In this article we’re going to be talking about RV fuel savings.

I did a video on this subject a while back, but time marches on and changes keep happening in the world.

So there’s new methods now that have become available for saving on fuel costs, and that video kind of needs a little updating.

And we want to include more than just information on how to save on diesel fuel.

Instead, we are also going to cover how you can save on gasoline costs as well.

So bear with me because there’s something here for everybody. You’re going to find some way to save on fuel costs.

You know this really is an important subject for RVers. Because when you add it all up at the end of the month, fuel costs can be one of the largest expenses.

This is true especially for full-timers RVers that are really traveling and moving a lot.

So if you can save a little bit each time on your fuel ups, well by the end of the year it can add up to a lot of money.

In fact it certainly worked that way for us in our RVing travels.

We’ll talk a little bit more about that as we go along. But let’s go ahead and get started on the first way to save money on RV fuel.

Table of Contents

• RV Fuel Savings For Diesel Engines
• Using An RV Fuel Card For Savings
• Our Savings Using The RV Fuel Card
• How The RV Fuel Card Works
• RV Fuel Savings – How To Get An RV Fuel Card
• Another Great RV Fuel Card To Consider
• An RV Fuel Card Comparison
• RV Fuel Savings For Smaller Diesel Engines
• How To Use The MudFlap App
• RV Fuel Savings For Gasoline Engines
• How To Use The Cheapest Gas In Your Area
• A Way To Get Even More RV Fuel Savings
• RV Fuel Savings Using Discount Clubs
• Other Reasons To Join A Discount Club
• Conclusion

RV Fuel Savings For Diesel Engines

The first problem I want to talk about is for those of us who have an RV such as a diesel pusher motorhome.

Or it could also be a big, long fifth wheel or an RV that is something like that.

This problem is not for those folks that can get up next to the pump with a smaller RV. On most occasions, there will be adequate room for that.

The problem is that those with big rigs can have a hard time getting in and getting out of fuel stations. Which can cause quite a problem at times.

You know I got caught a couple of times on this in the past. I mean I really sweated it, because we had pulled in to the station and we got our fuel.

But then getting out was a real challenge. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get out at all a couple of times.

So i just decided… hey, I’m not putting myself and my rig through that anymore.

I’m going to the bigger fuel centers, you know the truck fuel centers. So we decided to do that. But now how do you save money there?

Clearly these fuel stations are set up for the big commercial trucks. So how do you save money as an RVer?

Well the good news is we found the program that’s called TSD Logistics.

Disclosure: Please note this post may contain affiliate links. This means – at no additional cost to you – I earn a commission if you make a purchase using our affiliate links. I only link to products and companies I use and feel comfortable recommending. The income goes toward supporting the free content on this website

Using An RV Fuel Card For Savings

And TSD Logistics is a program that allows RVers to share in the discounts and savings that commercial trucks are able to get when they go to the big truck centers.

So when you pull in, you just use your card and you get similar savings to what the commercial truckers are getting.

Why? Because lots of RVers are banding together and using their buying power together to get those discounts. So it’s really good for big rigs.

But again, it’s not just about where you’re actually fueling up. It’s also about being able to get in and get out too.

If a big commercial truck can get in there, fuel up and easily get out, well then, my rig can too.

We have found that it’s not a problem for us and makes things much safer, more comfortable, and just much easier.

It also usually makes it very easy to get off the highway to one of those fuel centers and get back on. So that program has worked well for us.

Our Savings Using The RV Fuel Card

But you know we really didn’t understand exactly how well it had worked for us. Not until we added up all the savings over the course of the last year.

What we found is that we had saved over seven hundred dollars by using the TSD card at these truck centers as we went across the country.

Very often we will get savings of 60 to 80 cents a gallon off what the listed price was. That’s really good and it’s added up to quite a bit for us.

How The RV Fuel Card Works

Now one thing to know about the TSD card. And this is the thing that some some folks have a little issue with.

That is that they’re going to require that you attach the use of their card to a bank account.

So after you use the card, about a day or two later they withdraw the funds. The discounted funds then come out of your bank account.

Some folks are a little leery about that and I can understand that. But you know we went ahead and decided to give it a try.

And we have never had a problem. We have used it multiple times across the country on our travels so far. And It has worked very well for us.

I know several other folks in the full-time RV lifestyle who use the same card too. And they get the same results.

Generally everyone’s very happy with it. So I can highly recommend it for those of you with big rigs with diesel engines.

RV Fuel Savings – How To Get An RV Fuel Card

I’m going to put a link to it below here. You can go there. You can check it out and see what you think.

If you want to go ahead, you just fill out the information and they’ll put your application in process.

Now it will ask for a referrer. And if you don’t mind please put in RV Inspection And Care as the person who referred you to them.

Click here to apply for the TSD fuel discount card

That’s helpful for us. It’s not necessary, but it would be appreciated.

Another Great RV Fuel Card To Consider

Well now that brings us to our next program. Again this is more for RVers with bigger rigs as well.

It’s an alternative to the TSD card. It is a program called My Diesel Savings Program.

It’s very similar and is used in the same places. And you’re going to be able to get discounts for your RV diesel fuel.

But probably the advantage here is that you can choose to link a credit card to receive your savings rather than just a bank account.

So that is something that a lot of folks are a little more comfortable with.

I don’t have this program. But I do know folks that are in the RV lifestyle that have this card and they use it.

They have very good results and they’re very happy with it as well.

An RV Fuel Card Comparison

Now I made kind of a little bit of a cursory comparison. Not very in-depth at all, but just a generalized comparison of fuel prices.

A comparison between what they offer as a discount and what TSD offers generally speaking.

And I still think TSD offers a little more of a discount. But you may choose to get the My Diesel Savings Program card instead.

That’s because you like to to link it up to your credit card. Either way is a savings though. In fact, you could have both cards if you want.

There’s nothing wrong with that. And that way you would have access to something no matter where you go.

It’s just that for us the TSD card is already something we use. We are very comfortable with it, and we just haven’t added the other card yet.

But on the basis of others I know who have it, I can recommend it at this point.

RV Fuel Savings For Smaller Diesel Engines

Well now, we’ve talked about the big rigs. But there’s a lot of RVs out there that aren’t big rigs.

What about all you folks that have diesel engines in your RV such as maybe a smaller Class A, Class C, Class B?

Or maybe you have a towable RV that uses a a truck with a diesel engine in it.

You’re not really considered a big rig. Your size is more manageable and a little more nimble than the big rigs.

Well, you could use all a lot of other fuel stations that are available out there.

And the good news is there is an app that will allow you to get discounts on your fuel there too. This app is called MudFlap.

Now again, I don’t use this app. However, I think I can recommend it.

This is because MudFlap operates on both the Apple platform and the Android platform. And the reviews for the app on both places is very good!

For instance, on the Apple platform it gets a 4.8 star review and that’s pretty good for an app.

How To Use The MudFlap App

What this app really focuses on is not using the big truck centers. That’s because if you don’t have a big rig, you don’t need to be going in there.

It focuses more on the normal type of fuel stations across the country. On the mom and pop stations and the chains that you see along the roads and highways.

All you do is go in and use the app along with your credit card. Then you get savings. And those savings appear to be fairly substantial too.

So this is something for you to consider, the use of the MudFlap app. Once again it’s use is with a credit card not with your bank account.

So a lot of people like it for that reason as well.

RV Fuel Savings For Gasoline Engines

Well, we have talked so far about diesel fuel savings. But what about all you folks out there with gasoline engines?

You know, it could be Class A, Class B, or Class C or you could have a truck that has a gasoline engine in it. One that’s pulling your RV as well.

Are you just out in the cold? No! The good news is there are choices there to save on your fuel costs as well.

And probably the first one I’d like to mention on that is a program that we do use. It’s called Gas Buddy.

Now GasBuddy is an app you can download and it works in two different ways.

How To Use The Cheapest Gas In Your Area

It just depends on how much discount you really want depending on what you do. The first way is one that is totally free for you to use.

This app is used to find the lowest price gasoline cost in your area wherever you are.

You just hit a little spot on the app that says “Find Gas”. And it goes out there and it will search your local area.

Then it will come back with a list of all the fuel stations in the area you are in, and their prices.

So all you have to do is find the lowest price and see if it’s within a reasonable driving distance.

And very often you’re going to save 10 to 15 cents or more a gallon. Just simply because you know where the lowest cost fuel is in the area. And that works out really well.

A Way To Get Even More RV Fuel Savings

But now if you want to take it to another level, GasBuddy also offers a credit card.

If you use their credit card along with finding the lowest cost fuel stations you’re going to get even more savings.

There’s incentives, further discounts and so on available by using their card.

Now GasBuddy users often say that they can save 20 to 25 cents a gallon fairly easily. And some even much more. So this is something to consider.

I mean you can’t go wrong just using the app to find the lowest cost gas in your area.

But if you get the card, it could even lead to much greater fuel savings.

Now we find that this works very well for us to use it just to search out the local savings on gasoline.

But that leads us to our next point about ways to save on gasoline costs.

RV Fuel Savings Using Discount Clubs

We shouldn’t forget the discount clubs that are out there. You know, Costco and Sam’s Club especially.

They’re the two biggies. And don’t forget about them because they often provide really good low-cost fuel, especially gasoline.

So if you get a Costco card, that’s the one we have because we just prefer Costco, then you can use it all across this country. Just as we’ve done as we have traveled.

We, of course, don’t use it for our RV because we have a diesel engine.

But we also have a tow vehicle. We have a CRV. So why not save money on our gasoline costs as well?

And it really adds up when you keep getting your gasoline at 10 to 20 cents a gallon cheaper than you would by just paying the normal price for it in the area. So you may want to consider that.

And there’s another advantage of having the card for either Costco or Sam’s Club. And that is it doesn’t just help you with your fuel costs.

Other Reasons To Join A Discount Club

You get discounts on tons of products by going in and shopping there.

And we really do mean we have gotten a lot of savings from using the Costco card.

There’s a lot of things we like to buy as we go along. And then sort of take them with us on our travels.

Now there is a membership cost for getting either a Costco or Sam’s Club card.

But when you add up the savings of the fuel and all the other things that it can save you, we feel it’s worth at least looking into.

Which one should you get? Well, it’s kind of a personal decision.

We like Costco. But you may find that Sam’s Club works better for you. Or you could even get both of them.

I know some people who have both discount cards. Either way you’re going to save money.

Conclusion

Well, that kind of brings us to a conclusion on what I wanted to talk about today.

About my suggestions for saving on fuel costs for your RV.

But I would love to hear from you as well. Please share with me any tips, ideas, or suggestions that you have come across for saving money on RV fuel costs.

Please put that down in the comments below. Because we all benefit when we share the knowledge that we have on RVing.

Well that’s it for now. As always have safe and happy travels my friends… until next time.