Saving Money with Gas Rebate Credit Cards

Gas rebate credit cards are becoming more and more popular as they offer up to 10% rebate at the gas pump. There are several types of gas cards to choose from, including cards that give rebates at any gas station. Many gas cards also offer a 5% rebate on grocery store purchases and a 1% rebate on all other purchases.

More and more people are turning to credit cards offering rebates and other rewards on gas purchases to ease the pinch at the pump, particularly in these days of high gas prices. With cash back rebates as high as 5%, gas credit cards allows you to save a considerable amount on gas, particularly if you have a long commute or otherwise run up a lot of miles in your car.

In oversea, there is common practice the petrol rebate, unlike Malaysia. The situation is completely different where the petrol station itself really demanding about credit card...arrggg.

There are two basic types of gas rebate cards. Some cards, such as the Chase BP Visa® Rewards Card, are affiliated with a gasoline company. These types of cards generally offer some of the most generous rebates, however, you only receive the full rebate when you purchase your gas at the affiliate gas company’s locations.

Other cards are general rewards cards, which offer higher rebates or rewards on certain purchases, such as gas, and grocery and drug store purchases. Here, the type of reward and the percentage earnings vary considerably from card to card. Some cards, like the Discover® Open Road^SM Card, let you earn 5% cash back up to a certain limit on gas purchases and auto maintenance expenses. With others, you get awarded in points or miles, redeemable for airline tickets, merchandise, and other types of rewards.

Fuel saving devices- magnet and catalysts

Magnets & Catalysts

These types of devices supposedly "line up the fuel ions" in order to make the fuel burn more completely and efficiently. They wrap a magnet around the fuel line and as the fuel passes by, it changes the burn properties of the fuel. The only problem is, magnets have no effect on fuel or the fuel "ions". I tested one such product that sold for over $300.00!!! The other type is a fuel catalyst. This type fits into the fuel line and as the fuel runs through it, special materials cause the fuel to "improve fuel performance in the areas of decreased fuel consumption reduced exhaust emissions and restored fuel properties."

Southwest Research Institute San Antonio Txtardec Fuels And Lubricants Research Facility (SwRI/TFLRF) tested three such devices and found "Under the conditions tested no fuel economy benefit was observed for the baseline device".

Next time around I will go into some other types of devices. but before I go let me leave you with this: the best way to improve gas mileage is to keep your engine well-tuned and check your tire pressure every time you fill up.

Source: Fuel saving device

Fuel saving device- fuel additive

Fuel Additives

There are many types of fuel additives that make the same claims. These work with varying degrees of effectiveness. The most common are the fuel system cleaner types. These products claim to clean the fuel system and help keep fuel injectors operating at peak performance. It's a good idea, and some do work, but most are of questionable effectiveness at best. Now the rub here is if you live in a state that mandates all fuel sold contain a 10% ethanol blend, as I do. In that case, you are already getting the active ingredient in a fuel line cleaner: ethanol. Ethanol, or methanol, is also the ingredient used in fuel line antifreeze.

Fuel price prediction-calculation

Recent announcement of fuel price really gave us a heart attack. Immediate effect right after they broke the news. The new fuel price is really killing myself. I went home and did some calculation, observation and prediction on the whole scenario. I enclosed the price hike from 2004 till recent announcement.

The graph shows the projection of fuel hike for the past four years, from 2004 to 2008. Observe the gradient of gasoline or diesel during year 2005. There were three times of fuel price increment during 2005. An overall observation, the fuel price has linear relationship with number of year, as stated by the equation. This is very sickening situation if compared to my gross income. The major impact, as we'll notice definitely to lower income community..arrrghh so depressing..(: