There is a way that you can save from 3% to 14% on gas purchases. This strategy requires no special gadgets or fuel additives and does not require you to change your driving habits or your car.
There are a number of alternatives that will result in savings. Among the best is the use of credit cards that offer rebates. By using the right cards you can lower your costs without having to change your driving habits or do any special maintanance on your car.
Many gas companies offer credit cards that pay rebates on gas purchases. The typical card will rebate you 10% on your gas purchases for the first two or three months and then rebate you 5% on your gas purchases thereafter.
For example currently BP has a credit card that will pay 10% for the first 60 days for BP gas purchases and 5% for BP gas purchases after 60 days. These cards generally offer 1% rebates on other purchases and can be used anywhere Visa or MasterCard is accepted.
The credit card explained above is specifically for BP branded stations. You can not have a rebate at other stations. Instead of a gas company card a general market card might be a good choice if you need to use many different branded stations.
Generally most credit card companies have gas rebate plans. One such company is Discover Card. They currently issue a Discover Gas Card. This credit card will provide a rebate of 5 per cent of your gasoline purchases. The Discover card generally gives you a 1 per cent rebate on other items you purchase.
More examples: Chase has a gas Card that will give you a rebate of 6% for gas purchases for the first 60 days and then gives you a 3% rebate. Citicard has a similar program.
Both types of cards, the ones that provide savings only at specific company stores and the general market cards have advantages and disadvantages. The advantage to using a general market card is that you can use the general market card to buy fuel at any station and get the rebate. The card issued by the gas company only pays you the rebate at the gas company's branded gas stations.
But, the advantage to the gas company card is that you receive a 10 percent rebate for the initial period where as the general market card does not pay that high.
That is the main strategy for getting a discount of anywhere from 4 percent up to 10 percent. Certainly any rebate is welcome in light of the cost of gasoline. 4% is good and 10% is even better. But there may be a way to cut your cost of gas even more. Maybe even to 14%.
Here's how. Many gas companies offer pre paid gas cards or gas gift cards. In many cases these prepaid cards will offer a bonus or discount. For example in some cases you can purchase a $50 gas card for $48.
That means you pay $48 for the card but the card allows you to buy $50 worth of gas. That is the same as getting a 4% discount. In most cases you must buy these prepaid cards at the gas outlet.
If you can buy the prepaid or gift card with the credit card issued by a gas company card during the initial period when there is a 10% rebate on that purchase and if you can find it and buy it at the gas card company station then you have earned a 10% rebate on the $48.00 you spent on the card.
Then if you are buying a prepaid card that gives you a 4% discount, the $50 dollar card for $48 cost, you are compounding your savings.
You are getting a 10% savings on the rebate and you are getting a 4% savings on the prepaid card. In total you are getting a 14% savings!
Career Products on our marketplace
Additional Articles From -
Home |
Career