Diesel Stations and Fuel Cards

[ronbeck]

New to diesel fuel purchasing. Is there any stations that I should stay away from? I have used Pilot and Loves and have not experienced any problems with either.

[wolfe10]

Basically, any high-volume station is fine. But, we do not fill up if a fuel tanker is unloading -- it can stir up the gunk on the bottom of the tank.

We use http://www.gasbuddy.com/ to help locate less expensive fuel on our route. Generally, the lower-price stations pump a lot of fuel.

[coreygrubb]

Both are fine. Join Prevost Community.com and sign up for a Loves Fuel Card (no cost for either) and get .10/gal off, but more importantly never have to go inside again....fuel and go. P.S. you don't have to own a Prevost.

[wildebill308]

I asked at 2 different Loves if they had cards available so I didn't have to keep going inside and they both claimed they didn't know of any. I am going to go look at Provost card. Do you have your Pilot card from Good Sams so you can get the discount?

Bill

[wigginsjsr]

I use both the Prevost card for Loves and the GS card for Pilot/Flying J. Both work fine and permit you to fill in the truck lanes, with the faster flow rate, without having to go inside. I tend to use one of these all the time. Get 10 cents off the cash price at Loves, and 7 cents off the cash price at Pilot/Flying J. Occasionally I could find cheaper diesel, but if I save 3 cents on a 75 gallon fill, I've only saved $2.25 and I have to go inside, and run the risk of bad diesel. I "know" that these two brands have fresh diesel.

[hermanmullins]

We have a bunch of QTs opening truck and auto stations around here. They have a card, QT Pumpstart. It allows you to completely fill up. You do have to go in to pay but the pump doesn't cut off every $100.00.

I also have a Pilot/Flying card.

Herman

[wildebill308]

Thanks Herman I wasn't aware of the QT card.

Bill

[medico]

When I checked the Prevost forum for a Love's card there was a $25 charge per year to have the card. Is this still the norm? I guess if so I will just continue using my free RV Plus card at P/FJ.

[coreygrubb]

Medico, the $25.00 charge is an administration fee to set up the account which is basically a Love's only debit card. the $25.00 is refunded the time of your first use it.

Geo.

[tbutler]

I have a credit card from Chase (Freedom VISA) which offers a 5% cash back on fuel for three months a year, July, August and September. It works at Murphy (Wal-Mart), Sam's, Flying J or any other fuel station. I have to go in and do whatever they require to turn the pump on for a fill-up but that is a minor inconvenience for a 17 to 19 cent per gallon or more discount on current priced diesel fuel. A 100 gallon fill-up today it saved me more than $20.00. I purchased the fuel at a station with a price lower than Flying J (not uncommon since the Pilot takeover) and got the 5% rebate. I get some serious rebate funds from this card. We'll be on the road in October and I'll use the Flying J then for the fuel we purchase on the way home.

Discover used to give 5% rebate on fuel but that stopped several years ago. Bank of America (Cash Rewards MC) has a card that gives 3% rebate on fuel, that is more than 10 cents per gallon at today's prices. I have used that also when the Chase card rebate isn't in effect.

Price and discounts are one very important consideration. The other is of course accessibility for large vehicles! We've all passed up the small service station with a good price but the entrance and exit routes are impossible. Usually learned after trying once or twice to get into that impossible station for a bargain price!

I have used many different brands and stations all over the US and Canada and have never had a fuel filter problem or a fuel related problem. I know it isn't unheard of but I've never experienced any problem with fuel quality and I've done a fair amount of sampling.

[hermanmullins]

Tom,

Bobbie and I have a Chase Freedom card also. She saw that the 5% is not valid at discount fuel locations which we take meaning WalMart and Sam's. We both may have to look again to see if the discount applies there.

Herman

[jlandon13399]

Discover is offering 5% cash back until September 30, 2014. We are planning a trip this month and will definitely use Discover.

[desertdeals69]

My VISA card offers me 5% cash back on fuel at all gas stations as well as 5% cash back on food and pharmacy with no limits.

[huffypuff]

Desertdeal What bank is your VISA card from?

[punkym1242]

On all these various types of gas credit/debit cards, is the discount ($.10 off or 5% off per gallon) off the cash price? The GS Flying J/Pilot is $.07 off the cash price. I guess you can get $.08 off per gallon if you pay for a GS membership for life.

[rauchy]

I am one of the owners of the Prevost Community web site that offers fuel discounts to registered members.

It is a great program but it is not for everyone. Here are some things to know. It was designed to benefit Prevost enthusiasts so as far as fuel discounts Love's is offering 10 cents per gallon. But our fuel program administrator has a $25 annual fee. In addition if the fuel pumped is less than 100 gallons there is a transaction fee of $1.

The cards will only work at truck fuel islands. If you refuel at the pumps for cars the cards will not work at all.

You need a bank account because the administrator will withdraw the cost of fuel directly from your checking account at the time of purchase. You will get an email confirmation by the close of the business day, often sooner.

The program offers significant savings however if you use your coach a lot, take on at least 100 gallons every time and fill up at the truck islands. The greatest benefit is even if you use a location that does not offer a discount you only pay the cash price for fuel, you pull up to the pump, swipe the card which starts the pump, you fuel up and you drive away when done. You never have to leave your coach to go inside the truck stop.

www.prevostcommunity.com

Our members also have access to the same Michelin tire discount program offered by FMCA, we offer NAPA fleet discount cards and have discount programs with high end RV resorts. All free. No cost to become a member of PC

[desertdeals69]

Desertdeal What bank is your VISA card from?

BBVA Compass

[lajuene]

Both are fine. Join Prevost Community.com and sign up for a Loves Fuel Card (no cost for either) and get .10/gal off, but more importantly never have to go inside again....fuel and go. P.S. you don't have to own a Prevost.

Actually, I just tried to join but it requires a Prevost VIN to get the card. Know a way around that?

[garyejones]

To me, the best card for diesel is available from Pentagon Federal Credit Union. The PenFed card only works if you pay at the pump, but it offers a 5% discount on all fuel (diesel and gasoline purchases paid at the pump). At $4.00 a gallon, that means that your discount is 20 cents a gallon.To get a PenFed card, you have to have either a savings account or a checking account with them, however their minimums are $10.00 in the account. I have made those deposits which are small price to pay for the big discount. I now buy all diesel and gas using that PenFed card. I often get a rebate of $40 to $50 a month on my fuel purchases. My wife and I both have cards.

I also own a Pilot Flying J card. You do not need to be part of Prevost to get that card. You can apply for it on-line. I have stopped using it because it offers half the discount, and I have found that all the professional TRUCK PLAZAS to currently be priced 10 or more cents above the price of automobile diesel oriented places. The problem with the latter are questions about how easy the access and egress are to the pumps (I pull a toad), volume of diesel pumped (freshness), and the amount of diesel I need (as the car diesel nozzles are much smaller and therefore time to pump 100 gallons substantially longer than at a truck oriented pump. Virtually all of them have a credit card upcharge of at least 10 cents per gallon which has to be evaluated against all the other factors.

I also use the iPhone app for GasBuddy and have found that one of my most useful apps. I reasearch prices with GasBuddy and then use Google Maps in the satellite mode to examine the filling station to see if I can get into it and back out of it when I am towing my Honda.

Gary

[bartonjw]

_{I prefer Pilot/Flying J, simply because almost all Flying J and some of the Pilot stations have RV lanes that are convenient for in-out. You don't have to wait behind a line of trucks, or compete with passenger cars. We have a Flying J Frequent Fueler card, and use our Visa card for all out fuel. We get, I think, a 3 cent per gallon discount. If you have the Good Sam or Pilot/Flying J Visa or whatever it is, you get a larger discount, but it is used as a debit card, so be sure you have money in the bank while you are traveling. Love's are good, but frequently the truck lanes are backed up, and the car lanes are not easy to get in and out of.}

[rauchy]

We have been jammed on the Prevost Community site so I want to apologize to all who have registered and not gotten a password. To all who have applied for the fuel discount program, hang in there because I will send each of you a VIN the system will accept. I am the delay so please be patient.

FWIW, Prevost Community was started about 2 3/4 years ago to supplement all other Prevost groups or clubs. The intent was for it to be a place where any Prevost enthusiast could learn or share information about Prevost coaches and also to leverage up the numbers to obtain benefits such as our fuel discounts. Even if you do not own a Prevost, but have a coach that makes sense to use the discount fuel program we welcome you to participate in any of the discount programs or our forum. It is the strength in numbers that enables us to secure the discount programs and find other programs to benefit those of us who drive big thirsty RVs.

[wigginsjsr]

With regard to the Prevost VIN requirement, there is an email address that you can send a request for a VIN that will get you in to the application.

With regard to the Pilot/Flying J card, it is not a debit card. In the standard mode, $1,000 limit, you will be billed monthly, and then you will request a transfer from your account for payment. There is no automatic withdrawal.

If you have the $2,500 credit limit, they will still notify you of the date scheduled for withdrawal; therefore, you can be sure you have the required funds in your account.

[rauchy]

At Prevost Community we continue to get an overwhelming number of registrations. You must be registered and must log into the site to gain access to the fuel program application process. As mentioned previously I am working to get through the new registrations and before we send a password we check all information plus the IP address so it is time consuming. Hang in there because we will get to you.

There are a couple of things you all must know. Our only way to communicate with members is either on the public forum which anyone can see or via email. Some email addresses our system will not use because they are "suspect:. Our system will not send an email to some email addresses. I don't know if there is a concern about security or hacking, or whatever, but some small number have been treated as undeliverable. If you have not received an automatic reply saying we will be sending a password your email address is one of those, or you have entered an email address with an error in it. Another problem is your system may kick back our emails to you. Some email addresses have security settings that block our admin email from getting to you. In that case you need to reset your security settings.

If you have not gotten a response within a couple of days (that is how far behind we are right now due to the volume) send an email to our web site. We will try to get past the problems.

[tbutler]

Tom,

Bobbie and I have a Chase Freedom card also. She saw that the 5% is not valid at discount fuel locations which we take meaning WalMart and Sam's. We both may have to look again to see if the discount applies there.

Herman

Good News Herman!

I just got my credit card statement for August. I made four gas purchases on my Chase Freedom Card, two purchases at SAM's, one at Love's and one at a quick shop. They gave me the 5% rate on all of the gas purchases. Now, it took me a while to confirm this. They list the rewards on one line as 1% on all purchases and then on another line they list the "Bonus from 3Q 5% category: Gas stations" which it turns out is the additional 4% over the first line 1% bonus. I had to work through things with my calculator several times to figure out how they calculated it.

[manholt]

I carry 2 Pilot cards. One is the RV Frequent fueler advantage that gives me the discount. Found out yesterday that it is only good until end of this year, then you'll need the new card from GS life member, even my charter life member card will not work anymore! The other card is a Pilot driver payback, I'm truck number 101 CDL.

I get truck discount and points for food, free shower, etc.

I don't do Love's very often, found their prices to be higher than Flying J or Pilot. Like Brett, I use gasbuddy. If I can get in/out and the price is right, I'll fill up, most times it's less than 100 gal.

Carl C.