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Research: Do gas station rewards help in saving money? - Credit-Land.com

The rate of inflation is on a steady rise all over the world. It has affected all the aspects of human life. The rise in the cost of fuel prices has made gas reward cards popular. Credit card companies are offering discounts on purchases of gasoline and as an incentive to its credit card holders. Gas rebate credit cards not only allow the customers to earn higher rebates and discounts on the purchase of fuel, but also approximately one percent of cash back on all other purchases. Therefore, the use of gas station rewards, has to some extent, helped in reducing the huge cost of car driving. The gas reward cards are easy to access and can be obtained online.

How can gas reward cards help in making car driving cheap depend on the kind of card that the user has chosen? Usually these reward cards have higher rates of interest rates levied on their use. The user, before making a deal for a gas reward card, needs to verify if the credit card company is charging extra charges for maintaining a gas station reward card. Two important factors that will decide if the gas reward card is actually helping to make driving cheaper are as follows:

  1. Full rebate on gasoline and its products in exchange of reward points is hard to find. Firstly, not all gas stations participate in this rebate program. Those that participate do not offer full rebates on the purchase of gas. Usually most gas stations allow a rebate extending to around five percent. The customer can look to make a better deal if they are a regular customer at a particular gas station. Some gas stations like Speedway Company, offer an extra free liter of gas for the purchase of a minimum of five liters from their gas station. There are other gas station reward schemes that allow the credit card user to get cash back of their initial purchase and therefore reduce the cost of gas.
  2. There are some gas station reward schemes that allow the customers to avail a free servicing of their cars for a particular slot of reward points. Such rewards are usually reserved for high valued credit cards and for users with a very good credit history. The credit card holder therefore needs to have a look at the different slots of reward points that will be the most beneficial for him before committing to a particular credit card. Availing a free servicing of the vehicle will be a good deal to make in return for daily purchases on the credit cards. Besides services, gas station reward cards can also be used to purchase other car accessories and materials like Mobil, engine oil etc at a much-reduced rate.

Finally, there are gas station rewards that can be used to purchase other goods. It has become a common trend that gas stations have retail shops attached to their compounds. Some credit card companies allow consumers to use their reward points to get rebates in their retail purchase from that particular gasoline brand. This extends the benefits of gas reward cards beyond the purchase of gasoline only.