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

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Are you worried about the rising cost of gasoline? I am too.  So are millions of other people.

This is why MyGallons.com is allowing you to pre-purchase tomorrow’s gasoline at today’s prices.

So, is it worth it? Should you really pre-pay for gas like this? Are there any “catches”?

Here’s the scoop about the MyGallons.com prepaid gas card…

 

How It Works

MyGallons.com is a membership-based program costing $30 a year.

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.

TIP: 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. (Psst… here’s why you shouldn’t use a debit card to pay at the pump.)

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

NOTE: They recently modified their terms so now you can have money electronically deposited into your checking account if you prefer instead of using their prepaid gas card.

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 A MyGallons Prepaid Card Makes Sense

Becoming a member of MyGallons.com has its advantages:

• Protection Against Rising Gas Prices: 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.
• Save Money If You Have A Fleet Of Vehicles: Do you own a business where a fleet of vehicles is used? If so, 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.
• Track Your Purchases: MyGallons.com allows you to keep better track of your gasoline purchases.
• Money Back Guarantee: They offer a 100% money back guarantee.

 

Reasons To Reconsider The MyGallons Prepaid Card

There are some disadvantages of using MyGallons.com:

• Extra Fees: There is a fee every time you add more gallons to your prepaid gas card.
• Hard To Calculate Savings: 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.
• Overdraft Fees: If you accidentally go over your limit, you will be charged an overdraft fee 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.”
• Automatic Charges: 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.
• Changing Prices When Refilling Card: 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.”
• Price Of Purchasing: 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.

 

Would I Use MyGallons?

If the program charged a small monthly fee to lock in your gas price at the lowest cost in the country, then I would consider such a membership.

The MyGallons prepaid gas card program is still new, so you can expect some glitches, as well as some changes as they progress.

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

More About MyGallons.com & Prepaid Gas Cards

• All About Pay Now Save Later Gas Card
• BBB Alert On MyGallons.com
• Online Gas Card Company MyGallons Gets An “F”
• Something Fishy About MyGallons.com?
• The Truth About Locking In Your Gas Price