

Consumer Warrior Clark Howard says while gas prices tend to fluctuate during the summer months, drivers should be prepared to see a pinch at the pump.

"Gas prices go up and down with seasonal factors, but the price is higher and higher and is now at the highest it's been in the last three or so years."

Clark says there are two main reasons why the prices on the rise, one reason is that people are driving more.

"As the economy improves, we are driving more and that alone obviously increases the gallons consumed."

The second reason Clark has is that the mix of vehicles being purchased has changed dramatically. Passenger vehicles used to be a majority of the market, but Clark says now cars are down to somewhere around third of the market and falling. He says Americans are switching to cross-over utility vehicles and SUVs.

"Crossover utility vehicles are extremely fuel-efficient for what they are, but because of the design of them and the aerodynamics not being as good as you have in a car…the fuel economy is declining."

Clark says these trends go in a cycle and this is just the current cycle. He says this won’t be like in a previous year when drivers saw enormous gas prices, Clark predicts this will just be a pinch at the pump.