There are a number of alternatives that will result in savings. Among the best is the use of credit cards that offer rebates. By using the right cards you can lower your costs without having to change your driving habits or do any special maintanance on your car.

Gas companies still need to compete for your business. They don't compete on price so they have to use other methods. One method used from time to time is credit cards with rebates. The average card will rebate you 10% on your purchases at their stations. Included in those purchases are your purchases for gas. The 10% rebate is usually the first two or three months that you have the card and after that the rebate changes to 5% on your gas purchases thereafter.

For example currently BP has a credit card that will pay 10% for the first 60 days for BP gas purchases and 5% for BP gas purchases after 60 days. These cards generally offer 1% rebates on other purchases and can be used anywhere Visa or MasterCard is accepted.

The credit card explained above is specifically for BP branded stations. You can not have a rebate at other stations. Instead of a gas company card a general market card might be a good choice if you need to use many different branded stations.

Generally most credit card companies have gas rebate plans. One such company is Discover Card. They currently issue a Discover Gas Card. This credit card will provide a rebate of 5 per cent of your gasoline purchases. The Discover card generally gives you a 1 per cent rebate on other items you purchase.

Other companies that issue gas rebate cards are Chase and Citibank. Citibank has a gas credit card that provides a rebate of 6% for gasoline purchases for the first 2 months and then provides a 3% rebate thereafter. Chase has a program much like Citibank.

Both types of cards, the ones that provide savings only at specific company stores and the general market cards have advantages and disadvantages. The advantage to using a general market card is that you can use the general market card to buy fuel at any station and get the rebate. The card issued by the gas company only pays you the rebate at the gas company's branded gas stations.

On the other hand the gas company credit card will generally pay you a premium of 10 percent or 8 percent for the first 60 days where the general market card may not.

That above strategy will get you a discount of 3 percent up to 10 percent. 3% is good and 10% is even better, but what about getting the savings up to 14%? There is a trick you can utilize to do that.

Many gas stations sell pre paid gas cards or gasoline gift cards. Many times these prepaid cards will offer a discount. In some cases for $48 you can purchase a $50 gas card

That means you pay $48 for the card but the card allows you to buy $50 worth of gas. That is the same as getting a 4% discount. In most cases you must buy these prepaid cards at the gas outlet.

If you can buy the prepaid or gift card with the credit card issued by a gas company card during the initial period when there is a 10% rebate on that purchase and if you can find it and buy it at the gas card company station then you have earned a 10% rebate on the $48.00 you spent on the card.

Then if you are buying a prepaid card that gives you a 4% discount, the $50 dollar card for $48 cost, you are compounding your savings.

You are getting a 4% savings on the prepaid card and a 10% savings in the form of the rebate by purchasing the gift card with the rebate credit card. In total you are getting a 10% savings + a 4% savings. 4+10=14. So you are actually realizing a 14% savings!