Pay with GasBuddy

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
12/03/2018 at 16:22 • Filed to: None

For about the last year, I have been using Pay With GasBuddy which is a neat service offered by the popular gas price tracking app GasBuddy. It is completely free and offers a 5 cent per gallon discount on unlimited gas. I have been making use of this pretty heavily since I have moved to Southern California and have saved quite a bit of money. Just this past month, I saved almost $5!

Yeah that means I use a shit ton of gas but I do drive quite a bit so I am not surprised. This doesnt even account for all of the gas I have bought at Arco while driving places or other places that I have paid cash. My total lifetime savings (just this past year) represents $40.88/0.05 = 817.6 gallons of gas bought with this payment method. Scary to think about the amount of money spent on gas since just using the average price I have paid, that is over $3k. But anyways, clearly this means that saving even more money would be quite beneficial.

The new offer GasBuddy is pushing is for “Pay with GasBuddy Plus” which costs $59 per year ($49 first year signup discount) and saves 20 cents per gallon on up to 40 gallons per month. The catch here is that your 40 gallons per month do not roll over. So there is likely a minimum amount of gas to use or else you actually lose money on this deal. Ignoring the “introductory price”, the math works out as follows:

$5 9 per yr / 12 = $4.92 per month , $4.92 per month / $0.20 per gallon = 24.6 gallons per month minimum to break even. So assuming you use more than 25 gallons per month, this is at least not a bad deal . Of course, credit cards that offer even 1 % cash back or more are going to be much better deals but this is certainly better than just using my debit card!

Maximum savings is $0.20 * 40 = $8 per month, which is where they pull the $96 per year number from in the ad. Really since you are paying $59, that is just $37 per year but that is at least a better return on investment of $59 than my savings account can get me. Now that I have done the depressing math on yearly gas usage, I probably should look into rewards credit cards to see how much more I could save that way but I hate dealing with all of the fine print and “gotchas” of some of those cards. Plus if you happen to rack up any interest, you have ruined any potential savings really. This method is stress free and just saves me some money for free essentially. I just signed up and paid my fee. Looking forward to the savings today when I fill up on the way home.

Anyone else use pay with gas buddy? Curious to see if anyone has saved more than me!

DISCUSSION (26)

CalzoneGolem > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 16:29

I use this : https://www.cumberlandfarms.com/smartpay

$0 . 10 per gallon plus a free coffee and free random things randomly.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > CalzoneGolem
12/03/2018 at 16:34

Well yeah there are definitely gas station specific savings that can save more, but then you are tied down to that particular station. I like that I can save on gas regardless of the brand, that way I can also chase the lowest price and know that I am saving regardless of the card to begin with. The only unfortunate part is that Arco doesn’t accept pay with gasbuddy and 99% of the time they are the cheapest station in an area. Thankfully at home my local Ralphs has a station that is always equal to the Arco so it works out. Plus the Ralphs gives me 10 cents per gallon per $100 I spend at the store so I am able to compile my rewards effectively at home.

The biggest clusterfuck annoyance though are stations with cash/credit pricing. I try to avoid them entirely just because I dont support their shitty business model. I will gladly pay more at another station just because they dont offer a “cash discount”.

HammerheadFistpunch > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 16:36

Im using the costco card that does 4 % up t0 $7000 annually. Given that my fleet average mileage is 14 mpg...

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > HammerheadFistpunch
12/03/2018 at 16:39

Yeah, I figured credit cards had to offer way better deals! Is that 4% of $7000 worth of gas ($280 savings) or is that $7000 maximum savings ($175,000 spent on gas). One of those limits might be difficult to hit lol.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 16:46

I am still on the “use my great aunt’s Vons discount”. I always get at least $0.20/gal discount. I understand that is nearly impossible to get unless you have a special situation like me.

That being said, if I did not have that discount, here is my math:

I have a chase freedom that always has 5% cash back one quarter a year. I also have the business version of the chase sapphire card. These points are worth 1.25% when used thru chase travel (I travel enough to make this worth it). I can transfer my freedom points to my sapphire and reap the extra 0.25%.

I also have a discover it card that runs 5% cash back once a quarter. This year, the quarters for both cards did not align so I got 5% cash back for half a year. This quarter though, I get 5% back at costco so if I was willing to wait in line and fill up there (I am not) I would have 3/4 quarters covered.

I would probably get a cash back card and find one with either quarterly 5% back or a 1.5% or greater all the time. If you are worried about interest, just set a reminder to bay off the card every month or use auto pay. I also like using a cc, especially if you pay at the pump, because it gives you one layer of protection from all the card scanners that steal your shit. If you dispute a charge on your debit, your money is still tied up until the approve the claim. If you dispute a cc, your actual money never goes towards the charge, unless they throw out your claim.

HammerheadFistpunch > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 16:47

4% up to first $7000 in purchases (1% after that). According to Costco...I’m making it worth my while. ($234 YTD cashback)

At $2.70 that’s ~$0.11/gallon.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
12/03/2018 at 16:57

Haha she must spend a crap ton at Vons. I get the Ralphs discount since I buy plenty enough groceries. I probably spend like $100 a week on groceries so that is easily $0.40 per gallon each month on top of the gas buddy discount.

Good point about the claim protection. The gas buddy card could probably keep some of my information safe but I imagine an actual credit card works better. Especially since GasBuddy has access to my bank account instead of a card, it is relying on them to be secure in that case. Hadnt really thought about it that way!

I always get a chuckle when the gas pump asks for my mileage though. The GasBuddy card is treated as a “company card” and some stations default to requiring a mileage input for that. I almost always put in some super low number like “1". I was hoping if I used the same pump and didnt put a higher number, it would yell at me. But alas, it doesnt do anything like that.

benjrblant > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 16:58

I don’t use Gas Buddy, but I put my fuel and groceries on an AmEx Blue Cash Preferred card. It’s $100/yr, but nets 6% back on groceries (up to $3k/yr or something? includes gift cards too) and 3% back on fuel purchases.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > HammerheadFistpunch
12/03/2018 at 17:00

That truly is a lot of gas!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > benjrblant
12/03/2018 at 17:10

That “includes gift cards” bit would get nuts for savings at Ralphs. They often do 4x fuel points on gift cards around holidays which works out nicely whenever I need to go to a wedding. $100 home depot gift card always goes over well with most couples getting married! And then that 400 points is worth 40 cents per gallon. Adding in the 6% back on one end and the 3% on the other would be some excellent gravy!

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 17:11

That’s hilarious. I Would alternate between super high and super low mileage.

I have no idea how she gets so many rewards. I use her number at the store too, but I only spend about $50-100 a month at vons. Now, I average one fill-up per car per month so I guess it makes sense. But there was a time when I was at the gas station at least once a week and always got it. I’ll be bummed the first time I don’t get a discount, but after having a 100% success rate for 6.5 years, I won’t be able to complain haha

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 17:12

I have a shell gas card which gives me $0.05/gal discount and a PNC credit which always gives me 4% off on gas.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
12/03/2018 at 17:15

1 fill up per car per month, pffffffffffft. I have been averaging 1 per car per WEEK lol. Which is why I wanted to start driving the Miata more, save on gas and put miles on the worthless car anyways. Buuuut obviously that plan is foiled until I find another!

Textured Soy Protein > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 17:15

Looks like it doesn’t work at Costco. When I lived in Madison, that was the cheapest spot for premium unleaded by far.

Here in the DC burbs where I am now, the cheapest station for premium is a ratty little Gulf station. No GT40s are present, unfortunately.

Kinja'd!!!

I wonder if the GasBuddy card works at this particular Gulf? All the Pay with GasBuddy site says is this:

You can use your Pay with GasBuddy card at 95% of the fuel stations nationwide – some small, local, retailers may not accept the Pay with GasBuddy card. All major fuel retailers accept the Pay with GasBuddy card with the exception of the following brands: Exxon Mobil, BJs, Costco, Sam’s Club, H-E-B, Select Walmart stations, Select Arco Stations.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 17:29

An 8 mile commute (one-way) and a 600 mile range is nice haha. Plus the other car only really comes out when it’s nice, I have a free 2 hours, traffic is light, and I feel like going for a drive. I try to drive once a week, but I’ve been slipping this year. And now that it is dark when I get home, it’s unlikely I’ll take it out for a weeknight stroll.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Textured Soy Protein
12/03/2018 at 17:34

Yeah it seems random to me the stations that sometimes do not accept the card. I have specifically ran into the Exxon Mobil exception and was just confused why it declined. Arco just doesnt accept credit cards at all and half of their pumps dont accept any cards for that matter (sporadically, they are just ghetto and broken). Arco is also the only station I have seen to randomly have pumps selling 90 instead of 91. But anyways, it seems most places that take credit card at the pump seem to work just fine.

You could not give me enough of a discount to wait in the damn line at Costco. It is generally only a little cheaper than the Ralphs in my area anyways. The bigger problem though is that Costco premium has been rumored to get worse gas mileage for some people. I am wondering if there have been any documented studies done on this.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
12/03/2018 at 17:37

Gotta get some Kavinsky - Outrun playing and driving around at night in the Ferarri though!

E92M3 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 17:39

You should think about getting a 2% cashback on all purchases Fidelity Credit Card. Unless you think you won’t have the self control to not make un eccessary purchases. They could raise it to 2.5 or 3% in the future if interest rates go up more.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > E92M3
12/03/2018 at 17:47

Its certainly not a bad idea. I had a rewards card with Virgin America to reap airline reward miles but I am not doing nearly as much personal flying anymore. And Virgin got bought and canceled my card anwyays. So I need to start comparing the different credit cards out there and find one that maximizes the fuel savings. And then just use it for ONLY that purpose.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 17:56

Hahah YES!

E92M3 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 18:44

Is there a Costco near you?

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > E92M3
12/03/2018 at 18:57

I am not a fan of waiting on the costco lines for gas! I can’t really rely on trying to go at “off times” either. Pretty much 100% of the time I go get gas after work when I get home which is probably one of the worst times to go to Costco.

E92M3 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 19:11

Yeah...if you can’t go on the way to work ear ly in the morning, then forget it. I wouldn’t go out of the w ay for it either. B ut if you are going to pass it anyway, you won’t find a better price.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > E92M3
12/03/2018 at 19:26

I get on the road at about 620am to get to work by 7am. While I believe they might actually be open then, there is no way I am waking up earlier for the purpose of getting gas. If I am low on gas in the morning I will end up just wasting my lunch break to go get gas and end up paying more while near work. It does also mean a slightly longer route just because its the opposite direction of the freeway but its walking distance from home so I cant really say its far.

random001 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 19:45

Costco Anywhere Visa, 4% cash back on gas at gas stations that aren’t grocery stores.

random001 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/03/2018 at 19:50

Oh, I mentioned above. 4% cash back on gas with their card. at gas stations, up to $7000 in gas a year.