The One Trick to Never Pay Full Price for Gas Again

This post is sponsored by #Shellcrowd, however, all opinions and ability to score insanely cheap gas prices are 100% mine.

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Never pay full price for gas again with this incredibly simple and convenient program. It takes just 5 minutes to set up, and rewards add up FAST. You'll kick yourself for not trying this sooner!

Gas prices are pretty amazing right now, yes?

Let’s hope I didn’t just jinx it by saying that, because everyone knows how quickly the price per gallon can change within a matter of weeks, let alone days. But for right now, I’m relishing the fact that I don’t have to spend more than $50 for one tank of gas, and that my friend, is pretty darn sweet.

However, I’m also the kind of girl that doesn’t mind saving even more on the things I have to buy anyway, and since gas is one of those necessary budget items, I’m always looking for ways to knock it down wherever I can.

One smart way to do it is through fuel reward programs. Now, I’ve used a couple of these programs before, for the most part, they have always been grocery-store specific. While I would often save a few cents per gallon every now and then, it’s not like the rewards added up particularly fast.

Just recently, I was introduced to Fuel Rewards at Shell gas stations, and the more I learned, the more excited I was about my earning potential. Best of all, it’s pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it kind of deal. Once you link up your credit card and loyalty cards, you just buy what you would normally, then pay a LOT less when you fill up!

How to Get Started:

1. Sign up for an account HEREIt’s super easy and just takes a minute.

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2. Link up your most used credit card. In addition to the cash back percentages you get anyway from using your card, you also earn rewards for eating at local restaurants or buying products from specific stores.

FYI: If you link up a Mastercard, you earn an extra $.25/gallon on your second fill up, plus additional savings on top of your most basic earnings. You can still link up a Visa or American Express card though and get the basic rewards, although there are some more limitations with AE than there is with Visa.

3. Link any loyalty cards you have. I added Winn-Dixie to my account since they’re one of the major grocery chains in my area. I’ll earn an extra $.05/gallon every time I spend $50 at that store, and it will immediately be applied to my account.

4. Go to the nearest Shell gas station, and request a Fuel Rewards card. Not all Shell stations allow you to key in your Member ID to earn or redeem rewards, so you want to have your Fuel Rewards card with you when you stop to buy gas. Good news though — Shell is rolling out this capability throughout the year so we can eventually ditch the cards. The minimalist in me cannot wait for this!

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5. Buy what you normally would — groceries, fast food, online shopping, etc, and let the cash add up. Here’s a complete break down of what you earn:

  • Dining — $.10/gallon for every $50 spent at local restaurants
  • Online Shopping — $.05/gallon for every $50 spent {must go through Fuel Rewards site — some will double or even triple the rewards}
  • Travel — $.05/gallon for every $50 spent {must book through your account}
  • Card-Linked Offers — $.05/gallon for every $50 spent at participating retailers

6. Redeem rewards at the pump by selecting “Fuel Rewards” when prompted. Then swipe your Fuel Rewards card, or if allowed, key in your Member ID.Screen Shot 2016-01-26 at 5.02.38 PM

Here’s a quick example to show how much you could potentially earn in 1 MONTH:

  • Spend $200 at the grocery store = $.20/gallon
  • Spend $50 at local restaurants = $.10/gallon
  • Spend $50 online at Kohls for clothing = $.05/gallon

Total Rewards: $.35/gallon

National Gas Price Average: $2.37 {January 2016}

Cost to Fill Your Car With 15 Gallons: $22.20 {$1.83 – $.35 = $1.48/gallon} Cha-ching!!

Other Things You Should Probably Know:

  • There is no maximum cap on your earnings, but there is a max 20 gallon fill up at the pump.
  • If your earnings are more than a gallon of gas, the extra earnings just roll over to your next fill up.
  • Most rewards expire at the end of the month. Some retailers allow their rewards to go a little bit longer, but always check your account to see when the expiration date is.
  • I highly recommend you download the mobile app. This allows you to access your Member ID and current reward balance within just a few seconds.
  • You can also earn extra cents/gallon on specially marked items inside the Shell gas stations, like coffee, candy, and gift cards.
  • And lastly, you ONLY want to swipe your card if… {1} You have rewards on your card that you want to use, or {2} You don’t have any rewards at all.

The reason being, if you don’t have any rewards to use, Shell gives you an automatic $.03/gallon discount on every fill-up. Yay! Otherwise, you MUST use all rewards currently found on your Fuel Rewards card. You can’t use some and then save the rest, and the $.03/gallon is not added on top of any rewards. Kind of tricky, but ’tis the rules.

If you’re paying full price for gas right now….stop. This is way too easy not to do! Even if you decide to not mess with the other grocery, dining, or online store earnings, you’ll always buy gas for at least $.03 less per gallon every time you fill up.

Besides, programs like these not only send our already low gas prices even lower, they place us way ahead of the curve when those barrels of oil skyrocket yet again…..because we all know they will. That makes the 5 minutes it takes to set up your Fuel Rewards account totally worth it, don’t you think?

Do you use a Fuel Rewards program?

Looking for more tips on how to manage money better? I’ve got a whole list over on this page!

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.

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13 Comments

  1. Katlyn,
    You left out one very important piece of info. What is the cash value of a reward point? If you just accumulate points and redeem them for cash, what is the value of a reward point? My reward points can be turmed in for dollars credit on my card balance. I earn $.01 for $1.00 every dollar spent. When I accumulate 20,000 reward points, I call up and I get $200.00 off my credit card balance. It does NOT make any sense to get $5-$10 off a gas purchase by using 2000 reward points!!. Those reward point are worth $20.
    Tell everyone to check the value of those reward points if turned in for cash or credit. And remember the saying: “There’s a sucker born every second”. Big corps like Shell are not going to give you cheap gas..

  2. I have been pretty lucky with gas prices lately. My car gets crap for gas mileage but it only costs me around 30 to fill up (and I have an SUV). We use the Sheetz rewards card, but so far that’s the only rewards card we’ve done

  3. Thanks! Love this! We use the Fuel Rewards Card and also have the MasterCard. I have also linked my Mastercard but did not know I could also link the Visa card. I am Shell employee plus a loyal Shell customer. We have built our savings up to $2.10 per gallon up to 20 gallons. That is what I like about this rewards program is that you can accumulate the savings and they are good for a couple of months. Great program.

    1. How is this possible when you have to use the points with every swipe? Shell does not allow one to accumulate points. The swipe at the pump means you’re earning new and using old, there’s no way around it with them. That’s the flaw which pushed me to their competitor.

      1. Hi Tony,

        To accumulate your points, you attach your credit card to the rewards program. Then, every time you swipe your credit card you get points, and then you only use your points when you swipe your rewards card.

  4. Hi Mary. Depending on the grocery store chain, all you need to do is “link” a card. You can do this on the shell mobile app by pressing “link a card” on the left sidebar – then you click “add a card.” For the last step you either take a picture of the card or enter in the card number.

    Once you have done that – every time you use your STORE loyalty card – the gas savings will automatically be entered onto your FUEL REWARDS card. So when you are at the gas station you use your Fuel Rewards card to get your savings.

    I hope that helps clear it up!

  5. so please clarify we have both grocery store chain and shell in our area. If I use my grocery store chain card I can only get 10 cents per gall off. So if I get a shell reward card do I scan it at the grocery store? How do you get the grocery bill to count toward the shell gas reward card?

  6. We don’t have Shell here in upstate NY, but the local grocery store chain, Price Chopper, has a fuel rewards program with Sunoco. You get $0.10 off per gallon, for every $100 you spend at PC, plus they run deals, like buy ten of a certain category of items, and get an extra $0.10 off per gallon. It’s a nice perk, and certainly helps!

  7. This is new! I knew they had a rewards program, but didn’t know it was so detailed! I don’t think we have a Shell local, however (when I lived in a more populated area, there was one right down the street, but not here). I use the Fred Meyer/Kroger gas rewards program. It’s the second closest gas station to my house, and I can fill up either before or after I get groceries. I have the FM credit card, so I get an extra 5 cents off a gallon with any rewards points (saved 25 cents a gallon just this morning!). And while I do like the set up of this rewards system – getting points for all purchases, not just in the grocery store, my only real purchases are groceries or bills, or I would totally check this out further!

    1. That’s great that you have a card that works with the grocery stores in your area, Jessica! I know Price Chopper has a card that offers gas rewards as well but we don’t have them in our area of Florida. My husband is really excited about the Shell FRN card. 🙂 He keeps asking how much of a discount we will be getting on our next fill up.

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