How To Get Free Gas Cards And Cheap Gas
Gas prices can be quite unpredictable.
Look at 2018; gas prices declined throughout the 2nd half of last year, but it looks like they’re creeping back upwards again.
But little did you know, there are so many ways to get free and discounted gas.
First of all, there are plenty of apps out there that help you earn free gas cards so your next trip to the pump is a lot cheaper.
In addition, many credit cards earn decent cash back on gas fill-ups.
Not to mention all the gas station-equipped grocery stores that offer points that you can put towards their gas.
Plus, there are a bunch of actions you can take to save even further.
By the end of this article, you’ll know a ton of ways to save on gas.
In fact, you might learn too many to keep track of!
(Hey, you can always reference this article again if you need to.)
Anyways…
Let’s talk about free gas cards first.
How To Get Free Gas Gift Cards
Gas stations do offer their own credit cards with added perks and benefits. We’ll discuss those later.
Right now, we’re talking about prepaid gas cards.
Usually, you’d have to pay for these cards up front in full and then use them any time you visit the gas pump.
You don’t always have to pay for these gas cards though; it’s possible to earn free gas cards with a few minutes of effort every day.
So how do you obtain gas cards for free?
Get Free Gas Cards Online (The Internet)
1. Swagbucks
Ever heard of those apps that let you earn points by taking surveys?
Many of them are of poor quality or appear scammy, but Swagbucks is an exception.
After all, Swagbuck’s has been around for over 10 years and they have an A- from the Better Business Bureau.
Swagbucks offers a variety of different tasks for its users to complete in order to earn points.
Some of these include
- Taking surveys
- Shopping online through Swagbucks
- Watching videos
- Verifying information about a variety of places and things
- Using their search engine
Tasks have different point values depending on how long or complex they are.
Each point is worth 1 cent, meaning you earn a dollar every 100 points.
Work you way up to 5,000 points, and you just earned yourself $50 worth of gas at Chevron, Sunoco, or Exxon Mobile.
$50 could be enough to cover an entire fill-up; for some of the smaller cars out there, it could cover almost two!
2. Survey Junkie
One problem you might run into on Swagbucks and other survey apps is “not being qualified” for a survey.
If you don’t fit the surveyor’s desired demographics, then they don’t want your information.
This can be frustrating; you’re left with no money after wasting a few minutes of your time giving away your personal information.
But Survey Junkie is different.
You see, Survey Junkie pays you whether you’re qualified for the survey or not.
Yes, they might disqualify you from surveys based on your demographics.
But they’ll pay you anyways.
Unfortunately, Survey Junkie doesn’t always have gas cards available as rewards.
But you can always cash out to your PayPal and use those funds for gas!
It Might Take A While, But It’s Worth It
Using survey apps like SurveyJunkie or Swagbucks to get free gas can appear to be a fruitless endeavor due to how long it takes to save up enough points.
But think about it: You’re putting in next to no effort and you’re still earning rewards for it.
There isn’t a lot of high-level work involved; you can slowly build up rewards while
- Waiting in lines
- On your lunch break
- Taking a walk
- Waiting to be served at a restaurant
- Vegging out in front of the TV
Cashback Credit Cards
What a beautiful concept cash back is.
Earn money for spending money.
You get what amounts to a delayed discount on anything you buy!
Many cards offer some sort of special rate for gas purchases, such as 5% rotating categories.
Let’s look at some of the best credit cards for gas and what they can do for your wallet.
3. Chase Freedom
Chase Freedom is one of the most popular credit cards ever, partially because it’s one of the easiest to qualify for.
In fact, many people get one with near zero credit history while in still college!
Chase Freedom offers rotating 5% cashback categories every quarter and 1% on everything else all year.
No annual fees and no redemption minimums sweeten the deal as well.
Every year, Chase makes gas one of their 5% categories for at least one quarter.
You can earn this 5% cash back on purchases up to $1,500 every quarter.
To illustrate how this works, let’s say you normally spend $160 on gas a month.
In this case, you’re essentially saving $8/month on gas with your 5% cash back.
Doesn’t seem like a whole lot, but it definitely contributes to your total cash back points.
Oh, and one other thing; if you spend $500 on qualifying purchases within 3 months of opening the card, you get a free $150.
That’s almost an entire free month of gas in our example.
And hey, $500 isn’t too hard to spend in 3 months if that’s what you’re spending on gas alone each month!
4. Costco Anywhere Visa Card By Citi
This Costco credit card earns you 4% cash back on fuel for up to $7,000, then 1% cash back after you’ve spent $7,000 on gas in one year.
But chances are you won’t spend too much more than $7,000 unless you travel a lot by car, so just think of it as 4% cash back.
There are some other goodies, like
- Unlimited 3% cash back on certain restaurant and travel purchases
- Unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases from Costco both in-store and online
- Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases
Oh, and as an added bonus, there isn’t a single foreign transaction fee to be found with this card.
One small drawback to this card is you have to be a Costco member to avoid the $60 annual fee.
But if you do happen to be a Costco member, there really is no downside to having this card handy.
5. American Express’s Blue Cash Preferred Card
This card might have the best gas cash back program in the credit card world.
Sure, it’s 3% rate is less than the Costco card’s 4% rate.
But the Blue Cash Preferred card has no spending cap on the 3% rate, meaning you can spend as much as you want on gas and still get 3% cash back.
What a deal!
They do have a $95 annual fee, but this is offset by their gas rewards rate as well as their other rates:
- 6% on supermarket purchases up to $6,000/year
- 1% unlimited on everything else
$95 is only $8 per month; you’ll easily make that back in gas and other rewards using this card.
6. Citi Premier Card
Do you enjoy traveling AND saving money on gas?
The Citi Premier Card earns you 3 points per dollar spent on any travel-related purchases, including gas!
In addition, each dollar spent on entertainment and dining out yields an additional 2 points.
Did I mention the signup bonus?
Spend $4,000 with this card within three months of opening it (this shouldn’t be hard if you travel often) and you’ll be gifted 50,000 points – the equivalent of $500!
All these points can be traded in to cover travel expenses like airfare and lodging.
Oh, and since it’s a travel card, the company won’t charge you any foreign transaction fees.
Feel free to use this card to your heart’s content when outside the US!
A Word Of Warning
Credit card cashback programs are a great way to save money on gas, but don’t get carried away.
You see, credit card companies spend good money and a lot of time crafting the most enticing of credit card offers.
They also know that you’re more likely to put more on the credit card if there’s a million reasons to do so.
This is why many avoid credit cards; yes, you might be able to earn rewards for making purchases you already make.
But a swipeable piece of plastic is much easier to abuse than cold hard cash.
Those with less willpower may find themselves in financial hot water very quickly, all because they wanted to see a few cashback points on their credit card app.
If you dig yourself into a deep debt hole and ruin your credit, is that 5% rotating categories cashback reward even worth it?
I think not.
Grocery Points
Loyalty programs are offered at nearly any grocery store in the hopes of retaining as many customers as possible.
Many stores even offer specialized programs that earn you points towards gas at their gas stations.
Take advantage of these programs to save even more money on gas.
7. Albertson’s
Albertson’s fuel rewards program gives you the typical rewards: one point for every dollar spent on groceries or pharmacy items.
But they also give you two points for every dollar spent on gift cards.
Normally, you wouldn’t buy a gift card for yourself; that makes no financial sense.
But when you get points for doing so, you might as well buy gift cards if Albertson’s offers them for establishments you frequent.
You’ll stack the rewards for spending money you would’ve spent anyways.
Albertson’s lets you redeem your fuel points at a ton of gas stations, including
- Albertson’s
- Safeway
- Chevron
- Texaco
8. Kroger
To gain access to Kroger’s fuel rewards program, you need to obtain a Kroger Plus card from them.
Once you do that, you can start earning a fuel point for every dollar spent on Kroger groceries.
Similar to many other program, 100 points earns you $1 of rewards.
What’s great about Kroger’s fuel rewards is you get to decide how much per gallon you want to save.
You’re not locked into “$x/gallon”. As long as you have enough rewards points, you have many options for choosing how much per gallon you’d like to save.
Heck, you could save up 1,000 points and take an entire dollar off each gallon at your next Kroger gas station visit!
9. Safeway
Similar to Kroger, Safeway gives you a point for each dollar you spend in store on eligible purchases.
As soon as you reach 100 points, you can cash out for $0.10/gallon of gas.
Safeway let’s you use your savings rewards on up to 25 gallons per transaction; unless you have a massive truck, your fuel tank is probably less than that (which guarantees you’ll get the full savings when you use your points).
Your rewards will expire at the end of the calendar month after the one in which they were earned, so take care to use them or your money-saving efforts will be in vain!
10. Stop And Shop
Stop And Shop offers their rewards program in the form of their Stop & Shop Card.
Holding this car allows you to participate in their fuel rewards program.
Stop And Shop gives you a $0.10/gallon discount for every 100 points you earn, up to 20 gallon!
These points are earned like points in any other program; simply shop in their store using the card and watch the rewards flow in.
Ways To Save On Gas
Now that you know ways to get free and discounted gas, let’s talk about methods to reducing your gas usage so you can spend less time and money at the pump.
11. Fuel Efficient Vehicles
Modern automotive technology has advanced so much in recent years, allowing cars to become more fuel efficient than ever.
It’s so advanced, in fact, that the historically gas-guzzling SUV is almost on par with economy cars in terms of fuel economy.
But if you really want to cut down your fuel costs, consider hybrid or electric cars.
Electricity is much cheaper than gas AND prices tend to fluctuate less.
Now I know what you’re thinking: you don’t want to drive that ugly little smart car everywhere.
Well, have you heard of Tesla? They make some pretty-looking cars that are 100% electric.
But Teslas are a bit more expensive.
Many automakers offer a decent chunk of their lineup as hybrids; this means the car uses electricity until there’s none left, then it switches to gas.
If your gas bill is becoming unsustainable, it might be time to part ways with your old Hummer and get something new and fuel efficient.
12. Biking
Whenever you can combine two tasks into one activity with relatively little sacrifice, you should do so.
Biking combines a good cardio workout with fuel savings.
But if you’re worried about your safety while commuting via bike, consider this:
Cities are making their streets more cyclist-friendly every day by building bike paths and bike lanes for the increasing number of cyclists.
If your workplace is within a few miles of your home, try hopping on your bicycle instead of into your car.
Not only will you save on gas AND get your blood pumping, but your commute may be FASTER in certain areas since you have more opportunities to avoid the crowded rush hour streets.
Oh yeah, and you don’t have to fight for parking spots when you ride your bike to work (or anywhere for that matter).
Just be sure to lock it up!
13. Public Transportation
Do you pay taxes in a city that has a public transit system?
Why not use it?
Now, not every public transit system is created equal.
Cities such as Seattle have made investments in public transit in recent years, so their systems are more modern.
Unfortunately, though, many cities still have low-quality public transit.
But here’s another point to consider:
Public transportation could contribute to your productivity.
See, the most productive thing you can do while driving or biking (without endangering other motorists) is listen to audiobooks or podcasts.
But when you’re on the bus or the subway, you can crack open your laptop and get some work done before even stepping foot in the office.
Or if something kept you up last night, you can catch some sleep too.
14. Gas Station Rewards Programs
Earlier, we talked about grocery store rewards programs.
Well, gas station chains that aren’t linked to grocery stores have some killer rewards programs too.
One of the best is Speedway’s Speedy rewards.
Anytime you buy anything from Speedway (whether it’s gas or one of their famous slushies), you earn Speedy Rewards points.
Each gallon of gas earns you 10 points, while each dollar spent on anything inside nets you 20 points.
You need a minimum of 1,750 points to get $0.10 off each gallon of gas.
That’s a lot more than most of those grocery programs, but remember that you also earn way more points on Speedway purchases.
Other gas stations with great rewards programs include:
- Shell
- BP
- Chevron
- Exxon Mobil
Juggling a bunch of gas rewards cards might be challenging, but you’ll be able to rack up points wherever you go.
15. Buy Your Gas Before Wednesday (And Never On Thursday)
Gas prices are lowest early in the week.
Why is that the case?
Well, gas stations know that people do a lot of longer-distance traveling during the weekends and so they’ll raise prices ever so slightly to pad their profits.
In addition, more people like to complete “annoying” tasks like filling up their gas tanks on the weekends when they have more free time.
Oh, and never get your gas on Thursday.
But why is gas so expensive on Thursday?
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases a weekly report every Wednesday that influences gas prices, so Thursday usually sees the highest prices all week.
This is yet another reason that gas prices drop towards the beginning of the week; the EIA’s report’s influence fades with each day, so Monday and Tuesday see the cheapest prices.
So the next time you’re feeling too lazy to fill up your tank after a long Monday at the office, remember that gas stations are squeezing more money out of your laziness on the weekends.
16. Download A Gas App
Yes, of course there are apps that help you find the cheapest gas prices near you.
And yes, these apps are free.
Gasbuddy is one of the most popular of these apps.
Gasbuddy shows you a map of the area around you with gas stations labelled. Next to the names are the prices of fuel at each gas station.
It only takes a minute to browse around on this app, but it could save you a few dollars at every fill up.
One Huge Benefit Of Reducing Your Gas Usage
So now you know a million ways to save money on your gas bill.
But taking all these actions to save money on gas result in you participating in something much bigger than yourself or your wallet:
You’re doing a tiny part to help the planet!
This is especially true when you take action to avoid going to the gas pump.
So if your bank account wasn’t enough motivation to spend less on gas, consider the planet you call home.
Fuel Your Savings
As you can see, you don’t need to pay whatever price the gas station charges you per gallon.
Earn free gas cards from survey apps like Swagbucks and Survey Junkie.
Rack up credit card cashback points and grocery store fuel rewards points to reduce the price you’re paying per gallon.
And finally, cut the amount of gas station visits by adhering to fuel-saving practices like biking, taking public transit, and driving fuel-efficient vehicles.
You’ll help the planet and help your wallet.
Use these tips and you’ll never pay full price for gas again!
