Last month I wrote a post on how I get quadruple savings on gas. Since then I remembered another method I sometimes use to save on gas. This method is actually simpler for me and results in savings of over 10% based on current gas prices.
This saving method is to spend $50 or more at Kmart. When you spend $50 or more at Kmart they will issue you a coupon for 30 cents off a gallon of gas that is good at participating BP, Shell, Speedway and Kmart Express locations. You need to be a Shop Your Way rewards member to receive the coupon. Only BP and Shell are in my area and I’ve only redeemed coupons at BP so I’m not sure how the process works at locations other than BP. At BP the coupon is good for a purchase of up to 20 gallons. Since my car’s tank won’t hold 20 gallons I don’t have to worry about going over this limit.
To redeem the coupon I’ve always gone inside the gas station and let the cashier add the discount to my gas purchase. Using the coupon is easy if the BP cashier knows how to redeem it. The cashiers often seem confused at how to redeem the coupon. Luckily, so far there has always been a more knowledgeable cashier available to figure the transaction out. The nice thing about this coupon is that your percentage savings grow bigger when the price of gas goes down. Currently our local gas price is $2.69 a gallon which is a savings of 11.15% per gallon. That is a pretty good percentage savings for only having to make one relatively small purchase.
Since I’ve been reselling stuff on Amazon I’ve been buying stuff to resell for the $50 purchase requirement. If you don’t have anything to buy at Kmart you could buy a $50 BP gas card there to meet the purchase requirement. It has been a while since I’ve met the purchase requirement by purchasing gift cards so I’m not certain that it still works, but it used to work. If anybody knows if gift cards still work to meet the purchase requirement please leave a comment.
I was able to combine the discounted BP gas card I got on eBay with this promotion to get an over 20% savings on gas. Now that I’ve used up that gas card I’ve figured out another way to get 20% savings on gas. This method will only work for those who were lucky enough to enroll in Discover Card’s double cashback promotion*. Discover is currently offering 5% cashback on up to $1500 worth of purchases at home improvement stores. By buying a BP gas card at Lowes I’ll get a total of 10% cashback. I’ll get 5% now and another 5% in the 13th month of the promotion period. Combining this 10% cashback with the over 10% savings from the Kmart coupon I’m able to save over 20% on gas purchases. If you have a Kmart in your are you should give this deal a try.
* Discover is currently offering a $50 bonus when you sign up through a referral email. If you’re interested in signing up for the Discover card leave me a comment and I’ll send you a referral email. I’ll get $50 for referring you as well so any referrals are greatly appreciated.
This is a clever strategy. Another way I am exploring to save on gas is by signing up for the gas station’s loyalty program. I signed up for Thornton’s Rewards and am receiving a 10 cents/gallon discount for the first 30 days. Shell Fuel Rewards off 3 cents but you can bump that up by combining it with a grocery program and then buying gift cards at that grocer.
Jon – I’m also a member of the BP and Shell loyalty programs, but I can’t use their loyalty program when I’m using the Kmart discount. Since the Kmart discount is bigger I use it rather than the gas station’s loyalty program. If the Kmart program ends I’ll still have a nice discount available using the BP loyalty program.