Fuel, discounts, savings etc..

[Lloyd in S.C.]

Any of you using the Good Sams / Flying J / Pilot "RV Plus" card?

Or have a better option?

Thinking about all the fuel i'm going to need, how to save some money.

L.

[jwh5440]

Seven cent off diesel with flying just and discount propane and dump station and I think three on gas

[Selah]

There is no better option. Pilot/Flying J is the only truck stop that has a charge card that can be used at the truck pumps. I always use Pilot because it is a pump and go. You don't have to go inside, wait in line, and the try and guess how much money you need to fill your tank.
Slide the card, pump fuel and DEF, put the caps back on and go.
I really wish Loves and TA would have that option.

[mrboyer]

I use a PenFed Credit Card (Visa) and get 5% not 5 cents back on all fuel purchases paid at the pump. All other purchases are 1% back. All rebates are taken off the monthly bill. And sometimes, I use the Flying J RV card and get another 3 cents off. So if pump price is $3.00, I actually pay $2.82.

[jergeod]

RV Plus only way to fly.

[theroc]

Originally Posted by mrboyer

I use a PenFed Credit Card (Visa) and get 5% not 5 cents back on all fuel purchases paid at the pump. All other purchases are 1% back. All rebates are taken off the monthly bill. And sometimes, I use the Flying J RV card and get another 3 cents off. So if pump price is $3.00, I actually pay $2.82.

I agree with and do the same as mrboyer. There probably is nothing comparable to using the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Plus Visa card that gives 5% cash back immediately on the next statement (no waiting or accumulation of points necessary) when paying at the pump.

At Flying J, if you can use their RV islands or regular pumps that cars use where you can use a credit card at the pump and you have their "My Rewards" card (not the Good Sam Flying J credit card but just the RV customer rewards ID card), you can get the 3-cents a gallon discount PLUS, 5% "immediate" cash back from PenFed. As an example, if diesel is $3.00/gallon, that's an additional 15-cents per gallon off the price.

However, the PenFed card that does this (It's called the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Plus Visa ...click here) has always been difficult to qualify for but they have added other requirements that they didn't require years ago to get the 5% so it's not quite the bargain that it once was. The requirements now are that you have to have at least one of the following otherwise it's only 3% cash back:

• Active checking account with direct deposit ($250 min.)
• Money Market Certificate or IRA Certificate
• Mortgage
• Installment loan
• Equity Loan or Equity Line of Credit
• Thrifty Credit Service
• Personal Line of Credit
• Money Market Savings Accounts

So, if you don't have to use the truck islands to pay at the pump with the Good Sam/Flying J card --or you just want the convenience of the Flying J truck pumps-- using the regular or RV pumps with the Flying J "My Rewards" card along with the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Visa OR using the PenFed Visa at any other diesel fueling station where you can use a credit card at the pump (as Flying J doesn't usually have the cheapest fuel), I don't believe there's anything better than the "immediate" --next statement-- 5% cash back.

[Pigman1]

If you use Gas Buddy and then Google Earth to be sure you can get into and out of the cheaper stations, you should be able to beat Flying J's discounted price by at least 10 cents a gallon on diesel. This past winter my savings in the southwest was actually closer to 20 cents a gal. It varies and on the way home I did see a FJ in Virginia that was only 3 cents more expensive, but it was the only one.

[Trackrig]

While I do have a Flying J card, I seldom use it because there's almost always better prices other places. The truck stops are there for commercial drivers so they don't have to take time to get off of the main highways. The big fleets are getting discounts that you'll never see.

Use Gas Buddy and you'll always find better diesel prices. We have a 40' DP with a toad and don't have a lot of problems other places. If you plan your fuel a little, stop at Sam's Club, do your food shopping and fueling at the same time. If Sam's doesn't have some item you want, unhook the toad and there's lots of other stores within a few minutes drive. There's plenty of room at the Sam's to leave the MH parked.

We also use Fred Meyer's / Kroger's. You get 10 cents off for every $100 you spend (except of fuel). We usually have $300 a month in groceries, so that's 30 cents off per gallon.

And pay attention to what state you're in, some states have much higher state fuel taxes. Fill up before or after you cross state lines.

Bill

[Dutch Star Don]

PenFed is the BEST discount for fuel. 5 cents, 7 cents, messing with Flying J cards, is just not worth it to me. The PenFed card gives you 5% off of your fuel purchase. So at $4.00 a gallon, you get 20 cents off. You can still combine other stuff if you want.

The Penfed card is easy to qualify for. All you have to do is have some association with a family member who was in the military, even a dead grandfather counts. When they first offered the card, you only had to join their credit union with a $10.00 deposit. Now they want something more, like listed above. I opened a money market account with $1000.00 and just leave it there.

The only physical requirement of the card is that you purchase your fuel at the pump. You can't go inside and pay at the register, if you do, you lose the discount just for that one purchase.

I figure we save about $300.00 a year on all fuel purchases, including our cars. The savings is taken off your bill each month.

We rarely buy at the big truck stops because they're usually anywhere from 5 cents to 25 cents more a gallon. I know many use them because they feel more comfortable maneuvering at the truck stops, but the PenFed card, Gas Buddy and buying from smaller stations can easily save you 30-40 cents a gallon. That's lunch money.