I love my car, but it’s not the best on gas. It’s a 6-cylinder turbo that can’t run on the cheap stuff. So I try to save money on gas whenever I can. I live in New York, which has higher prices than a lot of the rest of the country. But I’m close to New Jersey, which has much lower prices. So whenever I head to the beach, I fill up and save around 30 cents a gallon. For everyday fill-ups, I have a couple of new moneysaving tricks. I used three of them last night:
Trick No. 1: My local supermarket, Stop & Shop, has a program where you collect points when you shop, and those points net you discounts of 10 cents, 20 cents, or 30 cents a gallon on Shell gas (the same program is in effect at Giant, Kroeger, and Winn-Dixie.). I saved 10 cents a gallon last night—for starters.
Trick No. 2: I also used my American Express card to pay. I signed up for a program [sign up here] where you tweet out a particular phrase and score savings at various retailers. So my recent tweet of #AmExShell got me $5 off if I spent $25 at Shell (believe me, I spent more than that!).
Trick No. 3: And finally, my roadside assistance club offered four $10 gas rebates for signing up, which made the membership practically free. So once I send that baby in, my usual $50+ gas bill suddenly got a whole lot smaller!
One caveat: I could have saved 10 cents a gallon more if I’d paid cash. But that would have negated the AmEx bonus, which was more valuable. And I think it’s super-inefficient to get cash, go inside, and pay for some arbitrary amount of gas, like $40. I’ve noticed a lot more stations in my area going to a cash vs. credit price structure. Have you? And do you have any other good tricks for saving at the pump?
