Gas rewards credit cards can be a great option for a lot of folks. With the recent hike in gasoline prices the last few days, you can get quite the sticker shock with filling up your tank. And the summer months is when a lot of people are taking vacation and doing a lot of driving. And many of us are beginning to realize that a driving holiday is not necessarily any cheaper than flying somewhere for vacation any more.

Regardless of your vacation choices, whether you are heading to the cabin or across country, we all need to drive. And we are all affected by the cost of gasoline. Even if you bus or bike practically everywhere, there is a cost involved to bring produce to the store and oil is used to mine the steal or aluminum to make the bike frame or bus you ride in.

So read on as I try and explain some of the real benefits that are to be had by choosing a gas rewards credit card. Not many folks think about such a specific purposed card, but after you’ve finished reading this article you might see it in a different light. Of course there are drawbacks to be aware of, and we’ll talk about a few of those too.

One of the major benefits of using a gas rewards card or another specialty reward card is the benefit rate that you’ll get from such a card. It is not uncommon to see rebate rates of 3 to 5% for gas rewards cards and occasionally higher at least in the interim time frame. Most other rewards cards will give you 1 to 2% rebate rates across a wide variety of products and services. Gas rewards credit cards can give you twice or thrice that amount in rebate rewards. And this adds up.

When you consider that most Americans drive around 18 000 miles a year getting on average 20 miles per gallon, then over that year you’re buying 900 gallons of fuel per year. And these are just averages. At around three dollars per gallon that’s an easy $2700 a year just for fuel. And a lot of these gas rewards credit cards will let you get rebates for oil, tire rotations and other maintenance issues.

You can see how this would quickly add up. These types of cards are definitely suited for those who commute a lot and are doing more than the average amount of driving per year. If you own your own transportation company you should consider one of these cards. And if you’re a traveling salesperson then this is definitely a card you’d want to consider.

But as always, you need to look at the fine print. Some of these cards because of their generosity in rebates are persnickety about late payments. I’ve seen some cards that will charge twenty, thirty or more dollars as a penalty for not making a payment on time. So be careful with this. In addition, a lot of these cards will ding your credit report if you become wayward in your payments.

Also when choosing a gas rewards credit card, be sure to look at the rebate rates closely. You might be teased with a super high rate of return for your fuel purchases but it might only be for the first 6 months. So you want to look at the long term rebate rate. Also, the best of these cards are mated to one specific gas company. So be sure the card you choose has plenty of stations that you can access with ease.