GasBuddy: The Universal App for Saving on Gas (and For Data)
I got the idea to write this article after seeing a student at my school wearing a GasBuddy hat yesterday. (That reminds me. I totally forgot to ask him about that. Oh well!) GasBuddy is a very useful app for anybody, but I felt it would be a good thing to suggest and talk about with college students in mind because I wish I had known about it the first time I had a car and had to start buying gas. It’s totally free and just might be one of the apps that allows you to seize the most consumer surplus. I have known about GasBuddy for some time, but did not get very into it until February of 2019, when I got the Pay with GasBuddy Card and started making the app the only place I go to when my tank is running low.
GasBuddy is a fairly simple app for you as a user. You open the app or go on the website, type in your ZIP code or city and state or use your device’s location, and the app provides you a list of gas stations in your area and their price. Typically, the default results list of stations is sorted by lowest price in combination with proximity to your location. But, you can also sort exclusively by brand, price, distance, or amenities that the station offers (like air vacuums, tire pumps, food, car wash, etc.). I usually use the map-based results because I like to look at the stations near where I will be going in the next few days. This way, I can see what the prices are and know where to fill up at the best price and to have time in my commuting schedule to do so.
GasBuddy also has some useful features that go beyond just finding you the cheapest gas. As a Florida resident, there’s always the danger of a hurricane or other storm every summer to the community. So as you might imagine, finding gas is an ordeal that just adds to the rest of the hustle and bustle that goes with preparing for a hurricane. Luckily, GasBuddy is equipped to deal with that. GasBuddy reports power outages and fuel shortages at individual stations. It’s extremely useful for saving you time from driving across town and for getting to a pump before they are all empty (like you know they are the day after a bad weather report). Although I am fortunately not exposed to other catastrophic weather circumstances, I suppose this would also be useful for people in Tornado Alley, and those in California who experience earthquakes. I am sure that if they do not, there will likely be an update for that soon.
The best part though is the Pay with GasBuddy card.
It is a debit-relay card (not a credit card) and it is linked to a checking account. It’s also free to order and very convenient to link to your bank; if you bank with a popular FDIC-insured bank, GasBuddy does most of the work for you and you don’t have to do anything other than enter your online banking login information. You’ll get it in the mail in about a week and then you set up a Driver ID and you can start swiping it at the pump. The card works at 95% of stations nationwide and as a general rule of thumb, it will not work at Costco gas stations and Arco gas stations.
The card offers 3 main features. (1) You automatically receive 5¢ off every gallon of gas you purchase with your Pay with GasBuddy card. (2) In August of 2017, GasBuddy started doing new promotions called Deal Alerts at stations where you can receive additional discounts of up to 25¢ off every gallon. However, this varies from station to station, so look for the stations marked with red for Deal Alerts and be sure to activate the deal before getting to the pump. (3) Lastly, GasBuddy also offers special promotions (called GasBack) for buying at certain retailers. I haven’t tried them because I usually prefer to just rack up points on my traditional credit cards, but give it a try if you’re interested.
If you’re wondering how to get started, just download the GasBuddy app or go to the GasBuddy website and join for free. You only need your email to sign up. Once you have created a GasBuddy account, you can apply for a Pay with GasBuddy card and report prices at stations.
One of the things you may be wondering is how is GasBuddy able to cultivate all this data and offer all of its services for free? Well, there is indeed quite an innovative story behind it all, but in simple terms, it’s a data-for-data exchange that is at the heart of its existence. GasBuddy ultimately makes money by collecting consumer data from transactions at the pump around the US and Canada and sells the data to stations and firms in the oil distribution industry who then use the data to make production decisions. Then, GasBuddy collects data from gas stations (like the prices and amenities of each station) and offers it back to the consumers on the app (for free though this time around), which allows customers to make their purchases. GasBuddy itself doesn’t actually do much of the price collection at stations, but instead its users are incentivized to report prices and other information; they receive rewards on the app for doing so. For example, every price you report earns points towards tokens that are redeemable towards entries for GasBuddy’s $100 daily giveaway for its users.
I find the app and website both equally resourceful and I really am impressed with the data and the user interface that GasBuddy maintains. It’s very easy to use and is very well-designed. In particular, I love the sorting options that are available for sorting your stations.
I also really enjoy following tweets from GasBuddy and their Head of Petroleum Analysis, Patrick De Haan (the GasBuddyGuy). They tweet lots of interesting updates about economic and price trends and it is quite intriguing to follow and read about. I remember specifically how not too long ago, De Haan tweeted about how gas prices in California finally had reached $4.00/gallon for the first time since The Great Recession.
So, definitely download the app or visit the GasBuddy website to try it out and make sure to sign up for the Pay with GasBuddy card and start saving today! It’s literally a win-win situation. And I’m sure you will find some features I didn’t mention here.
Here are some links to get you started:
