Maximizing what you get at the Gas Bar

News: Registration is free here at the CPMF!

If you buy fuel at a Canadian Tire Gas Bar, you get some Canadian Tire Money back:
- 10-29.9 L: $0.05 (This equates to anywhere from $0.005/L to $0.0017/L depending on how much you buy)
- 30-39.9 L: $0.10 ($0.0033/L to $0.0025/L)
- 40-49.9 L: $0.15
- 50-59.9 L: $0.20
- 60-69.9 L: $0.25
- 70-79.9 L: $0.30 ($0.0043/L to $0.0037/L)

Here's how you can maximize the amount of Canadian Tire Money you get back per litre of fuel.

1. Get a Canadian Tire Options Mastercard and use it to buy all of your fuel at Canadian Tire. You will automatically get the maximum posted "multiplier" without having to use a coupon. So if the multiplier is 8x, you will automatically get that, which means that on a 30L purchase, you get $0.80 instead of $0.10.
2. When filling up, do not just "fill up". Make purchases of just over 10L at a time (eg: 10.008 L). The maximum amount of CTMoney per litre is available at the 10L mark: $0.05 which works out to $0.005 per litre. So, now your 30L purchase with an 8x multiplier that previously net you $0.80 will become three 10L purchases each netting you $0.40 for a total of $1.20. This works out to a nice 4 cents per litre in CTMoney.
3. When the high multiplier weeks come around, buy your gas then. Use a spare gas can for an extra 10 or 20L so you can wait for the next high multiplier week.
4. Watch for special events like grand openings of new stores and weekly promotions that offer high-multiplier coupons. For example, there is a 6x coupon in this week's flyer, but you can get a 12x coupon in-store. Some of these special events give you higher multipliers than your Options Mastercard will give you (remember, they only give you the highest posted rate, not the special coupons).

With a 12x coupon and getting 40L of fuel, you could get $2.40 in CTMoney, which works out to a savings of 6 cents per litre! Or, you could pay cash for one purchase of 40L and walk away with $0.15. Hmm... I like $2.40 better than 15 cents.

The main drawback here is that all this is Money on the Card, not paper notes.

Brent:

That is some really great info on the Canadian Tire coupons and the way to earn some extra cash!

Now a days a person has to take any and all little extra ways to help save some green!  I have never seen anyone go that in depth at the loop holes at a gas bar like you have described, and with the price of fuel it really pays off to do some juggling to help fill that never ending hole in the tank/wallet.  I would have never thought of looking into it the way you have done but it would definitely save some cash over the long run!  Only you Brent would be able to sort through all the fine print to come up with that great plan.  I offer you a pat on the back for this one! 

 Bugsy

Back in early 2007 or late 2006, they made a change to how much CTMoney was earned. Prior to the change, it was most effective to get the most you could per purchase just over an increment of 10L (so if you could put 55L in your tank when it was empty, and you had a 20L gas can, you would drive until you were running on fumes, then fill your tank, then start filling your gas can until you cracked 70L then stop). The returns were more favourable at that point.

The change they made was two-fold: 1) less CTMoney per increment and 2) the initial increment was changed from 20-29.9L to 10-29.9L. The first change only served to piss people off because the rewards were clawed back. The second point is what changed the strategy from getting as much as you can in one purchase to getting several 10L purchases.

It's all about finding the "sweet spot" where the payoff is maximized. Take a look at the below chart.


This is a chart of the amount of CTMoney received when you purchase X litres of fuel (black line, right-side axis), and the average amount of CTMoney per litre for various quantities of fuel purchased (red line, left-side axis).

So if you look at the red line, you see that it is highest at exactly 10.000 litres, drops to the lowest point at 29.999 L, then sawtooths its way upwards with peaks every 10 L. Prior to the changes made a few years ago, that first segment from 10 L to 20 L was not there; you didn't get any CTMoney at all for purchases of less than 20 L. So you can see how it would have been most economical to buy as much as you could. But now with the minimum purchase dropped to 10 L, it is very clear that you only want to make purchases of 10 L at a time. (Note: The above chart is for a 6x multiplier coupon, but it would look identical for any other multiplier except that the numbers would scale up or down accordingly. The lines would look the same).