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CNN Live At Daybreak
'Dollars and Deals'
Aired February 13, 2003 - 06:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now Dollars and Deals. Just about everyone has seen gas prices shoot up in the last two to three weeks.
Consumer advocate Clark Howard joins us with a wake up call. He has some tips for saving cash on gas.
Good morning, Clark.
Are you in your car?
CLARK HOWARD, CONSUMER ADVOCATE: Yes, I am. But I'm in a hybrid, so I'm getting 44 miles per gallon while we're talking.
COSTELLO: Oh, it figures.
Is there really any way you can find really cheap gas where you are? Because I always figured if you had to drive far away to a gas station, it was kind of defeating the purpose.
HOWARD: What a great question. That's because most of us wait to worry about filling up the tank till it's almost empty. And so if you were to drive out of the way to find cheap gas, you're exactly right. But what's a smarter thing to do is once your tank hits a half, from a half to empty there are many, many times you're going to pass a discount gas station. And so if you just on your path pass a place where there's a deal, you buy there.
COSTELLO: Oh, that's a great idea.
HOWARD: And there are so many places to get deals now, because about 10 percent of the nation's gasoline is being sold by the warehouse clubs and supermarkets. You can go to Costco Wholesale, Sam's Club. You can go to Wal-Mart. You can go to B.J.'s Wholesale. And most of these places have gas pumps now that are really, really cheap.
COSTELLO: And it's the same quality gas?
HOWARD: Oh, gas is gas, let me tell you. It doesn't matter where you buy it, you're getting the same stuff.
COSTELLO: Well, I know in my car I have to put in premium. I mean is that really necessary or should you save money by not pumping premium into your tank?
HOWARD: If your owner's manual says you need premium, buy premium. But listen to this, less than five percent of us have a car that really requires premium, but 20 percent of the gallons of gas being sold right now are premium. So that means four times the number of people who need to pay 20 extra cents a gallon are doing it.
COSTELLO: Got you.
Hey, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Talk about the Web sites for just a second that people can log onto to find the cheapest gas.
HOWARD: These are sites where consumers go on and on an honor system put the prices they found around town. You just go and you put in your zip code and you see the cheapest prices. There's gasbuddy.com and there's gaspricewatch.com.
COSTELLO: Got you.
HOWARD: Now, it depends on the part of the country you're in which of the two will be more effective for you.
COSTELLO: OK, and quickly, don't buy gas on credit. It's better to pay cash always.
HOWARD: What's that? I'm sorry?
COSTELLO: Never use credit cards. It's better to use cash to buy, right?
HOWARD: No, credit cards are fine. Just don't get to be where you're committed to one particular brand of gas. So if you have a particular gas company card and you go to their stations over and over again, you'll end up paying way too much. Don't be brand loyal, be price loyal.
COSTELLO: Oh, great advice.
Clark Howard, great advice. We'll let you pull onto the road again so you can get to work this morning. We appreciate it.
HOWARD: OK, certainly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 13, 2003 - 06:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now Dollars and Deals. Just about everyone has seen gas prices shoot up in the last two to three weeks.
Consumer advocate Clark Howard joins us with a wake up call. He has some tips for saving cash on gas.
Good morning, Clark.
Are you in your car?
CLARK HOWARD, CONSUMER ADVOCATE: Yes, I am. But I'm in a hybrid, so I'm getting 44 miles per gallon while we're talking.
COSTELLO: Oh, it figures.
Is there really any way you can find really cheap gas where you are? Because I always figured if you had to drive far away to a gas station, it was kind of defeating the purpose.
HOWARD: What a great question. That's because most of us wait to worry about filling up the tank till it's almost empty. And so if you were to drive out of the way to find cheap gas, you're exactly right. But what's a smarter thing to do is once your tank hits a half, from a half to empty there are many, many times you're going to pass a discount gas station. And so if you just on your path pass a place where there's a deal, you buy there.
COSTELLO: Oh, that's a great idea.
HOWARD: And there are so many places to get deals now, because about 10 percent of the nation's gasoline is being sold by the warehouse clubs and supermarkets. You can go to Costco Wholesale, Sam's Club. You can go to Wal-Mart. You can go to B.J.'s Wholesale. And most of these places have gas pumps now that are really, really cheap.
COSTELLO: And it's the same quality gas?
HOWARD: Oh, gas is gas, let me tell you. It doesn't matter where you buy it, you're getting the same stuff.
COSTELLO: Well, I know in my car I have to put in premium. I mean is that really necessary or should you save money by not pumping premium into your tank?
HOWARD: If your owner's manual says you need premium, buy premium. But listen to this, less than five percent of us have a car that really requires premium, but 20 percent of the gallons of gas being sold right now are premium. So that means four times the number of people who need to pay 20 extra cents a gallon are doing it.
COSTELLO: Got you.
Hey, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Talk about the Web sites for just a second that people can log onto to find the cheapest gas.
HOWARD: These are sites where consumers go on and on an honor system put the prices they found around town. You just go and you put in your zip code and you see the cheapest prices. There's gasbuddy.com and there's gaspricewatch.com.
COSTELLO: Got you.
HOWARD: Now, it depends on the part of the country you're in which of the two will be more effective for you.
COSTELLO: OK, and quickly, don't buy gas on credit. It's better to pay cash always.
HOWARD: What's that? I'm sorry?
COSTELLO: Never use credit cards. It's better to use cash to buy, right?
HOWARD: No, credit cards are fine. Just don't get to be where you're committed to one particular brand of gas. So if you have a particular gas company card and you go to their stations over and over again, you'll end up paying way too much. Don't be brand loyal, be price loyal.
COSTELLO: Oh, great advice.
Clark Howard, great advice. We'll let you pull onto the road again so you can get to work this morning. We appreciate it.
HOWARD: OK, certainly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
