There is a strategy that can save you 4 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent or even 14 percent of your gas purchases. If you are a smart consumer you can save a lot of money.

This strategy is dependent on finding credit cards that offer rebates specifically on gas. The right card can lower your costs without the need to change the way you drive. You save without any maintenance on your car. In fact this savings method involves no cost at all.

Gas companies still need to compete for your business. They don’t compete on price so they have to use other methods. One method used from time to time is credit cards with rebates. The average card will rebate you 10% on your purchases at their stations. Included in those purchases are your purchases for gas. The 10% rebate is usually the first two or three months that you have the card and after that the rebate changes to 5% on your gas purchases thereafter.

For example, a credit card currently being offered that has such a program is a BP card. The BP card will pay 10% on purchases including gas, at their BP branded stations for the first two billing periods. The rate becomes 5% thereafter.

The example just listed are issued for a specific gas company. There are also general market credit cards that will provide you with a discounts off your gas costs.

Many credit card companies offer cards that have special rebate amounts for gasoline. For example: currently Discover Card is issuing a Discover Gas Card that will give you back a rebate of 5 per cent of the gas you purchase. It also gives you a 1 per cent rebate on other purchases.

Another example: Chase has a gas MasterCard that will give you a rebate of 5% for gas purchases and 2% for purchases everywhere else.

Both types of cards, the ones that provide savings only at specific company stores and the general market cards have advantages and disadvantages. The advantage to using a general market card is that you can use the general market card to buy fuel at any station and get the rebate. The card issued by the gas company only pays you the rebate at the gas company’s branded gas stations.

But, the advantage to the gas company card is that you receive a 10 percent rebate for the initial period where as the general market card does not pay that high.

That is the main strategy for getting a discount of anywhere from 4 percent up to 10 percent. Certainly any rebate is welcome in light of the cost of gasoline. 4% is good and 10% is even better. But there may be a way to cut your cost of gas even more. Maybe even to 14%.

Here’s how. Many gas companies offer pre paid gas cards or gas gift cards. In many cases these prepaid cards will offer a bonus or discount. For example in some cases you can purchase a $50 gas card for $48.

The card allows you to buy $50 worth of gas but you only pay $48 for it. That is equal to a 4% discount.

Now here is where the extra savings comes in. If you purchase the prepaid card using the gas company credit card during the initial period when you are getting a 10% rebate you will get a 10% rebate on the prepaid card.

Remembering that the prepaid card provided a 4% discount, you are adding to your savings by 4%. Now you are compounding your savings!

You are getting a 10% rebate on the prepaid card purchase using the rebate credit card and you are getting a 4% savings by purchasing the prepaid gift card. Therefore the total you are getting is 14%. The 10% savings + the 4% savings or 4+10=14. Now you have just saved yourself 14% on your gas purchase.