2016C7.paul

Since buying my Vette in December 2017, I have quite happily become a more high-volume purchaser of premium fuel. So, I have been on a crusade to find the best deals on gas.

There are better brands of gas than others, so I have only searched out the best gas programs with the best gas blends from stations near me...namely Shell, Valero, Costco, Mobil, QT, Texaco, and Chevron. This list may or may not apply to you, depending on where you live.

From what I have seen, there are 3 basic ways to save on gas:

1) Membership rewards programs that do not require a credit card from the gasoline brand

2) Gas rewards credit cards issued by the gas brand

3) Visa or Mastercard with gas rewards


Here is a short list of the best rewards programs I have found so far;

1) Shell fuel rewards - visit the site and enter your email address and phone number (to enter into the gas pump computer as your ID) and you get instant savings per gallon. You can check their site to find out how much you will get before you go fuel up. So far I have been saving 20 cents per gallon in addition to the gas savings on my Chase Rewards credit card (see below). They gave me a 20 cents per gallon bonus for signing up, and after I used that, I discovered that you can qualify for another 20 cents per gallon by "linking" a credit card. There is a Shell near me that is usually within 5 cents of the lowest price in the area. ** A nice feature on the Shell site is that if you hover your mouse over the "station near me" map, it will show you the current prices of the Shell stations near you **

2) Gas credit cards - Valero has a good one. They give you 20 cents off your first two fill-ups, then a nickel after that. I have not applied for this one yet as I would rather use Shell with my Chase Rewards card (below).

3) Gas Rewards credit cards - I use Chase Rewards which gives you back 5 cents on a quarterly basis (currently Q1 Jan2018-Mar2018). After that, it goes down to 1% and then I will switch to my CITI double cash rewards (2% cash back on everything).

4) Costco - I am a member of Costo so if they are the lowest compared to Shell with my current rewards (which varies between 5% and 20% depending on bonus schedule) I hit the Costco pump with one of my gas cash back cards.

Hope this helps you, and if you know of any cool gas deals, please post them in this thread.

FunDriver

I guess if you drive your car a lot it could be worth checking around. But for me, saving 10% or 20 cents per gallon per month would amount to less than the cost of a good hamburger. I also have a Safeway store close by with very competitive pricing so there's not much incentive to shop around.

SRQStingray

I drive over 1000 miles a month and use Costco on my Citi/Costco card. I lose no sleep worrying about gas prices.

dvilin

Interesting post but when I need gas I do not give it much thought just get the 91 or 93 octane and enjoy the day.

cowboy casey

watch those credit cards that offer 1 or 2% back on purchases...

CC % rate = 16
Minus 2% = 14 % interest

By using my debit card it cost me 0% interest, if you paid your CC back the next bill cycle your 20 cents saved will cost you more in CC interest than if you just paid it with your debit card...

pbergmann

Good info. I fill up 2 times a year I'll keep it in mind

ccbbradford

Modshack

My local corner station is Consistently five cents higher on regular so we don't frequent it for the other cars. I just found out that their (shell) 93 is 25 cents cheaper than any other station in town!...Go figure. If I apply for their 5 cents per gallon reward program it gets even better. Look around...You may find a gem out there..

Nate@VanBortelChevy

Personally, I would rather spend a couple extra bucks filling my tank with a top-tier gas. That couple extra bucks each tank will go a long way in keeping the inside of your engine clean. Even though you'll still get carbon deposits on the backs of your intake valves, the injectors, combustion chamber, pistons and rings are still plagued by increased carbon deposits with DI engines. Top-tier is a must to help keep the engine as clean as possible, otherwise expect a decrease in efficiency equating to more trips to the gas station. Same with paying for premium oil. My $.02.

rmorin1249

I only use Top Tier, usually Shell, Mobil/Exxon and BP. I always use my Sam's Club Mastercard as it gives me a 5% cash rebate on every purchase up to $6K a year. Pay it off each month and it is pure savings. Same credit card also gives 3% cashback on hotels/restaurants.

rrsperry

Ive always wondered how those companies can offer cash back? Either everybody raises thier prices to cover the higher cards fees, or the card companies are making a fortune in interest and late fees...

I know merchants pay the card companies about 3%, so they pass that on to shoppers.

Man banks are a racket....

joemessman

I just use my Chevron card. We drive a lot and our gas bill is about $370 a month. Just pay it off. The stations on the outskirts of town are twenty cents less expensive. Tires and gas are my major expenses. $1,200 or so for tires a year and about $4,500 for gas a year.... and so it goes!
That is just on the Vette. The other car she uses just to go to the store and back.

Nate@VanBortelChevy

There are more credit card holders that carry balances and pay upwards of 20% in interest vs those who are savvy and pay off their balances and pay 0 interest. Just like insurance companies, income from premiums outweigh expense of claims. Rewards simply retain customers and bring in new ones. Merchants do have to consider the % they pay the credit card companies as cost of doing business, so yes the consumer ultimately also pays that through the goods purchased.

Grand Slam

The Costco Anywhere Visa card rebates 4% on gas purchases, including their own gas (but not gas at other organization stations such as Safeway or Sam's Club). So if you buy Costco gas you save twice.

village idiot

I just stopped caring. I burn about 1000 gallons of gas a year. Even if I saved 20 cents per gallon it's $16/month. It's good money, but hardly worth the headache.

I just wish one of my credit cards gave me double or triple gas points, because I'm a total points *****.

village idiot

I have no idea, but the way I look at it- it's a sunk cost. Prices are what they are- I might as well get points out of the deal.

Two years ago I went to Japan and back business class on points. This year I did Dallas to Aus to Hong Kong to Indonesia to Amsterdam to Paris* to London to Dallas on points, all first or business class.

Basically free at this point. Plus I get free warranty, purchase protection, lounge access, etc. I easily got $100 worth of free drinks for me and my friends last weekend.
*AMS to Paris was actually via train now that I think about it.

or just pay it off each month and get free ****. If you don't want to mess with points, just get a cashback card and get 2% back.

vxplt

Deleted to keep peace😉