You’ve got the perfect road trip playlist, salty snacks, and your fave sunnies, so you’re all set for your spring break road trip, right?
Pump the brakes.
If you’re really concerned about being frugal with your fuel (and you totally should be!), check out these free apps for both iPhone and Android, that help you find the cheapest gas closest to you.
GasBuddy
GasBuddy could be considered one of the OGs of cheap-gas apps. The free app allows you to find the cheapest gas near you, and you can report gas prices at your local station to help others out too! GasBuddy also features daily contests in which you can win $100 in free gas.
“GasBuddy is also a savior during long trips — the ‘maps’ mode allows you to easily see prices at stations up-ahead so that you can fill up with confidence that you’re getting the lowest price along your route,” wrote one customer on GasBuddy’s review page on iTunes.
Gas Guru
Like GasBuddy, Gas Guru hunts for the best fuel prices near you. You can filter your search by gas or fuel grade and view your results by map or list view. Also, the app lets you label or save your fave (and most frequented) stations, so you don’t have to search as hard!
“Gas prices vary considerably from location to location even within a small urban area. For obvious reasons, gas stations on roads less-traveled charge less — as much as 50 cents a gallon less. My car takes something north of 15 gallons to fill up. That’s $7.50 in my pocket. Worth a little trouble” wrote one customer on Gas Guru’s review page on iTunes.
Waze
Waze is the ultimate, free app for any road trip warrior; you’ll save on fuel by dodging traffic jams and accidents. Acting as a “community-based traffic and navigation app,” drivers using Waze report prices they find at the pump, and also give other drivers a heads up when it comes to police, accidents, road hazards or traffic jams.
I used Waze on a summer road trip last year with friends, and it probably shaved an hour off our travel time. It gave us a clutch alternative route, letting us ditch the cluster of cars trying to make it to Cape Cod for the Fourth of July.
If you’re in the fast lane when it comes to your socializing, you can even connect Waze to your Facebook account. You’ll be able to coordinate everyone’s ETAs when you’re trying to meet up with friends. #Squadgoals officially achieved.
Stretch your budget even farther with a gas rewards credit card! The Bank of America Cash Rewards card offers 3 percent cash back on gas, as does the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card.
Gas shouldn’t guzzle up the bulk of your spring break budget!