Unless you can park your car and drive less, the best way to deal with soaring gasoline prices is to hunt for the lowest price, and chose the best way to pay
Some stations offer cash discount of 10 to 15 cents a gallon. Just remember, gas stations don’t consider debit cards to be cash, so no discount for using them.
If you pay with a credit card, make sure you get the biggest payback.
“You’ll probably get a better deal with a general-purpose card that has strong gas rewards,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst with Bankrate.com. “The gas stations themselves tend to offer cards with five or 10-cent per gallon discounts. That’s not as meaningful as getting three, four, or five percent off with other rewards cards.”
Bankrate has a list of credit card with the best gas rewards.
Of course, Costco and Sam’s Club, sell fuel at discounted prices. But you can also save by using their credit cards at most other service stations.
Save even more by stacking discounts, such as using grocery rewards, and then paying with a gas rewards credit card.
How accurate are those gas price apps?
Gasoline prices are constantly changing right now. That means prices within a few miles of your home or office can vary greatly.
A lot of drivers rely on gas apps to help them find the cheapest fuel. These apps count on fellow motorists to report on prices when they fill up.
But are they accurate in today’s marketplace, where prices can change several times a day?
Bankrate’s Rossman cautions that the information provided by these apps is sometimes outdated
“So, it’s important to shop around, but take it with a grain of salt,” he said. “This is evolving rapidly, and not all the apps and websites have the latest information.”
To get a first-hand look at the marketplace, Checkbook.org surveyed prices at 14 stations in the Seattle area using two popular apps, GasBuddy and GasGuru. Both were wrong nearly half the time, six out of 14 stations – sometimes too high, sometimes too low.
Checkbook’s advice: If you use any app that tracks gas prices, check to see when that listing was last updated before you drive out of your way to that service station.
More Info: How to Save Money at the Pump and Boost Your Car’s Gas Mileage
