Save money on fuel this summer!

[TexasTom]

Hi everyone! I am sure for a lot of people, like me, fuel is one of your main expenses for every outing and any cost savings is a welcomed relief! My MP 340hp is no gas sipper so with gas prices on the rise and temperatures warming up I wanted to share with the community some easy ways I have found to reduce fuel costs at the pump.

I have been saving on average $25 at the pump over the last few weeks. I fill up 7-8 times a month so these savings add up quickly and are achieved with little to no effort.

So how do you do this too? Well, it is simple! I do it all by combining 2 free fuel rewards apps and by making an account or requiring a new passenger to sign up (a small price to pay for a day on the lake! right?). The 2 free apps I am using are "Fuel Rewards" and "Getupside."

Here is how it works and how you can save too:

Fuel Rewards offers 5¢ off a gallon at at Shell Stations, every time, up to 20 gallons per a transaction. Now this is where your passengers, familys, kids, freeloaders etc come in- when someone else signs up with your link they get 25¢ off a gallon and you get 25¢ off a gallon after their first use. (Sign up can be done on the way to the pump) This combines with the 5¢ you get off automatically for a combined savings of 30¢ off a gallon up to 40 gallons (2 transactions of 20 gallons). That's $12 in savings!

Now let's reduce that pain at the pump even further! The second app Getupside, is a post purchase cash back app and can be combined with Fuel Rewards. This app allows you to have funds over $10 transferred directly to your PayPal account or converted to gift cards (lots of options). Here is how it works- Shell stations offer 1¢-50¢ cash back on purchases up to 20 gallons every time and the amount will vary daily and with fuel grade. But again we have bonuses to take advantage of too! 20¢ per a gallon worth, now this combines with that fluctuating cash back amount that I mentioned earlier. When you first use the app and enter offer code "FTNNK" you get a welcome bonus of 20¢ and when one of your buddies uses it, then and you will receive another bonus of 20¢ back per a gallon. I have received anywhere from 21¢-55¢ cash back per a gallon by doing this. On 40 gallons this is anywhere from $8-$22 in cash back. Combined with Fuel rewards that is $20-$34 in savings every time!

So if you have read this far you're ready to sign up and start saving! but it is also time for my shameless plug cause I obviously like saving!

So how do you sign up?

Fuel Rewards-
Visit and sign up at here: Fuel Rewards by signing up with this link you will get the 25¢ bonus and so will I (thanks!) then you can send your own link to your friends to follow my procedure above

Getupside-
Vist the app store
Search "GetupSide" and download
Enter code "FTNNK" to get that 20¢ off cash back reward (which will grant me 20¢ back too, thanks!) then follow my steps above to keep getting rewards


Happy saving!

[sandm]

good information however for me, and guessing others will have similar experiences Shell gas stations are (1) not convenient so I spend gas going out of my way to get to them and wrangle around pumps that are not "boat friendly" and (2) they are typically much higher in cost initially than am/pm or 711 so true savings are not as much as indicated.
for us finding someone new each time wouldn't probably happen either as finding new riders can be a challenge.

interesting way to cut costs tho...

[TexasTom]

good information however for me, and guessing others will have similar experiences Shell gas stations are (1) not convenient so I spend gas going out of my way to get to them and wrangle around pumps that are not "boat friendly" and (2) they are typically much higher in cost initially than am/pm or 711 so true savings are not as much as indicated.
for us finding someone new each time wouldn't probably happen either as finding new riders can be a challenge.

interesting way to cut costs tho...

I agree Sandm, it is not a one size fits all and your savings will vary (up or down). There will be a lot of variations depending on location and how you fuel but this doesn't just have to be for boat gas obviously. Where I live the prices are typically within a few cents of one another and often find Shell being cheaper. I use gasbuddy to do some research of what's on my route. I store my boat on the trailer so I just bring 20 gallons of Jery cans and use a siphon hose so avoid any navigation with a trailer at the pumps. Even if you only use it once the quick $20 of savings is worth it too me! but pass it along to a few friends and family and watch the savings grow, who doesn't like to save on gas? I should also add the apps build rewards or provide cashback for other things other then gas- like groceries, fast food, oil changes etc

[IDBoating]

Virtually every brand offers a credit card that saves 10-25 cents per gallon for the first several months of use. The offers are posted on signs on top of the gas pumps at basically every gas station I visit. Seems like you could sign up for one of those, use it for that summer, cancel or keep it afterwards, and repeat with a different gasoline company the next year. No requirement to find other buyers, just use it as a regular credit card. Just tossing this out there while folks are considering options.

[TexasTom]

Virtually every brand offers a credit card that saves 10-25 cents per gallon for the first several months of use. The offers are posted on signs on top of the gas pumps at basically every gas station I visit. Seems like you could sign up for one of those, use it for that summer, cancel or keep it afterwards, and repeat with a different gasoline company the next year. No requirement to find other buyers, just use it as a regular credit card. Just tossing this out there while folks are considering options.

That is an option as well to gain even more savings and an applicable suggestion! However, just a heads up to anyone thinking about this you have to read the fine print on cards and rewards programs and there are a lot more considerations with opening and canceling credit cards vs just downloading an app. For example The shell credit card offers 5¢ off a gallon and the fuel rewards program I mention above offers 5¢ off. Shell combines these in their marketing to say the credit card gets you 10¢ off when really it is only an additional 5 (they do offer short term incentives though too). I think if you're going to go down the credit card route there are a lot better bonus offerings and rewards programs out there than a fuel card. Not to mention as fuel prices go up, your saving percentage with a fuel card will go down, just another consideration for people reading about this.

I should also hit on the "find another buyer" complication as there are ways around this and it's not as difficult as it may seem. For Fuel Rewards You don't need your card linked and other "accounts" don't have to pay. You simply sign up with a phone number or email and enter that in before choosing a payment method. I haven't tried it yet but in theory I could probably make an endless amount of fuel reward accounts and save 30¢ off 40 gallons ($12) every time. Effort vs reward What's it worth?

[NICKYPOO]

Not necessarily savings related but, I get all of my fuel at Maverick. They do offer a rewards card that you can use as cash for fuel or whatever but, they are the only ones I know of that do their regular maintenance of their tanks. This is exceptionally important for those of us that drive diesel trucks. They are always cheaper, cleaner, and boat friendly. In my area, there’s a few that offer ethanol free gas. AKA Clear gas. Regardless of cost, I don’t go anywhere else. The next city closest to me, Carson City, our state capital, it’s $.30p/gal cheaper than here even. I know there’s tons of them scattered across the west.

[sandm]

I used maverik in boise for almost everything as they were usually the cheapest and seems they put in larger islands that boats get around in.
here in vegas maverik isn't convenient to the way we head to the lake(none in henderson, YET).

our current boat storage location has us stopping at either 2 terribles(chevron), rebel(arco) or circle K(cheapest but a $hitshow you would never take a boat thru). anything else is miles out of the way as lake mead blvd doesn't have a lot of gas stations on the way to the lake.

effort vs reward- we typically add 20gallons each trip. $6 isn't worth the headache for the couple times a month we take the boat out currently but betting there are some that already do this here in the valley.

[UNSTUCK]

While we’re at it, does anyone want to join my Amway down line?

[freeheel4life]

Yaya, I know I dont own a boat, so my vote on this one isnt counted but....

Buying toys like these then being concerened with the fuel bill is crazy. Its like guys that lift trucks and put on 36s then complain about the cost when they need new meats. Look on the bright side, wakeboats have small tanks comparatively.

This is on a 22 ft boat last weekend. 87 gallon tank. I put in $60, and my buddy that owns it put in $60. Barely cracked 3/4 on the gauge oh ya, and we burned 10+ gallons an hour.

[NICKYPOO]

@sandm- Yet is correct. They have exploded up here in the last couple years. I have one a mile from my house that’s one block off my lake route. I’m going to go the new one about a mile out of my way to try the clear gas in the boat. It’s nearly $.30 more than the super but, whatever. If the boat is happy, I’m happy. I only burn ~15gal on an average heavy riding day. Looks like I’ll be spending more on fuel this year!

[NICKYPOO]

@freeheel- Rad. That’s a bucket list ride for me. Is that the Snake?

[freeheel4life]

@freeheel- Rad. That’s a bucket list ride for me. Is that the Snake?

Quick shakedown trip on the Payette. Had to make sure the boat was ready for the Salmon

Jetboats are my new favorite thing. They are just so vesatile, rather than purpose built. Going to bring some throwovers and shaper out this summer and see if we can get it surfing too.

I will te3y and let you know when we are planning a Snake trip. Who knows, maybe you can make it up?! At least try and check something of the bucket list

[sandm]

free- good luck with that riding.

my old buddy(rip) had a 21ft think it was a weldcraft. had a 460 in it. noisy as $hit. rough ride. really needed airride seats. watched him "dock" it by running it up on top of a dock at peak one day. was quite funny.
I boarded behind it once. took forever to get up out of the hole and once up, the rooster tail was basically a shower. had to ride outside the wake to keep from getting a mouthful of water. iirc he had a hamilton 212 setup on the arse end. I think a 90ft rope would have gotten back behind the jetwash.

he did salmon a few times and brought back pics of guys in high $$ twin engine duckworths that hit rocks and busted open the hull. helicopter to remove and back to the trailer. talk about an expensive weekend.......

[freeheel4life]

Ya, we played behind it at lucky last summer with similar results. Tubing at 60 off is hilarious, for those in the boat

We tagged a rock at the top of Landslide and it was code brown when the bow dipped and the river was mid windshield. Luckily my buddy pulled it together. Best part is those little bumps just get pounded out and get called character marks. Would have been thousands down at Chapman's with a similar hit on fiberglass.g

Texastom,
Sorry for the thread jack. Good on ya for saving some $ on fuel. Enjoy burning them dinosaurs all summer. I plan to!!

[TexasTom]

Texastom,
Sorry for the thread jack. Good on ya for saving some $ on fuel. Enjoy burning them dinosaurs all summer. I plan to!!

No worries, I love jet boats and would like to do a river run some day so I enjoyed the read!

Just wanted to offer up some ideas to those looking to save a buck where they can.