Credit cards are a handy financial tool for a number of reasons, but I’ve always been interested in them for the rewards they provide. Whether it’s airline miles, hotel points or cash back, I’m always looking for the right card that will earn me the most value.
When it comes to paying for gasoline, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees) is my card of choice. While it doesn’t offer the highest rate of cash back for gas purchases, it’s the best card for my spending habits.
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Pros & Cons
Card Details
Average Gas Expenditures
Gas is an expense for the vast majority of American households. According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data in 2022, 90% of American households had at least one car and nearly a third of those households had three or more cars. Because cars are so ubiquitous, and people need to keep them fueled, many card issuers offer credit cards focused on gas purchases.
The large amount of money the average American spends on gas is also a draw for card issuers. The average American household spent about $3,120 on gas and other fuels in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2023 Consumer Expenditures Survey. Of course, some spend less while others spend far more. For example, according to 2023 data from the Federal Reserve, those in the top 20% of the country by income spent a bit more than $4,500 per year on gas in 2022.
That’s a lot of money spent each year, which means a lot of opportunities to earn rewards on gas purchases.
My family only spends about $200 on gas each month, equivalent to $2,400 a year. We live in a very walkable city with good access to public transit, so our car is mostly used for a daily commute out of the city and the occasional road trip.
Even with our below-average spending, we decided to get a card with cash back focused on gas, and chose the American Express Blue Cash Preferred to maximize the rewards we can earn when buying gas.
Why I Love the Blue Cash Preferred
The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is a great card for my family and our spending habits.
Issued by American Express, the card has an annual fee of $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95. As a cash-back card, it earns 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%), 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions, 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on transit (including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more) and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases. Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.
The rewards are easy to redeem—simply log in and redeem your cash as a statement credit; there’s no minimum balance requirement.
The card also comes with a few additional money-saving perks, like purchase protection¹, return protection¹ and extended warranty protection¹ and a $7 monthly credit when you spend at least $9.99 per month on an eligible auto-renewing subscription to the Disney streaming bundle (enrollment required). That $7 monthly credit comes to up to $84 per year, already covering the majority of the fee if you have the Disney Bundle.
As far as U.S. gas station purchases go, 3% cash back is solid, but it’s not the best on the market. For our $200 per month, it means we’ll earn $6 per month or $72 per year.
Other cards offer slightly better rates of rewards for gas. For example, the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card* earns 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Altitude Rewards Center, 4 points per dollar on travel and at gas and EV charging stations on the first $1,000 each quarter, 2 points per dollar at grocery stores, dining and streaming services (excluding discount stores, supercenters and wholesale clubs) and 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases. And the Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card has no annual fee and earns 3 points per dollar at restaurants, travel, gas stations, transit, popular streaming services and phone plans, 1 point per dollar on other purchases. Business gas cards, like the American Express® Business Gold Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees), can also offer more than 3% cash back.
Though the rewards rate for gas purchases isn’t the highest available, the reason that my family loves the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is that its categories support a number of our biggest spending categories.
Because we live in a city with great transit, we prefer to use the bus or subway when possible, especially when we’re trying to get downtown. The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express supports that with a cash-back rate just as good as what we earn on U.S. gas station purchases.
It also offers one of the best reward rates on U.S supermarket purchases of any card on the market. We cook and eat most of our meals at home, so that’s a huge boon for my family.
According to the most recent BLS Consumer Expenditures survey, the average household spent about $5,700 on food at home in 2022, and our family is on pace to hit that level of spending this year. Assuming all of that food is purchased at a U.S supermarket, that’s $342 in cash back that we can earn.
Add that to the money we earn at U.S. gas stations and we’re getting more than $400 in cash back from using our Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. The additional rewards from U.S. streaming subscriptions and transit just add to the haul.
Why I Look at Total Reward Value
Whenever I’m thinking about adding a new card to my wallet, I do my best to think about the total reward value the card offers rather than focusing on the rewards categories the card issuer hypes up.
The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card* earns 4 points on travel, and the issuer includes gasoline in that category. Although this is a higher rate at U.S. gas stations than the Blue Cash Preferred’s 3% cash back, I still get more value overall from my Blue Cash Preferred because of its higher rewards rate at U.S supermarkets.
The Altitude Connect offers 5 points on hotels and cars booked through U.S. Bank—but I don’t book flights or hotels often enough for that to be worth much. The Blue Cash Preferred’s elevated U.S supermarkets rewards makes it the better gas card for me because I’ll use its other categories more.
Of course, I could get both cards and use the Blue Cash for groceries and the Altitude Connect for gas, but there’s a point where carrying too many cards becomes a hassle. Plus, I value the flexibility of earning cash back. With simple cash-back earnings I don’t have to worry about finding the best redemption values the way I would with earning points on a card like the Altitude Connect.
Why the Blue Cash Preferred Make Sense for Me
The best cash-back credit card is one that covers multiple categories you spend a lot of money on and that offers a good reward rate for that spending. For me, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express ticks all those boxes. Though it isn’t the best gasoline card in the sense that other cards offer higher rewards rates on gas, it is the best card for me because I can make use of its other bonus categories and other perks.
To view rates and fees for Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express please visit this page.
¹Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.
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