Community Forums

deSanford · 03-15-2012, 03:48 PM

Just received my Flying J & Pilot Travel Center's RV Plus charge card. Via Good Sam Club. Check it out on the Good Sam web site. Fuel discount and you can use the card at the pump to pay. NO CASH required and they e-mail you your charge so you can pay automatically on line. You can use EFT Direct Payment with your user ID and Password. Can be used at some stations to purchase merchandise inside. Also downloadable apps for where the stations are located on your trip. deSanford

OneRVer · 03-15-2012, 03:56 PM

I have downloaded all of the Flying J stations and uploaded them to my Copilot GPS. I got the file here, POI Factory | new & interesting places for your GPS

Dutch Star Don · 03-15-2012, 05:21 PM

deSanford......I just posted on another site about Flying J and Pilot. No offense, but I can't understand why anyone would go to these stations unless it was an emergency.

We just completed a 2000 mile trip from California to New Mexico via I-10 and returned via I 40. At EVERY location, the Flying J and Pilots were at least .12 cents more a gallon than stations within a mile.

I know that some like the large stations, but unless you go to the truck side, most of them are tighter than local stations.

I carry two things for fuel now...my Pentagon Federal credit card (5% off fuel purchases at the pump) and my Gas Buddy APP. The Gas Buddy APP will even show you a photo of the station and mapping.

We found that in New Mexico, the Safeway stations had the best price. All of them were located in parking lots so access was easy. They also gave another .3 cents off if you have a Safeway or Vons card.

I just paid my Pen Fed bill a few minutes ago. It was $1170.00 with $58.00 off for the discount. I obviously don't buy at small stations that look like they don't sell a lot of diesel, but those are rarely the case.

I know the group on here are some pretty smart/sharp people, but I find that some of the dumbest RVers seem to use the travel center. In the few instances that I tried one, I almost always found people that parked blocking the other available pumps or spent an hour in the store while their coach sat at the pump.

docj · 03-15-2012, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diplomat Don

deSanford......I just posted on another site about Flying J and Pilot. No offense, but I can't understand why anyone would go to these stations unless it was an emergency.

I'm glad you enjoy searching out the absolute lowest price when you buy fuel. Although I seriously doubt your contention that truckstops are, in general 12 cents a gallon more expensive than other fueling locations, even if they are IMHO the convenience of the truck lanes at the major fueling centers more than offsets any additional cost I may incur.

If we used Gas Buddy to find the lowest price in a radius of 2 miles around a truck stop we'd end up driving 2-4 miles roundtrip to get the fuel. For simplicity let's assume we drive 3 miles and use 1/3 of a gallon doing it. At today's prices that's around ~$1.50. Probably, at least a third of the time we're going to find that we can't get our 60' RV + toad into the gas station and probably will drive somewhere else. So the "extra cost" to get the cheaper fuel probably is more like $2.50 than $1.50.

My typical fuel purchase is ~40 gallons which means the maximum savings if I really can buy fuel for 12 cents per gallon less is ~$4.80. If it costs me ~$2.50 to get to the cheaper fuel location then my savings is $2.30 on a purchase of ~$160. I won't say that is nothing, but IMHO that falls into the category of "I can compensate for that by not buying a Coke or coffee when I stop for fuel". As far as I'm concerned the convenience of being able to pull into a truck lane without hassle more than offsets this modest extra cost. It's probably stupid to you, but to me convenience is priceless!

akadeadeye · 03-15-2012, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diplomat Don

deSanford......

I know the group on here are some pretty smart/sharp people, but I find that some of the dumbest RVers seem to use the travel center. In the few instances that I tried one, I almost always found people that parked blocking the other available pumps or spent an hour in the store while their coach sat at the pump.

Hmmm......On a recent trip we found that Pilot/Flying J usually ran a little higher than other nearby truck stops, say $0.02 to $0.04 per gallon for credit purchases. I have never seen one $0.12 per gallon higher. We use the truck lanes and we pull forward when finished fueling so the trucks don't have to wait. They are working. We are not. We have the Pilot/Flying J RV card. We pay cash. That means we get fuel for $0.09 per gallon less than the posted credit card price.

By my arithmetic, it seems to this "dumb RV'er" that we are doing better than you think we are or maybe my old "dumb" calculator is a bit rusty. Want to try the arithmetic on yours?

I am not interested in driving a 62 ft. rig all over the place looking for a neighborhood Shell station that is a few cents cheaper and finding out there is no way I can get within 15 feet of a pump.

dumbDon

SteveLevin · 03-15-2012, 07:17 PM

here out on the West Coast the PFJ's along the interstate are often the cheapest and the roomiest places to stop. Maybe it all depends on geography.

Steve

roscoesdad · 03-15-2012, 07:20 PM

We just returned from a 900 mile trip from N. Ga to S. Fl. and returned. We watched the prices along the interstate. Found Pilot and Flying J was equal or maybe 3 cents higher than the others. I do get the cash price due to my card so I feel, the convience of knowing I can get in and out without problems overides the fact of searching for cheaper prices and taking a chance of not being able to negoicate the turns of enter and exiting the pumps. My last fueling was at the Pilot on the Resaca/LaFayette exit on I75 in Ga. It took less than 15 min. to pull in, fuel with 65 gal. of fuel, and exit to be on my way. The price was $3.99 per gal.

Traps90 · 03-15-2012, 07:41 PM

While we haven't used them Pilot / Flying J I do intend to start using them and getting the Card from Good Sam when we start traveling down south for the winters, There's not enough of them up here in Canada to bother, but I do like the fact that I can set our Magdellan 9165T to find them and know that we can get in and out without any issues. Especially when we'll be close to 65' overall.

Trap

moisheh · 03-15-2012, 07:56 PM

Diplomat Don: I would have to disagree with you. There is no way that I am pulling off the Freeway to find a Safeway. We drive threough AZ, NM,CO,NE SD, and Nd twice a year and wherever possible use the J/Pilot. Price is usually competitive. Howvere if Penfed would offer that CC to Canadians I would grab it in a heartbeat. In the meantime the J has dump stations for $5.00 a noisy spot to overnite and pumps that do not stop @ $75.00. We apprecaiate the RV aisle. Yes there are idiots who park and
wander off for a long time. But that can happen anyhwere. We tow a full size PU and the rig is 42 ft. Most ma and pa stations as well as Safeways are just not worth the effort. I know that the fuel @ the J is fresh! They are the only national chain that has made an effort to woo RV'rs and I appreciate that effort. We are planning a trip this fall to the SouthEast and will seek out J's every place we travel. When we pull of the interstae and there are 4 or 5 truck stops and maybe a few independents The J is almost always with a penny of the others.Perhaps a half mile up the road the price is better but whenever I try that I end up going back as the ma and pa outfit is a dirty hole or there is no room to get in and out.

deSanford · 03-15-2012, 08:03 PM

Traps90 and anyone else who is interested in saving money at the Pilot/Flying J apply asap so you will have your Good Sam Discount Card as it takes a while to get it. What I like about the new card is I don't have to pay cash to get the discount, and I don't have to go into the store and wait behind lots of people to pay or receive change. While I'm on the road I can pay my fuel bill with a click on my wife's "smart" phone. I believe it is the SMART way to go (pun intended). deSanford

akadeadeye · 03-15-2012, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deSanford

Traps90 and anyone else who is interested in saving money at the Pilot/Flying J apply asap so you will have your Good Sam Discount Card as it takes a while to get it. What I like about the new card is I don't have to pay cash to get the discount, and I don't have to go into the store and wait behind lots of people to pay or receive change. While I'm on the road I can pay my fuel bill with a click on my wife's "smart" phone. I believe it is the SMART way to go (pun intended). deSanford

You don't have to wait for the card from Good Sam. This Pilot/Flying J program has been in place for some time. You can get a card instantly at the truck stop.

Don

deSanford · 03-15-2012, 08:19 PM

akadeadeye NOT with the savings of the Good Sam Club. Also as previously mentioned you don't have to go inside to pay etc. This is FAST in and FAST out with the most savings. deSanford

Barlow46 · 03-15-2012, 09:18 PM

With my "old" Flying J/Pilot card, I get the cash discount and still can use my 5% off PenFed Card pay at the pump. Why would I want the new RV Plus credit card when I am getting at least 20 cents per gallon discount (at today's prices) using the "old" non-credit RV card along with my PenFed VISA card.

Dutch Star Don · 03-15-2012, 09:33 PM

I was just pointing out that you can save quite a bit more money if you're willing to spend a few minutes to look.

docj......Does that mean your coach never comes to a stop. You don't stay in campgrounds? On this last trip as with most, we do stop at least overnight and other periods of 1-3 days. We get fuel in the morning when we leave. No driving around.

Maybe I was imagining what the prices were on those big neon signs vs what I paid.

akadeadeye.....If you read my post again...I didn't call anyone here dumb. When I tow my boat I'm 60' long. I don't have an issue getting it in smaller stations. I guess its a skill level!