Oct. 28--Crude oil prices keep rising, dragging home heating oil and gasoline prices with them, and no one is quite sure why. Since Columbus Day, regular gas has surged by 21 cents to $2.52 a gallon on Tuesday in the Bergen-Passaic market, and heating oil has followed a similar path.

If this trend continues, for the first time this year, North Jersey consumers will soon be paying more for a gallon of gasoline than they did 12 months ago -- as happened nationally on Tuesday.

Part of the increase is due to the drop in the value of the U.S. dollar (the currency on commodity markets), but this segment of an Associated Press story filed last week helps explain another factor. I added the boldface for emphasis.

"Energy experts are having a tough time finding fundamental reasons for the recent jump in prices, given the amount of heating oil and natural gas piling up in storage.

"The government said Thursday that the U.S. has crammed 3.7 trillion cubic feet of gas in underground caverns, the most on record.[Also,] the country has 33 percent more distillate fuel on hand than it did one year ago.

"Futures contracts may be rising on the expectation that natural gas producers and heating oil refiners will slow operations ahead of what weather forecasters say could be a frigid winter, said Phil Flynn, an analyst with PFGBest. 'They'll stop producing because they're not making any money.' "

There you have it. By traditional economic standards -- supplies are up and demand is down -- energy prices should be falling.

To keep that from happening, producers and refiners are staging a work slowdown.

CAR DONATION CHOICES: If you didn't trade in your clunker, you may be considering donating it to charity. But like this reader who wrote to me last week, you're not sure which one.

QUESTION: "My mother wants to donate a car to charity. I have heard from several sources that some of the charities are not reputable, that none of the proceeds goes where promised. Any good ones you can recommend?"

--K.J., Wayne

ANSWER: Unfortunately, too many charities give little to the cause.

The thing to remember is that the tax deduction is no longer based on the book value of the car (which was the case until four years ago) but on the sale price or value of the car to the user as defined by the Internal Revenue Service.

Unless the charity has someone lined up to buy the car, be skeptical of anyone promising "top dollar." Several also promise vacations and, as I reported about a year ago, you can cash in, but have to jump through hoops to do so.

Still, you can help a charity and get a tax break. Do a Google search for "car donation," and a specific charity you know, such as American Cancer Society or Salvation Army (both have car donation programs). Then pick one you wish to support.

Be careful of sound-alikes that use key words such as cancer, children or animals to make you think they're the better-known charities.

CELLPHONE DISTRACTION: We've all heard complaints (and they're justified) about drivers being distracted while talking on cellphones, but last weekend I almost got run down in the aisles of the Hackensack ShopRite by a boisterous shopper obviously oblivious to the world around him.

Is it that hard to show some respect for others when using your cell in public places?

Read "Your Money's Worth" blog at http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/yourmoneysworth/. Highlights appear in Wednesday's Record. E-mail: demarrais@northjersey.com

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