MyGallons Gives Us a Way to Save Money on Gas as Prices Rise - or Does It?

As we all feel the pain at the pump, a Miami based company, MyGallons, gives us a way to fight back as gas prices rise and save money on gas. Or, then again, maybe it does not.

All you have to do to save money is register at the MyGallons.com website, receive your MyGallons Card, which assures you that you will be able to pay the current gas prices for gas that you have in your account, sort of like futures trading on an individual scale. You can then draw from this balance of gas whenever you use the card at more than 95% of gas stations from coast to coast.

Founder and CEO of MyGallons, Steve Verona, who has been watching gas prices rise as he has been developing his company for over two years, says, "While everyone seems to want to point fingers and place blame for the staggering rise in gas prices, I am proud to say MyGallons is actually doing something to help the consumer save money."

So far, so good, but then things at MyGallons start to get a little fuzzy. You don't just sign up for a MyGallons membership to save money on gas. You have two different MyGallons memberships to choose from: the auto-refill plan at $29.95, and the self-replenishment plan at $39.95. Plus a "nominal fee" is assessed when the account is replenished.

At the MyGallons.com website, you can check , transactions, and balance of gallons. Of course, you can also pay for additional gas. You can sign up for text message and email alerts when your balance is running low or just to determine when local gas prices make it a good time to add gas to your account. It will always be a good time for MyGallons to make some money from advertising in those alerts.

You pay for gas based on the average price for regular unleaded gas in the zip code of your billing address. If you buy gas at $4.00 a gallon now, and gas prices continue to rise to $5.00 a gallon, then you will save a dollar a gallon. The more gas prices rise, the more you will save money on gas. Essentially, you are betting that gas prices will continue to rise.

That is what has happened for about two thousand people who signed up in January, since we have seen gas prices rise more than a dollar a gallon in the past year. With crude oil prices rising above $140 a gallon, we will see gas prices rise for the foreseeable future.

You can buy into the program by purchasing as little as twenty-five gallons of gas. There is no time limit on using the pre-purchased gas.

Before you purchase a membership in MyGallons, you need to consider some concerns that economists are raising. If you do not pay off your credit card debt from month to month, even as gas prices rise, you may not make up the cost of your credit card fees. In fact, since MyGallons is letting you set up a savings account filled with gas, perhaps you would do better just to put money itself into savings. The basic program of MyGallons is making people think of Priceline's similar gas card, which did not last very long. You save money, but you are assuming that MyGallons will be in business until you "spend" all the gas that you buy now.

We are all looking for ways to save money as gas prices rise, but you have to read the website (at www.MyGallons.com) carefully, do the math, and - as always - make an informed judgment.