When I purchased my Mustang from the local Ford dealership earlier this year, one of the incentives they offered me (and I accepted before knowing the details) was a $500 gas credit good at any gas station. This sounds great until you really understand how this $500 gas credit works and how inconvenient it is.

I’ll give you the details …

After you purchase your car (or wherever you get the gas credit from) they will give you a form that must be filled out. When I called the number on the application form that was crooked and looked like it was printed on a 1984 dot-matrix printer, some guy answered and I could hear a TV in the background. He was most unenthusiastic and almost seemed annoyed that I was asking questions, but I apparently was calling the right place so I filled out the form and mailed it in (with a $5 activation fee) to this obscure “company”. About 6 weeks later, I received notification that my account had been created and they sent me 4 mail-in voucher slips (about the size of a business card).

Here comes the lame part …

  • You must spend $100 in a single month, in gas, at the same exact gas station.
  • You must mail in all receipts along with the first of four mail-in voucher slips and they must be received by the 25th of the month. Otherwise, you don’t qualify for that month.
  • 4 weeks after they receive your submission, they send you a $25 gift certificate to that very same exact gas station that is only valid at that very same exact gas station.
  • You repeat the above process once a month until $500 worth of $25 gift certificates have been mailed to you ($500 / $25 a month = 20 months or about 1.6 years).
  • Oh yeah … once you run out of the 4 mail-in voucher slips they initially sent, you have to request more which takes 4 to 6 weeks.

Now, it’s not hard at all to spend $100 a month in gas, especially with today’s gas prices. The part about having to buy gas and use the gift certificate at the same specific gas station is annoying, but not that bad as I usually fill-up at the same place anyhow. The part that really bothers me is they ONLY send you $25 after each month of $100+ in gas, regardless of how much you spend and how many receipts you mail in. So, it will take me 20 months to earn my $500 gas credit. Now, $25 won’t fill up my tank. Won’t even come close. So now I have to split my fill-up with a $25 gift card that I have to take inside and a credit card. I loose the convenience of not having to go inside!

Why couldn’t they just give me a $500 gift card to any gas station I want? Because people would actually use the money! Of the 3 people I know over the last two years that have purchased new cars, 2 of them didn’t even bother once they found out what was involved and one of them keeps forgetting to collect receipts (or the print machine on the pump was broken so they would have had to go inside to reclaim the receipt). We, on the other hand started doing it … but once summer rolled around I started riding my motorcycle which gets 70 mpg and only costs me $12 to fill up. I don’t come close to the $100 a month requirement. My wife drives all over the place and fills up at various gas stations instead of at one single place. So hitting that $100 mark at the same gas station in a single month became a problem. At first we started driving more to make the mark, but then realized we were driving just to use gas so we could get a $25 coupon. This stopped immediately.

In all, the free gas credit is not quite a scam, but they make it so inconvenient and obtrusive that most people probably just don’t bother after they have already purchased their new vehicle. The car companies which are enticing people to buy cars with a $500 free gas card won’t go into the details of the gas card. They sell it as “$500 worth of gas at any gas station”. While that’s not a lie, it’s certainly misleading. I’m sure the “company” offering the gas card through the dealership partnership is making money. Otherwise, why do it?

Bottom line … don’t be duped like I was into thinking this $500 gas credit is a good thing. It is most inconvenient and you are better off negotiating for an upgrade on the new car … maybe all-weather floor mats or mud flaps.

I wonder what headaches are involved with Chrysler’s $2.99 gas for 3 years?