Gasoline prices are poised to turn in a record annual average price in 2012, as drivers faced their own fiscal cliff at the pump.

"Gas prices in 2012 are likely to be the most expensive ever on an annual basis," Michael Green of the American Automobile Association said in an interview with MarketWatch.

With just over a month to go, the national average in 2012 is $3.63 a gallon, outpacing 2011's annual record of $3.51, Green said.

That's in spite of the fact that it has cost less to fill up in recent weeks. The average price of a gallon of gas in November is on track to be the lowest month since July, Green noted.

Gas prices have pinched consumer wallets already this year, and now they face tax increases and government spending cuts in 2013 unless Congress and President Obama can forge a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" before year-end.

Prices are down from a high of $3.93 a gallon in April. Thursday's national average of $3.41 a gallon is 11 cents more than it was a year ago on the same date, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Nationwide, gas prices on average have dropped 46 cents since Sept. 14, one day ahead of the annual transition to winter-blend gasoline through much of the USA.

In 2012, the national average price of gasoline has broken a daily record high 100 straight days and for 214 days, or 64%, so far this year, Green said.

USA Today