Don't Have a Gas Rewards Card? You Could Be Missing Out on $100 in Cash Back a Year

If you ask most people to list their top 10 expenses, I imagine gas falls pretty high on the list. Which is likely the reason that almost every major credit card issuer has at least one or two cards that offer bonus rewards on gas purchases.

(Hybrid and electric car owners: Don't leave just yet! Many issuers have expanded their gas rewards category to include electric charging fees.)

Despite all these credit card options, however, a lot of folks may not be making the most of their fill-ups. I think part of the problem is that many people don't realize how much money they're actually leaving on the table. So let's take a look.

How much can a gas card really earn?

To get a fairly realistic view of what you can earn, I took a look at a few different mileage amounts, including the national average of 13,596 miles per year (according to the Federal Highway Administration). I also used AAA's average $3.68 per gallon for gas prices, and the EPA's average 26 miles per gallon rating.

Here's what the rewards look like:

So, the average driver could be earning around $96 a year in gas rewards alone. That could cover about 26 gallons of gas, which would be two full tanks in a typical small car or one tank in a mid-size SUV.

If you have a particularly long commute or travel a lot for work, those numbers can jump quickly. A ride-hailing driver putting 30,000 miles a year on their car, for instance, would earn more than $200 a year in rewards with a top-tier card.

Don't forget about welcome bonuses

The rewards you earn on your gas purchases aren't the only way to profit off of these cards. Most of the top gas rewards credit cards will also offer a welcome bonus for new customers. These bonuses can easily be worth $150 or more in and of themselves.

Most welcome bonuses do require you to spend a certain amount of money within the first few months of owning the card. This may or may not be easy to do with gas purchases alone, depending on how much you drive. You may need to put some additional spending on the card.

The bright side here is that most cards with gas bonus categories also have other useful bonus categories. Gas and grocery rewards are a common pairing. But you can also find cards with dining and travel rewards added to the gas rewards.

Avoid low-earning gas station credit cards

While exploring your options, be sure to avoid any co-branded gas station credit cards. I know it's somewhat counterintuitive -- you'd think that gas stations would have good gas cards -- but think of them more like store credit cards. The rewards rates are lower, and sometimes the cards are closed-loop (meaning you can only use them at the specific store).

Indeed, a lot of gas station credit cards don't offer cash back at all. Instead, you'll get a few cents off per gallon. When you do the math with the real cost of gas, the money you'll save is almost always much lower than what you can earn with a regular gas rewards credit card.

With gas purchases taking up so much of our budgets, it makes sense to maximize those purchases with great gas rewards. And with so many card options out there, it's never been easier to do so.