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Valero gas stations in Manteca now part of Chevron system
ValeroToChevron4
Valero signs lie on the ground while new Chevron signs are installed at the gas station on the northeast corner of Louise Avenue and Union Road. Elite IV Contractors owner Chuck Dowdy oversees the workers making all of the changes at the service station. - photo by ROSE ALBANO RISSO

Gas prices are not the only ones going up again, up to double digits. At least one chain in the Manteca and Lathrop areas is putting up new names of three of its four gas pump locations.

The green and yellow Valero signs at the northeast corner of Union Road and Louise Avenue went down on Monday and were replaced by another familiar name – the blue and white Chevron. It’s a business move that’s just par for the business course, especially in the service station business, said Elite IV Contractors Inc. owner Chuck Dowdy whose company was hired to do the nomenclature changes at the Valero gas stations on Louise Avenue at Union Road, Louise Avenue at Cottage, and North Main Street at Northgate Drive. The franchises for all three gas pumps in Manteca, and the one at the corner of Lathrop Road and Harlan in Lathrop are owned by the family of Hari Kamboj of Manteca.

Kamboj said the Lathrop site is the only one that is not changing its name at this time. That’s because the gas station across the street is already a Chevron but its franchise belongs to a different owner.

The signs were not the only ones being removed and replaced by new ones. All of the old pumps have been hauled off, and were replaced by state-of-the-art pumps with the latest computerized and high-tech equipment. Elite IV service manager Jarod Burke said the replacement pumps are equipped with environmentally friendly hardware which will circulate gas vapors back into the pump and not being emitted into the atmosphere while customers fill up their gas tanks.

The new pumps are also equipped with the latest anti-ID theft device, explained Dowdy. As customers swipe their cards at the pump, the information in their cards will go directly inside the convenience store where they are incrypted and less likely to be stolen, he said.

Burke said getting the whole work done, i.e., changing the signs, removing old pumps and installing the new ones, will take about a week. Kamboj said the service station will be closed during that time; however, the convenience store will be open.