GasFinder - A Driver's Best Friend

What is GasFinder?
GasFinder is a desktop application designed for one task – to help you find the best prices for gas in your area.  Enter a Zip Code and a Search Radius, click the Find button, and GasFinder sends your query to twelve separate Gas Price web sites.  The results from each are displayed in a single tabbed window – just click the tab to see what gas stations and prices a particular web site has found for you.

Why twelve web sites?  Isn't one enough?
While you won't often need so many, one is certainly not a good idea.  These web sites try as hard as they can to keep their information up to date, but they rely on networks of volunteers to report the prices.  These days, gas prices can change quickly, and the site that had the most accurate prices for your area yesterday may not have them today.  What do you do when you're not sure the first doctor was right?  You get a second opinion! With GasFinder, getting a second - or twelfth - opinion is as easy as clicking a tab!

Which web sites does GasFinder use?
At this time, GasFinder uses: Automotive, FuelMeUp, FuelSavingZone, GasPrice Watch,GasBuddy, GasNearU, Internet AutoGuide, Lowest Gas Prices, MapQuestGas, MotorTrend, MSN Autos, and Zip Codes &More.  This type of site is relatively new, though, and that usually means there will be some turnover.  When that happens there may be a new version of GasFinder posted, so check back periodically –your current version number is displayed at the top of the GasFinder “About” form.

Do I have to use all twelve?
Absolutely not.  Just select "Choose Sites" from the main menu, and decide for yourself who you want to hear from.  Having that many doesn't mean you need to use every one of them.  Some are more reliable than others, and that reliability varies by location and from day today.  It's about choice – try them, find the ones you like and trust, and turn the rest off.  It's all up to you.

What else does GasFinder do?
Nothing else – it won't wash your windows or check your oil, but it won't spam you either.  It will automatically keep your searches for ten days though, and allow you to print them and to save them permanently.  If AutoRun (in the File menu) is checked, when GasFinder is run it will automatically query the web sites with the last Zip Code and Radius selected.  Just below the input area is the Recent Searches list, which holds all the searches that were automatically saved for you.  To use one, simply select it from the list and click the Refind button to the right.  These are cleared after ten days, but the list can also be edited whenever you want – just right-click on the list to show the menu.  (This applies to the Zip Code and Radius drop-downs as well.)

I see some buttons, what do those do?
To the right of the Recent Searches list are three buttons.  The first two are the standard "Back" and "Forward" browser navigation buttons.  Since GasFinder uses a browser control to display pages, you can do some browser-type activities (right-click on a link to see your choices) but GasFinder isn't meant to be a web browser.  For that reason, the third button will copy the page from the current tab to the browser of your choice – Internet Explorer, FireFox, or Opera.  Click on the right side of the button (where the little down arrow is) to set your browser preference, and click the button itself to send the page there.

Directly below the results list and browser buttons is a tab strip.  This works much the same as the ones in Internet Explorer and FireFox.  Click on any tab to view those results.  If there are too many tabs to fit, small tabs with left and right arrows will appear to either side of the tab strip - click those to shift the tabs.  At the very left is adown-arrow tab - click this to see a complete list of tabs, from which the desired Web Site can also be selected.

It's free?  What's the catch?
If there is one, it's this: We hope you'll come back from time to time and see what's new.  If you find GasFinder useful, you might be interested to know that it's just one of the hundreds of searches MetaFind can perform.  MetaFind is now available for download – you can find it on the MetaFind Page.

The MetaFind – and GasFinder – Development Team

Get GasFinder

Notes – please read this if you are having any problems using GasFinder:

Download GasFinder