What $4.48 gasoline actually means for a plumber's vans, a cleaning crew and a mobile groomer

The national average for regular gasoline was $4.4825 a gallon on Thursday, according to AAA. That is up from $4.0991 a month ago and $3.1634 a year ago. The government's weekly survey shows the same trend: the Energy Information Administration put regular at $4.478 for the week of September 21, up 16 cents in a week and $1.305 from a year earlier. In the Midwest, the price rose almost 30 cents in that single week.

Diesel gets most of the attention because it is at a record, and we covered what it does to truckers, landscapers and farms on Tuesday. But most service businesses, including plumbers, cleaners, groomers, handymen and home-care agencies, drive gasoline vans and cars, and gasoline prices are rising too. Here is what the increase costs three of them. The mileage and fuel economy figures are examples, so use your own.

The plumbing shop with four vans: about $8,100 a year, or $1.93 a call

Take a service van that covers 1,800 miles a month at 14 miles per gallon. It burns about 128.6 gallons a month. At $1.3191 a gallon more than a year ago, that is $169.60 a month extra per van. Four vans cost $678.39 a month more, or about $8,141 a year.

Spread across the work, the number gets much smaller. A van that runs four calls a day for 22 working days handles 88 calls a month, so the added fuel works out to $1.93 a call. A shop that charges a trip or dispatch fee can cover the whole increase by raising it by $2. A shop that has quietly absorbed the increase all year has lost about $8,000 of margin without ever deciding to. CheckThisBiz lists 27,975 independent plumbing businesses.

Where the van is based makes a big difference. EIA's regional averages for the week were $5.600 on the West Coast and $3.972 on the Gulf Coast. At the same mileage, the West Coast van costs $209.31 a month more to fuel than the Gulf Coast van. A national per-call number does not fit every shop, so work it out with your local price.

The cleaning company that pays mileage: the IRS rate covers it

For a residential cleaning company whose workers drive their own cars between houses, the owner pays for fuel through mileage reimbursement. The IRS raised its business standard mileage rate in the middle of the year, to 76 cents a mile from July 1, up from 72.5 cents in the first half of 2026 and 70 cents for 2025.

Take a cleaner who drives 600 work miles a month in a car that gets 25 miles per gallon. The fuel costs $107.58 a month at today's price, compared with $75.92 a year ago, an increase of $31.66. Reimbursement at the full IRS rate rose from $420 to $456, an increase of $36. At 25 mpg, fuel is about 18 cents of each 76-cent mile. That leaves most of the rate for wear, insurance and depreciation, which is what it is designed to cover.

The businesses exposed here are the ones that reimburse a flat amount set a year or two ago, or a per-mile rate well below the IRS figure. When fuel rises, the worker covers the difference. Some states, including California, require employers to reimburse necessary work expenses, so check the rule in your state. CheckThisBiz lists 10,009 independent cleaning businesses.

The mobile groomer: about $1 an appointment

A converted grooming van is heavy and uses a lot of fuel. At 10 miles per gallon and 1,000 miles a month, it burns 100 gallons, which costs $131.91 a month more than a year ago. A groomer seeing six dogs a day for 22 days has 132 appointments a month, so the increase is almost exactly $1 an appointment. A $75 groom that has kept the same price since last fall has given up that dollar. CheckThisBiz lists 53,739 independent pet-service businesses, which includes groomers, sitters and boarding.

Where gasoline could go next

Morgan Stanley analysts warned this week that a ban on U.S. diesel exports, which some senators are pushing, could raise gasoline prices, according to OilPrice.com, citing a note carried by Bloomberg. Their argument is that refiners would run out of storage for the diesel they could not export, cut how much crude they process, and so produce less gasoline as well. The White House denied on Wednesday that a ban is in the works, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright said a ban "definitely doesn't work." For owners, the point is that the policy debate could push prices either way, so a pricing change should not be built on a bet that gasoline falls soon.

What to actually do

• Work out your cost per job, not per gallon. Divide the monthly fuel increase by the monthly number of jobs. For most service businesses, the answer is between $1 and $3.
• Recover it through a line item you can change later. A trip fee, dispatch fee or fuel surcharge can be lowered when prices fall, which is harder to do with a base-rate increase.
• Check your mileage policy against 76 cents. If you reimburse less than that, find out what your workers are actually spending on fuel.
• Ask your accountant which method your vehicles use. Standard mileage and actual expenses give different deductions, and at these fuel prices the difference is larger for vans with poor fuel economy.

Sources: AAA; U.S. Energy Information Administration; Internal Revenue Service; OilPrice.com (Morgan Stanley note via Bloomberg; White House and Energy Department statements); business counts from CheckThisBiz. Vehicle examples are illustrative. This is general information, not tax or financial advice.