MyGallons.com - Is It A Good Idea To Buy A Prepaid Gas Card?

How It Works

MyGallons.com is a membership- based program costing $29.95 a month. 

Once you have signed up and paid the membership price, you can pre-purchase gasoline at today's prices -- a price determined by MyGallons.com which should compare to the price you can get at your local gas station. (You can save even more by filling up at a gas station whose prices are even lower than your pre-purchase price.)

Pre-paying for gas in this way is very similar to stocking up food, toothpaste and toilet paper.  Of course, you cannot store this extra gasoline in barrels in your basement though. So instead you get a MyGallons prepaid gas card that you use to fill your car with gas, as you need it.

You use the MyGallons prepaid gas card in the same way that you would use a debit card. 

TIP:  MyGallons Cards can only be used at "participating gas stations".  MyGallons.com promises that all gas stations that take credit cards will eventually honor MyGallons prepaid gas cards.  Source

Instead of deducting "money" from your MyGallons prepaid gas card, the gas station will deduct "gallons used".  There will be monetary adjustments made if you use premium or diesel gas. There will also be adjustments if you purchase gas in a place that is higher or lower than the average gas price in your home location.  (This is likely to occur if you travel.)
 

Reasons It Makes Sense To Pre-Pay For Gas With MyGallons.com
Becoming a member of MyGallons.com has its advantages.   

The first and most important benefit is that you are protecting yourself from rising gasoline prices.  The higher the gas prices go, the more money you will save in the long run. 

If you own a business where a fleet of vehicles is used, you can save a great deal of money by pre-purchasing gasoline.  And you can also control what your employees purchase with their gas cards. 

MyGallons.com allows you to keep better track of your gasoline purchases. 

They offer a 100% money back guarantee.

 

Reasons To Reconsider Pre-Paying For Gas With MyGallons.com
There are some disadvantages of using MyGallons.com.

There is a $1.95 fee every time you add more gallons to your prepaid gas card. 

There is no way to know for sure that you will save money, as you never know when the price of gas will drop, even by a small amount.

If you accidentally go over your limit, you will be charged an overdraft fee of $15 and you will be charged the actual price for the number of gallons you have gone over.  This may not sound like a problem because you can monitor your account, but  "some filling stations can take up to 72 hours to report transactions. Therefore, the balance shown in your MyGallons account will not include more recent transactions."

Your credit card is attached to your MyGallons prepaid gas card so you can be charged for MyGallons.com overdrafts and automatic refills "when your balance drops below 15 gallons", as well as the annual membership fee. 

You will always refill your prepaid gas card at "current average prices".  So if you purchase 100 gallons at $4 a gallon in July and gas goes up to $5 in August, then you save a bit of money.  But, when your current gasoline balance runs out, you would be refilling your prepaid gas card at the new price of $5/gallon.  Unless the cost of gas goes up again, you will actually lose money.  This is gambling at its finest.

"If you bought at $2.80 per gallon and waited until the prices went up to $3.20 per gallon you would save $.40 per gallon."  Source

The final disadvantage (and the main reason I have not joined the program) is that you have to come up with the money to pre-purchase the gas in the first place.  Few people have enough money on hand to buy 2 or 3 months worth of gasoline at once.

 
What Would Make Me Use A Program Like MyGallons.com? 
If the program charged $10 a month to lock in your gas price at the lowest cost in the country, I would consider such a membership. 

The MyGallons prepaid gas card program is still new, so you can expect some glitches.  For example, as I write this, the location finder is not working.  In addition, the number of locations they actually have on board is questionable. 

Only time will tell if the MyGallons prepaid gas card program will be worth it in the longterm.

RELATED:

MyGallons.com Better Business Bureau Rating - a slow loading page

BBB Alert On MyGallons.com - July 10, 2008 report
 
Consumer Affairs Info On MyGallons.com - discusses the "F" rating once given to MyGallons.com by the BBB that has since been rescinded

MyGallons.com Locks In Gas Prices - video and discussion of some problems MyGallons.com is having issuing cards
 
Behind the MyGallons.com Controversy - in defense of MyGallons.com… sort of