Thor Forums

[TurnerFam]

in all our 107,000+ miles of travel over the last 6 years, I've never used any type of 'discount program' since they tend to either steer you toward brands that might be overpriced, or they require a lot of 'leg work' to every actually 'see' the discount, meaning using your checking account for an automatic 'eft' when you purchase through the program, waiting til the end of the month to 'see' your 'savings', or something along those lines. For truckers in the 'business' of trucking and fueling almost every day-maybe, but for the vast majority of those of us just enjoying traveling, I would think it's quite some work to ever get close to any actual 'savings' that might be implied.

I've used GAS BUDDY as my go-to source for the best DIESEL or even REGULAR gas prices around the country. I simply use my credit card to make the purchase, wherever it might be, and that wmt card also gives me either a 1% automatic savings, or even 2% if at Murphy stations - which are sometimes in play. I see the rebate immediately to my account, and can 'cash out' anytime I wish, or use those to lower my overall bill at the end of the month - either way, it's cash in my pocket that otherwise would not have been there, even IF I used the 'cheapest' fuel station along the way. The lower cost of the fuel is certainly nice, when you also know that only one exit farther the price is 20 cents higher.

Some folks will just default to the 'easiest' fuel station to use, since they don't want to use the 'car' lanes, but the truck lanes, even though I've seen truck stops and the like be quite a lot more in terms of price per gallon.
Some of us will use ANY type of fuel station, regardless of whether it has dedicated 'diesel' lanes or not, but most now put those on the outside pumps so that trucks and those towing have an easier time maneuvering into and out of those stations.

To give you an example of 'savings', if you have the information and you want to use it for your benefit, is using GAS BUDDY, or the app, to look at all the pricing along your route, wherever it might be.
We left N Huntsville AL last month, heading to S Georgia. I looked at the route, mainly the shortest being 431 south most of the way, onto 280, and into Georgia. If I just looked at stations along that route, I'd probably see little savings over most others. Zooming out slightly, though, showed that several exits from I85/280, in Auburn, AL, was a Sams Club, with $1.58 diesel. Most other stations were $1.90 to over $2.20 or more.
If I had just 'driven' this route from Huntsville and had only 'hoped' I'd find a good station, price wise, I'd probably found something acceptable for about $1.95 or so, not really so 'bad', but not really so 'good', either, when you compare it to $1.58.

There are some realistic financial calculations that some of use, whether simply in our head, or actually on a calculator, that reminds you that 'going out of the way' for 'cheaper' fuel does not always equate to 'savings', though it may seem that way at the time. If you coach gets 10mpg, and you drive 30 miles out of the 'way' to get 45 gallons, which is about 1/2 tank for me, and you are 'saving' 5 cents per gallon, then you are paying an overall lower price of 45gal x 5cents = $2.25 savings. But, your 'out of the way' trip to that fuel station also cost you 3 gallons in fuel, which at $1.95 for 15 miles 'there', and $1.90 for the 15 miles 'back', renders a cost average of $1.925, or $5.78 ... you LOST money!
If a station with a lower price is 'out of the way', it's just possible, even with a seemingly 'great' price, that it won't 'pay' to go there, no matter how 'enticing' it may seem, but if the payoff is great enough, then the odds are more in your favor, especially if a wider difference and a shorter trip! If it was along your path to start with, that's just a BONUS!