Save On Gas – Super Easy!
Save On Gas – Super Easy!
Gas is getting expensive. Right now regular gas is selling for $1.31 per litre here in Ontario. ARG! There’s not much we can do about it though, unless we drive south of the border and load up all our jerry cans. We need to drive to our jobs, entertainment, schools or whatever. Unfortunately I don’t drive a Tesla, and while the battery cars are the future. Right now a lot of us still depend on good ol Petro.
The current price for a barrel of oil is 66 bucks usd. In 2008 and 2013 Oil sold for 91 bucks a barrel and yet I don’t think gas prices were this high….. Luckily I don’t live in Vancouver, Montreal or Victoria which tend to have the highest gas prices in Canada though.
Unfortunately we are just getting taxed even more on oil and it will keep going up. This carbon tax is a joke, but we pay for it. By 2022, the price on carbon pollution will mean 11.6 cents added per litreof gasoline, 13.7 cents per litre of diesel, 12.4 cents per litre of aviation gasoline and almost 13 cents per litre of aviation turbo fuel. (according to global news)
Canada has more oil then everyone, besides Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Yet we pay these crazy rates? How can we save money……
Point Cards
Yes you read that right! Point cards… It sounds crazy and is generally pretty minuscule but its incredibly easy. Every main gas station brand tends to have some type of loyalty card to hope you fill at their pump vs the other competitor. It’s really simple to sign up for them. Grab one at the cashier and go online and fill out the information. Scan the card before you pump your gas and collect points.
The points can be used for a variety of things from lottery tickets to gift cards. Essentially these aren’t free as I’m sure they charge a bit extra in their price at the pumps. The thing is you were paying for it every time you filled up, might as well start getting the perks!
Esso Points
I have a Esso card and have been slowly collecting a nice chunk of points. During the Olympics they tend to have Team Canada gear and I keep eyeing a jersey, but don’t have enough points at the moment. Before we bought our new house Esso was my go to gas station as it was right on my route to work, but now Petro Canada seems to be the most convenient. Which works out great!
Petro Points
Petro Canada aka “Canada’s gas station” as they like to brand it, is a Suncor business with over 1500 retail and wholesale outfits. So there is no shortage of gas stations to collect the points. I recently signed up for the card and got 2,500 bonus points as a perk to signing up. Like Esso they offer a variety of stuff you can get from petro points. But the one kicker for me…….
Savings! They recently started some partnership with royal bank and will give you 3 cents off per liter if you link your debit and credit cards to the petro points. Again its super easy, click the link on petro canada’s website and login to your rbc account and BAM your linked!
Ok so you now save 3 cents a litre every time you use your rbc card what else? You also get 20% more rbc reward points from Petro Canada purchases if you collect some kind of points with rbc. I have a cashback card currently, but my wife wants to look into a travel card. I think she wants to go away?
Linking the accounts, makes it super easy. First of all you don’t even need to scan your petro points cards anymore. If you pay with your rbc card it automatically submits those points. Also I don’t need to get a card for the wife, She pays with a linked credit card so we get the points.
Conclusion
As I stated before, this ain’t no get rich quick scheme. I’ll save about 1.50 a fill up and get some petro points. Between me and my wife we may save 2 bucks a week in gas. (plus the cashback on the credit card) Hey 8 bucks is 8 bucks and its beyond easy! Invest that 8 bucks a month at a 5% return and in 30 years you will have $6,523.01. Not bad!
Which gas loyalty card do you use? Have you linked up to rbc with your petro card?
Have a great day!
Cheers.
Hey I’m Rob, creator of Passive Canadian Income.
In 2011 me and my wife had almost $60,000 in debt and a negative $7,000 Net Worth. Through hard work and financial education we paid all that off. Now we are focusing on increasing our Passive Income Streams to make the money work for us. Feel Free to Follow along the Journey by clicking the Social Media links below or subscribing to get notified of new posts on the sidebar.
I don’t have a loyalty card Rob. I use gas buddy to try and find the best price in the area when I need gas. Will oil prices rising, the days of super cheap gas seem to have ended for the time being. Tom
Hey Tom
Ive used gas buddy before but wonder if its worth the detour to save on gas.
Cheers
I have even better saving on fuel tip – don;t use a car. Use public transport or walk 🙂 Bicycle or scooter is also good alternative. Also electric bikes and scooters getting more and more cheaper 🙂
Haha P
No question that has a tonne of advantages. I live in the country so its not really option or my bikeride would take forever. For city folk like downtown Toronto, i dont see why anyone would have a car
Cheers
It’s $1.51 a litre here in Vancouver. Ridiculous.
We went down south yesterday and filled up our tank. It was $3.08/gallon, 1 gallon is 3.74 L= $0.815/litre.
Holy sh*t we are taxed to death up here in Canada.
Maybe I should load up on more HSE shares ha.
wow that is brutal. I was wondering what the price was down there. Husky is cheaper from a p/e standpoint but suncor is double the dividend. My oversized Enbridge position keeps my energy sector topped up at the moment though.
Cheers GYm
It’s $1.42 here in Montreal, threw a few bucks in the tank a bit earlier, first time in a month or 2. We share the car my wife’s parents, who mostly use it to do the same as us, grocery shopping and occasional longer trips.
Honestly best thing to do is to create a situation where you don’t depend so much on gas. Walk, bike, choose to live near public transportation options, etc.
Hey Mr
No question that is a great situation to be in. Using the car so little would be ideal, but would make me debate having one all together.
The dream for me was to live in the country. Im living it, but unforetunately gas is one of the added costs to do it.
Cheers
Great post Rob. I have linked up my RBC and Petro points – what a great deal. If I don’t fill up at Petro Can, I’ll fill up at a Circle K to get some Air Miles at least, but Petro is the way to go right now.
Given that transportation is one of our three biggest expenses, I really want to cut down, so thanks for sharing this post. I plan on coming out with some more content on how to save in this area – so stay tuned. I like some of the suggestions your readers have provided above. Cutting out driving all together would be ideal, but very hard to do sometimes. I am actually considering moving to the city core to be able to save a bit more in this area.
Hey Wally
Np glad you liked it. Interesting i still have seen a circle k gas station anywhere. Glad the link helped ya!
No question cars are one of our biggest expenses between gas, maintenance, repairs and insurance its a killer to the budget.
City would be cool to bike or walk everywhere. I just like my privacy of the country!
Best of luck if you decide to move. look forward to your ways to save money.
Cheers
Thanks Rob. Circle K is all over the place here. I have yet to experience living in a city core, so it will be a first for me. I’ll try it out and if it doesn’t work out I’ll be out in the country again! I definitely see the benefits of living away from all the hustle and bustle though.
Rob, anytime you can save money, that’s a good thing. Right now I drive an electric scooter so I don’t pay anything for gas, unless I rent a car. However, that’s going to change in the summer when I have to get a car. I’m not looking forward to paying for a gas again! The loyalty points sounds like an interesting way to save. I probably would do the same thing, but with a credit card that gives cash back or something like that.
Hey port
Nice man electric is the way to go for sure. Why do you need to get a car come summer? Would think it would be opposite.
Points-savings and cash back thats what im doing. Triple play!
Cheers
I use a Cdn Tire App for Cdn Tire money. Canada’s other official currency lol. I usually acrue a $1.05 per fill up at current prices. Currently $1.23L here in Simcoe County.
I used to use Esso and Petro Can but the higher gas prices do not justify collecting points. Waste of time really as their gas is usually 10-15 cents higher than Cdn Tire and most others. They make you pay up for that loyalty.
Hey stock
I keep thinking of getting their card! Would be a way easier way to keep all that money together and not have all those 5 cent bills! Also i buy alot of hockey, camping and fishing stuff at ct.
Luckily i live off the cheap gas station strip so they are all similar prices!
Thanks for swinging by
Cheers
I will try to bike more this summer. My work is about 10km from home so the bike ride should take about 45 minutes. Sometimes I fill out at costco and save about 7-8 cents per litre. I aslo use esso points cards and use those points to wash the car.
Hey income
Haha thats funny. I never take my car through a carwash and my son even asks me too. He thinks it would be cool. One day i will, but that’s what the rain is for!
45min each way is nice bike ride. Good on ya!
I dont have a costco membership and hate their parking lot so i try to stay away from there!
Haha, cheers
We definitely fill up at Costco when the opportunity strikes, but there’s no way I’m driving that far every time I have to fill up. That place is crazy.
Not sure if this still exists today, but Petro Can used to do a promotion where they’d sell a $200 gift card for $190 on eBay, plus throw in a card that gave 5 cents off a liter for a certain amount of gas. It worked out to some pretty decent savings, but we don’t have a Petro Can here so I never bought it.
Hey Nelson
Wow never knew about that on ebay. Seems like another fantastic way to add to the savings!
Will look into it
Thanks!
do you have to fill up before you get the 3 cents saving or is that on any amount of gas per litre
hey Georgina
Once its linked it seems its on any purchase. You will see your savings on the receipt each time.
Makes sense to do if you bank with rbc anyways, and makes filling up a little better. (kinda)
Thanks for stopping by!
Are the Esso points still available?
hey Claras
Yes they are, I use them as well. This petro rbc deal seems alot better though, so they tend to get my business
Thanks for responding! 🙂 I’ll have a look at the Petro RBC ones