Sell me on the best fuel discount card

[Acheron2010]

I'm curious if any of the current fuel discount - Flying J, Shell, etc, are a deal, or just one more card to use for scraping ice off the windows.
Your wisdom and experience appreciated.

[mayco]

Ducks Unlimited 5% back on fuel charges.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...mpRx5STQnESD0q

[eubank]

We've tried this and that. Not enough of a discount to bother with, maybe up to 10%. However, I do use my Kroger card, which works anywhere at the Kroger family of stores. And if you do all of your food and pharmacy purchases there, you can rack up a pretty good discount, up to $1.00 per gallon off.

Lynn

[metrowoman]

Our Costco Visa card offers 4% cash back on gas purchases annually up to first $7,000 in purchases and then 1% after that.

[Mollysdad]

My local Publix grocery allows you to buy a $50 Shell gift card for $40. (About every three weeks, restrictions apply.) That's 20%!
On top of that I use the Shell discount rewards for $0.05 a gallon.
The real beauty is that no personal information is stored on either.
Let the skimmers skim!

[Rich W]

Good Sam membership offers 3¢ (used to be 5¢) per gallon at Pilot & Flying J. Kroger discount is also available at some Shell stations if Kroger (or Kroger family) is in the same state. In most cases you have to select the discount option before inserting your credit card.

If the gas station or Interstate marker has this logo, it's owned by Kroger and you can get your discount.

[kidjedi]

Originally Posted by richw46

Good Sam membership offers 3¢ (used to be 5¢) per gallon at Pilot & Flying J.

Buyer, beware: Pilot and Flying J are almost always *at least* 10¢ more per gallon to begin with, so this is not a deal (you *still* almost always end up paying *more* per gallon). I purchased a Good Sam membership mainly for this purpose and won't be renewing my membership.

[PatLee]

Pentagon Federal Cash Awards Visa card gives 5% discount at all gas stations. They refer to it as the "green card." I use it for gas only when I travel. One caveat - you have to use it at the pump. If you use it inside the store, you won't get the discount.

[dnas]

We use BP, which offers $.10 off on each gallon.

[MrRetentive]

Gas Buddy is good at most gas stations as long as you pay at the pump. Savings are a nickel per gallon. Often they offer even more off per gallon. They have a great app that helps you find the lowest price near you. We’ve been using it for years.

[Backfortyjoe]

I use a Pen Fed card that is good at any gas station for 5% for any type of fuel. At the end of the month they minus your account due for the rewards.

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by Acheron2010

I'm curious if any of the current fuel discount - Flying J, Shell, etc, are a deal, or just one more card to use for scraping ice off the windows.
Your wisdom and experience appreciated.

Them truck stops charge more to begin with..no deals...

[superChop]

Great thread, with lots of advice! After reading all the advice, the word in my title came to mind! From our cross country trips over the past two years, flexibility is the best tool In My Opinion. For example, during our first winter stay in LYH in Melbourne, n Friday, we took a trip north to Merritt Island National Wildlife Reserve to view some manatees! On the drive South we found a Flying J advertising per gallon charge of $2.02, while the other stations in the area were all at $2.10 and higher. I put my Good Sam card in and the cost per gallon was reduced to $1.97! So, my Good Sam card took a welcome .05 off per gallon. Now to the flexibility portion. We have found few Kroger locations where we would be willing to fuel up while hooked up to Gracie or Leilani, our 26’ and 34’ AS’. Truck stops usually have more space as all of you know. So, my wife and navigator locates a fuel stop at any truck stop via GasBuddy enroute on a towing trip and if we find another gas station, in view as we exit the interstate, with lower prices and has a lot of space for TV AND AS, we use them. Plus, truck stops usually have better parking after refueling for using bathrooms, with more stalls, and often cleaner than other small footprint gas stations, and purchasing food. Gas stations with a smaller footprint may have lower prices in a given area, but I prefer using them without an AS hanging on the back of my TV!

Plus, on a purely personal and practical perspective - “Is saving .05 per gallon at a small footprint gas station worth the worry of getting stuck at the pump if people park near your vehicle and making entry/exit challenging to impossible”? If I put 26 gallons in my TV, at .05 more at a truck stop, I have paid $1.30 more for my refill. Not sure that is a huge impact on our large costs of AS ownership and other travel costs?

Not to take over the thread, but to provide additional discussion on when and where to get gas. A follow-on question, when do you begin looking for a fuel stop on a day long tow when East of the Mississippi R where fuel stops are normally at good intervals AND you cannot reach your destination with the remaining gas in the tank. I know this question does not apply to the large distances in many locations out West between refueling options, like in W. Texas! We plan on 10MPG with our gas TV and 340 mile range on our 34 gallon tank. We start looking for gas when the gauge is between 1/4 to 1/2 full, depending on the urgency and need for a bio break!

[BobnGayl]

Many cards offer cents off per gallon and many have limits on how many total gallons or dollars they discount per year. This is a pain since you may not be getting the discount you think you are. The bigger issue is that 5 cents per gallon is quite a bit less than 5% unless gas gets to $1.00/gallon again (unlikely IMHO). We make life simple and use a Discover Gas Card when their discount is 5% since 5% of $2.50/gallon equals 12.5 cents/gallon. And of course even more if gas is higher priced. They usually make this offer for 2 or 3 months each year which happily for us is often when we are doing a lot of long distance driving. When Discover changes to their more typical 2% we go with our AMEX card since they give back 2% and we get a lot of Delta Airlines miles for our AMEX purchases. Plus a free domestic ticket each year. The advantage of using Discover or AMEX is the discount works at all gas stations - we aren't limited to certain brands or locations. And we don't have to carry extra discount cards. To each their own, just look at percentage versus cents.

[Airstreamfan]

Originally Posted by kidjedi

Buyer, beware: Pilot and Flying J are almost always *at least* 10¢ more per gallon to begin with, so this is not a deal (you *still* almost always end up paying *more* per gallon). I purchased a Good Sam membership mainly for this purpose and won't be renewing my membership.

YES! I just drove 4200 miles round trip, California and back. Diesel truck. All the Pilot and Flying J stores were 10 cents to 15 cents more than even other stations at the same exit! Their discount card is useless.....I just experienced this for the first time 2 weeks ago.....live and learn.

[JCWDCW]

I'm with Molly's dad
I use the shell discount card because I like Shell gas.
If I'm going to gas up at Shell anyways then I'll keep the $1.30 thankyou .
At least the 5 cents makes up for getting caught in a higher priced local and needing fuel. I've seldom got caught in a tiight spot in regular stations but if need. be I just don't go in and move on.
JCW

[jcanavera]

I carry the BP app and the Shell app on my iPhone. Offers anywhere to 5-10 cents a gallon discount. Had the Phillips 66 app but found that they do not honor Discover card via the app. I've also found that some app's offering discounts cannot use their Apple Pay interface since some credit card vendors don't allow access via Apple Pay.

I try to tie my major credit cards into the apps rather than obtaining a separate card from the gas company.

Some of the apps are pretty neat since they allow you authorize the pump and pay for your fuel either though the app or via Apple Pay. I like using those apps since you can sit in your vehicle, let them know the pump you are at and the pump is then authorized. Then you get out of the car, select you octane and pump the gas. Quick and easy and minimizes your time fooling around with the pump.

Jack

[ROBERT CROSS]

Shell & Speedway/Marathon.
But, with a 32g tank it's the dollar limit, start again to get it full rig-a-ma-roll that's a Pain.

Bob
🇺🇸

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by kidjedi

Buyer, beware: Pilot and Flying J are almost always *at least* 10¢ more per gallon to begin with, so this is not a deal (you *still* almost always end up paying *more* per gallon). I purchased a Good Sam membership mainly for this purpose and won't be renewing my membership.

I use the Gas Buddy app to find the lowest price when I'm traveling. If it happens to be Pilot or Flying J then I use them or Kroger if they are the lowest. I haven't taken a long trip since last fall, but locally gas is down below $2 now, but we are cocooning.

[ghaynes755]

If you are buying diesel get this https://www.tsdlogistics.com/services/fuel-program/. Like the GoodSam program they pull payment from a checking account. Program is explained on their website. Serious savings. 5% programs or 8 cents off. Fugedaboutit. Last stop a few days ago I paid 49 cents less than the 5% program. $1.787 vs $2.389 cash price.