Fuel card

[Donflem]

What is the choice fuel card for savings?

thanks in advance.

Don

[BlueSteele]

I like TSD Open Roads.

[Mocephus]

TSD

[Newcsn]

TSD - but - we also monitor Mudflaps & Gas Buddy. There have been a few occasions where Mudflaps has been cheaper than TSD. 

[Dr4Film]

I use Sam's Club Mastercard which gives 5% cash back on ALL fuel purchases not just diesel. It is accepted everywhere.

What's in your wallet?

I also use Gas Buddy for recommendations on fuel purchases.

[Scotty Hutto]

I primarily use TSD, but also check GasBuddy.  I have Mudflap, but they don’t have many participants in the Southeast.

If I can’t find the best deal with TSD, I find a big-rig friendly place with GasBuddy and use my Sam’s Mastercard for the 5% discount.  

So, as with so many things, it depends on your location, but if you are in an area of the country where TSD has participants, that’s *usually* the best deal in my experience. I’m also partial to big-rig friendly locations, and will pay a few cents more for ease of entry and exit.  
 

[ncsteve]

TSD here as well.

[cbr046]

TSD aka Open Roads Fuel Program - https://myopenroads.com/rv%2Fpersonal-application

They're also on Facebook  - https://www.facebook.com/groups/196220805679025

The TSD program gets you into select trucking fuel stations with their hi speed pumps and ease of getting in / out.  You can also pump from both sides if you're in a hurry LOL (beware the low side of your dual fill RV tank will start spilling out while the other side is still pumping 😮 ).  Truck lanes may have diesel impregnated concrete and occasionally diesel on the fuel pump handles.  I step carefully and wash my hands thoroughly with Dawn every stop.  Purchases through the program are DEBIT ONLY, from your bank account.  They don't carry paper.  Like a bank account they require the applicant's SSN.  Some people balk at those two issues, but when you look at the savings it's almost always the cheapest fuel in town. 

Truck stop advertised prices are pretty inflated, but at 30c - 60c discounts it makes up for it.  TSD has an app (Android or iPhone) to identify their participating stations (Speedway, TA, Petro and Loves are most common) and their discounted price.  Ignore the price on the interstate marque.  What you see in the app is what you pay, plus 60c / transaction plus 10% of your savings (if you stand to save $10 on a purchase they add $1 to your cost). 

My main complaints with Sam's Club, Costco and other retailers are the extremely sloooooow pumps (I mean triple your stop time!) and getting in / out of the facility.  In most cases you can't tell from Google aerial view whether you can get in / out or not.  I got in a fight once at the Sam's in Ocala FL while waiting on the ONE pump I could get to, and that was a gasoline pump!  There's another location (can't remember where) that with the shorter wheelbase gasser I had it would jump a curb no matter how wide I made it.  A few others I could get in but challenging to get out.  It all depends on the location.

I haven't seen an advantage with Mudflap yet (East and Southeast US).  I removed the app from my phone. 

Buc-ee's might be a penny or two cheaper on rare occasion, but their pumps are pretty slow.  Not as bad as Sam's, but slow.

Happy fueling,

- bob

 

[Donflem]

Thanks gentlemen I will look into TSD CARD.

DON

[RVSSNAKE]

TSD Open Roads is what we use.

[waterskier_1]

I use all three (Sam's or Pentagon Credit card) at GasBuddy stations, TDS (Open Roads), and Mudflap.  I have never found Mudflap to beat GasBuddy stations after the 5% CC Discount.  But there are very few Mudflap stations where I travel (West and South West).  Right now I'm in Gillette, WY for the Monaco International Pre-Rally and the FMCA International Rally.  There are no Mudflap or TDS stations within 250 miles going South, and even then, they are $4.20/gal versus $4.17 at a local Truck Stop (unaffiliated). 

  -Rick N.

[1nolaguy]

6 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

I use Sam's Club Mastercard which gives 5% cash back on ALL fuel purchases not just diesel. It is accepted everywhere.

What's in your wallet?

I also use Gas Buddy for recommendations on fuel purchases.

I also used Sam's Club Master Card for the same reasons but Synchrony Bank, which issues and manages this MC, is the pits. We had issues with them canceling a card because of suspicious on line orders and taking over 30 days to send a replacement card. We also had issues with payment being applied to the wrong account that took close to 12 months to resolve. Their CS via phone is almost always handled by agents having English as a second language and they are terrible at replying to email or web inquiry. They do not publish their corporate address or officers and it took a great deal of research to track down the corporate address (in Virginia under a different name) and months of writing and sending registered letters directly to the VP of Credit Services to get a reply and get the mis-applied funds sent to the correct account. When I finally got this all straightened out and the account balance satisfied I locked the cards in a safe and will only use in case of an emergency. We have other MC / VIsa cards so the only reason we got this was because of the gas savings. For us, at the end of the day, the savings were not worth the headaches. As they say "caveat emptor" or buyer beware.

[lake49068]

TSD has worked very well for me with Sam’s as a secondary.  Also have the Pilot/Flying J charge card which offers the posted price (not credit card) and a per gallon discount (5 cents?) when other options are not available . Was also concerned about allowing access to my checking account so opened a secondary checking  account with a minimal balace for ALL my direct withdrawal accounts (not just TSD).  So far so good!  Couldn't believe that TSD was netting out at about  40 cents/gal savings which explains the number of semi's at our local Loves...assume they have a discount plan like TSD.

[Georgia Mike]

I also use the Open Roads TSD for quite some time. I like the fact you don’t have to go inside and it pumps fast. Over the years the discount has progressively got lower but still decent and flying J dropped off the list totally. I try and go to Travel America because it usually gives the best discount and even if I didn’t get any discount I would still use it just for the convenience. 

[TommyL]

Wondering how Loves could stay in business at .50 to.60 cents a gallon higher than the truck stop across the street. Buy a card, get a discount, now it’s the same price as across the street. Now I know.

[dl_racing427]

21 hours ago, 1nolaguy said:

I also used Sam's Club Master Card for the same reasons but Synchrony Bank, which issues and manages this MC, is the pits. We had issues with them canceling a card because of suspicious on line orders and taking over 30 days to send a replacement card. We also had issues with payment being applied to the wrong account that took close to 12 months to resolve. Their CS via phone is almost always handled by agents having English as a second language and they are terrible at replying to email or web inquiry. They do not publish their corporate address or officers and it took a great deal of research to track down the corporate address (in Virginia under a different name) and months of writing and sending registered letters directly to the VP of Credit Services to get a reply and get the mis-applied funds sent to the correct account. When I finally got this all straightened out and the account balance satisfied I locked the cards in a safe and will only use in case of an emergency. We have other MC / VIsa cards so the only reason we got this was because of the gas savings. For us, at the end of the day, the savings were not worth the headaches. As they say "caveat emptor" or buyer beware.

I have numerous cards, including Sam's, that are administered by Synchrony Bank.
I honestly can't complain about their service.  The few times I've had an issue, they have resolved it pretty quickly and without major problems.

Sorry you've had trouble with them.

[Dr4Film]

1 minute ago, dl_racing427 said:

I have numerous cards, including Sam's, that are administered by Synchrony Bank.
I honestly can't complain about their service.  The few times I've had an issue, they have resolved it pretty quickly and without major problems.

Sorry you've had trouble with them.

Same here! Whenever I have my CC number jacked they have responded immediately.

No complaints.

[1nolaguy]

I am sure my experiences may have been the exception, but it soured me on Synchrony to the point I almost canceled our Sam's membership. I guess it is peculiar how a series of bad experiences cam sour one. The same can be seen with car brands, RV park reviews and RV brands in general.

I am glad your experiences with Sam's MC have been good. Ours were also for several years until the issues started. We do still shop at Sam's, almost weekly.

 

 

[Robert92867]

TSD here also.  Since you are in SoCal, you should be aware that Nevada and (I think) Washington require you to take your TSD card inside and wait in line to present it for approval.  This was a surprise to me, and frankly annoying to deal with in Las Vegas when it's 110 degrees.

[cbr046]

5 hours ago, Robert92867 said:

TSD here also.  Since you are in SoCal, you should be aware that Nevada and (I think) Washington require you to take your TSD card inside and wait in line to present it for approval.  This was a surprise to me, and frankly annoying to deal with in Las Vegas when it's 110 degrees.

Do all truckers take their (whatever company) cards inside for approval?

- bob

 

[Jdw12345]

Sorry to but In but does the sams card give you cash back to be able to reduce your bill or do you have to use the “cash back” money at Sams Club exclusively?
 Sorry to go off topic!   
Thanks!

Edited August 27, 2023 by Jdw12345

[Bill R]

9 hours ago, Jdw12345 said:

Sorry to but In but does the sams card give you cash back to be able to reduce your bill or do you have to use the “cash back” money at Sams Club exclusively?
 Sorry to go off topic!   
Thanks!

They give Sam's Cash to be used for Sam's store purchases only.  But it doesn't matter to me because whether I take it off the CC bill or at the store I still get the cash back.  I use my Sam's card for both store and gas purchases.

[Dr4Film]

I can get the cash back three different ways. One, to pay for goods at the checkout or two, go to the Customer Service counter and they will put it towards your CC bill, or three, they will give you cash as the Customer Service counter.

[dl_racing427]

4 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

I can get the cash back three different ways. One, to pay for goods at the checkout or two, go to the Customer Service counter and they will put it towards your CC bill, or three, they will give you cash as the Customer Service counter.

Ditto:
They've made it much easier to redeem in recent years.
I usually end up using it toward my Sam's shopping.