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Gadgets Can Find Cheap Gas, Then Direct You To It

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By RICHARD MULLINS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 21, 2008

Updated: 06/21/2008 12:14 am

Have you heard about the Valrico gas station selling super cheap gas? Or the one in Oldsmar?

How do you know they're low-priced for sure, without driving there?

In daily life lately, perhaps few bits of information are more treasured than where to find an oasis of low-priced gas. Right on cue, consumer electronics companies are launching new options promising to help find them.

As gas tops $4 a gallon, all the major cell phone companies have launched software on their phones that promise to find the cheapest local gas station. So have some major GPS device companies. Typically, they're packaged with other mobile data services, like turn-by-turn directions, movie times or weather forecasts for about $10 a month.

Good timing. People are flocking to those and other services. Traffic at the Web site Tampagasprices.com and its sister sites is up about 100 percent since December to 10 million hits a day. AT&T says use of its mobile gas price service doubled since January.
Mapping companies supplying the information say that use of all things gasoline is skyrocketing.

Gas Savings Can Add Up

Hunting cheap gas through mobile gadgets can make a big difference for drivers, especially because the devices do more than simply list local prices. They use GPS signals to locate a person's particular phone, show the lowest gas prices nearby and then give turn-by-turn directions there. Whether the services pay for themselves depends on how much gas people buy.

In Tampa, the gap between the cheapest and most expensive gas station is about 40 cents a gallon for regular unleaded grade gas, according to Tampagasprices.com. That adds up to about $8 for a 20-gallon tank. Filling up that tank once a week can add up to $32 a month. By contrast, gas-finding services range from free to a few dollars a month.

AT&T offers a service with lists of prices from Gasbuddy.com for $2.99 a month, and integrated directions there for $9.99 a month. Sprint's navigation service includes gas-finding features that started in April last year for $2.99 a day, $9.99 a month or included in the company's $99 "Everything" plan.

Verizon Wireless offers a "FuelFinder" service for $1.99 a month that can list local gas prices, and its "Navigator" phone launched last month includes turn-by-turn directions for $2.99 a day, or $9.99 a month.

Any cellular phone that can access the Internet can reach Web sites that rank local gas prices, though they might not integrate turn-by-turn directions. For owners of the new Apple iPhone, a growing list of programmers are writing software that merges real-time gas prices with the phone's Google Maps software.

Typically, mobile devices draw their gas information from third party companies, then use custom software to deliver the prices to customers where they are. The mobile mapping company TeleNav recently started providing gas prices to companies such as AT&T, Alltel and T-Mobile. Traffic rose 62 percent on that service since January.

GPS Devices Get Into The Act

Meanwhile, companies making GPS navigation devices have seen similar demand for real-time gas info.

Garmin offers a near real-time gas finder service on many of its higher-end models, with prices provided through MSN Direct. The service is free for an introductory period, then costs $49.95 a year or a one-time charge of $129.95. Garmin doesn't formally track usage of the gas feature, but "anecdotally, it's becoming one of the hottest topics among prospective and existing customers," said spokesman Todd Gartner.

TomTom launched its "Fuel Prices" service this spring for $14.95 a year on its higher-end models.

The demand for cheap gas is also showing up online. Gasbuddy.com founder Jason Toews said traffic at its Tampagasprices.com Web site is as many as 15,000 hits a day, up from 4,000 in January, mirroring the rise in gas prices. "It seems that if the prices are jumping quickly, or falling quickly, the traffic to our site rises," Toews said. "People know the prices are changing and don't want to miss out on a bargain."

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or

rmullins@tampatrib.com.

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