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Community Corner

Palatine Gas Station Drops Prices

Drivers flock to one Palatine gas station to save at least 20 cents per gallon.

The parking lot of the Marathon Gas Station at the corner of is full of drivers waiting to fill up.

“This gas station is always packed,” Frank Brago said as shoved the gasoline nozzle into the tank of his truck.

The owner of a landscape company, Brago said he goes out of his way to stop at this Marathon station at least two or three times a week.

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“The people here are so friendly,” Brago joked as he stared up at the pump, “No, people come here because it’s cheaper.” For about $200, Brago filled up two trucks and four gas cans to fuel his landscape company. 

$4.09 for a gallon of regular gasoline may not be cheap but it is the cheapest price in town, saving drivers at least 20 cents a gallon. According to gasbuddy.com, prices at every other gas station in Palatine ranged between $4.29 - $4.59 per gallon of regular gasoline Monday afternoon.

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At the intersection of N. Rand and Plum Grove, the Marathon station is in Palatine but it sits right across the county line. Located in Lake County, the Marathon is Palatine’s only gas station that does not charge Cook County’s motor fuel tax.

“Over there you pay an arm and a leg, here it’s just an arm,” said Brago.

Because of the difference in taxes from Cook to Lake County, drivers can save anywhere from 10 to 20 cents per gallon at the pump.

“It’s a pain in the butt,” one Palatine resident said he drives to the Marthon station very time he has to fill up his van. "It's ridiculous," Rick Roto said the trip can be inconvenient but the money he saves does add up. On Monday afternoon, Roto topped off his tank at the Marathon for six dollars less than what he would have spent at the gas station closest to his house.

“It definitely doesn’t cost me six dollars to get here,” Roto said, “So that would save me a couple hundred bucks a year.”

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