There is a strategy that can save you 4 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent or even 14 percent of your gas purchases. If you are a smart consumer you can save a lot of money.

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, a credit card currently being offered that has such a program is a BP card. The BP card will pay 10% on purchases including gas, at their BP branded stations for the first two billing periods. The rate becomes 5% thereafter.

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.

Another example: Chase has a gas MasterCard that will give you a rebate of 5% for gas purchases and 2% for purchases everywhere else.

The credit cards that offer rebates only at specific branded stores and the general market cards have disadvantages and advantages. The credit card from the gas company pays the rebate only at the gas company’s own stations. The general market card advantage is that you can use this card to buy fuel anywhere and you still get the rebate.

But, the advantage to the gas company card is that you receive a 10 percent rebate for the initial period where as the general market card does not pay that high.

That is the main strategy for getting a discount of anywhere from 4 percent up to 10 percent. Certainly any rebate is welcome in light of the cost of gasoline. 4% is good and 10% is even better. But there may be a way to cut your cost of gas even more. Maybe even to 14%.

Here’s how. Many gas companies offer pre paid gas cards or gas gift cards. In many cases these prepaid cards will offer a bonus or discount. For example in some cases you can purchase a $50 gas card for $48.

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 purchase the gift or prepaid card with the gas company card during the initial period you are getting a 10% rebate on that purchase.

If you purchase a prepaid card that provides a 4% discount, the $48 dollar card for $50 dollars worth of gas, you are adding to 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!