Travel and Gas : Finding Faster, Better, Cheaper

Released on: Friday, 15, 2007 8:00 AM

    

Travel and Gas : Finding Faster, Better, Cheaper

Let’s talk gas.  Before you head to the pump, log on and check gas prices. Prices can vary as much as 20 percent between stations just a few blocks apart.  Two savings resources are Gasbuddy.com and gaspricewatch.com. Gas buddy offers information for US and Canada, by collecting information from 173 feeder sites. Gaspricewatch uses a network of over 120,000 volunteers who report prices at over 120,000 stations. 

Did you know that properly inflated tires can save you up to nine cents off a $3 gallon of gas?

Saving on Travel.  As product search engine technology enables the price conscious shopper to price compare, new travel search engines use similar technology to provide objective price comparisons on airfares, hotels, rental cars. Three that are worth a visit are Kayak.com, Farecompare.com, and Farecast.com

Fareccompare collects data from 77,000 city pairs several times each day. If your interest is a “quick trip” be sure and click on Top Deals list.  Kayak claims to have the best travel deals available. Kayak provides the fare information, clicking on a flight choice delivers you to that airline’s site to complete the booking process.  Farecast includes a forecast feature.  After locating fare data for you, this site also predicts whether fares are heading up in price or down.  It also shows visitors what time of year is cheapest for travel. 

Home Team ATM. Using the ATM of a bank where you have no account now averages $2.91. Bankrate.com says this is an all time high. To avoid these fees, use a home team ATM. The average fee for bouncing a check is nearly $27. More frequent offenders pay more. Keep up with your account balances and arrange over draft protection.

    

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