National Press Release

AAA - which practically invented fuel price reporting - has upgraded the look and feel of its heavily-trafficked AAA Fuel Gauge Report(R) site for the first time since its launch in 2000.

ORLANDO, Fla., March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AAA, the nation's largest organization for motorists and leisure travelers, today launched a new version of its fuel price reporting web site - the AAA Fuel Gauge Report - located at www.aaa.com/fuelgaugereport. The site, which relies on data collected for AAA by Oil Price Information Service (www.opisnet.com), is presented as a public service by AAA.

In addition to displaying the daily average price for all major grades of retail gasoline, diesel and E-85 for the nation, all fifty states and more than 300 metro locations, the site now features a weekly commentary on prices from AAA, an expanded graph showing price trends for oil, wholesale gasoline and retail gasoline, and price comparisons for today, yesterday, one week ago and one year ago. A color-coded "heat" map has been added, illustrating average price differences among the fifty states. New links to other fuel and travel-related information sources are available and the site continues to provide access to the only daily fuel price reporting in the Spanish language.

Fuel price reporting is a form of consumer advocacy

AAA first began reporting on fuel prices in the mid-1970s during the gasoline crisis of that era. The printed news releases that AAA clubs mailed to reporters were dubbed the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, and have continued in one form or another for more than 30 years.

AAA's long-time fuel price analyst and director of Public Relations, Geoff Sundstrom, said the association's Fuel Gauge Report has allowed AAA to shine a steady spotlight on the topics of fuel affordability, energy conservation and the need for a far-sighted national energy policy. "By publishing the average cost of fuel each day on the Internet throughout most of this decade, AAA has played a major role in stimulating the ongoing national debate on this very important topic," he said.

Unmatched database delivers price reliability

The AAA Fuel Gauge Report web site is heavily sourced by media due to its unmatched statistical reliability and the ability of AAA's national and local spokespeople to comment in an informed and unbiased manner on what the data means for motorists. OPIS derives the data from credit card transactions at more than 100,000 gasoline stations and updates the site for AAA each day. No other fuel price research tool has such a large, automatically generated database that is especially useful in generating local average prices which are more meaningful for consumers. Last year the site was visited more than 30 million times.

AAA's vendor partner in this endeavor, Oil Price Information Service, has enhanced its already considerable reputation for data accuracy and analysis through its work on the project. Fred Rozell, director of retail pricing at OPIS said, "Our company has been proud to partner with AAA in bringing retail fuel price transparency to the media for the past 10 years. We are really excited by the revamped look which not only highlights the hotspots with a quick glance, but also retains the classic ease of use to which users have become so accustomed."

As North America's largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides more than 51 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers. AAA clubs can be visited on the Internet at AAA.com.

AAA news releases, high resolution images, broadcast-quality video, fact sheets and podcasts are available on the AAA NewsRoom at AAA.com/news.

Listen to a podcast about this news release at http://www.aaanewsroom.net/Main/Default.asp?CategoryID=5&SubCategoryID=48

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Geoff Sundstrom

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SOURCE AAA