A traveler who planned his trip carefully with the purchase of cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms or cheap vacation packages does not want to overpay for gasoline at his destination. Now there are several mobile apps that can help travelers find cheap gas.
These apps use a phones GPS to identify gas stations and update prices by accepting voluntary input from users (which is the most common source), voluntary date submission from gas stations, or credit card transactions.
One such app is from GasBuddy which has been downloaded over eight million times since it was released last year. It comes in versions for Android, iPhone, BlackBerry and Windows 7. Its popularity is driven by travelers desire to save money without having to drive an extra 10 miles.
Users are often amazed to find gas prices vary as much as 60 cents per gallon at gas stations within four miles of their location. The apps are particularly useful when traveling in unfamiliar areas.
The following is a recap on some of these apps:
GasBuddy is free and lists gas stations by distance and price. Its downside is its inability to plan gas stops on a trip route or filter listings by distance or price differential.
Fuel Finder costs $2.99 and offers a calculator to determine annual savings. It can filter listings by distance and age of data, but cannot recommend gas stops along a trip route.
MyGasWars costs 99 cents looks for a single station that is either cheapest or nearest based on user preference. It is able to filter recommendations based on distance, age of data, gas station brands. Unfortunately its data is sometimes inaccurate and the app freezes and crashes periodically. www.cheapfares.com