Gas gimmicks: Companies are using the high price of fuel to to attract your business.

The marketing schemes playing on your anxiety over rising gas prices seem to be everywhere.

Looking to buy a new vehicle?

Chances are the car salesman will throw in a gas card to sweeten the deal.

Want to buy new furniture?

The salesman in the showcase room may have a gas card to pull your sale in.

Indeed - here and across the country - salesmen are taking advantage of what marketers call the "recency effect," or the psychological belief that the most recently presented items or experiences will most likely affect the matter at hand.

Working off that premise, marketing gurus trust the current hype over skyrocketing gas prices will cause consumers to perceive that a $200 gas card is a far better deal than $200 cash back.

"The value of the gift is perceived to be more than the marketer is shelling out," said Ashok Lalwani, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas San Antonio.

Buying into that, Chrysler executives extended their company's "Let's Refuel America" promotion - which offers subsidized gas instead of cash back or a financing deal - for the second time this month.

Choice Hotels International, owner of Comfort Inn and other area hotels, is set to give away $50 gas cards to anyone who books three separate reservations with the chain.

And local furniture retailer Lacks recently gave away $100 gas cards to anyone who spent more than $1,000 in late June - about 300 gas cards were doled out, including 40 in Edinburg, said Ramon Martinez, manager of the company's Edinburg store.

Chrysler's deal makes sense for consumers who are fearful that gas prices will continue to quickly rise or who live in areas with high gas prices.

Government surveys find that fuel prices in the Gulf Coast region, which includes Texas, average the lowest in the nation at just about $4 per gallon for regular unleaded, according to the Energy Information Administration. This week, gas prices hovered around $3.90 in the Rio Grande Valley.

So, those who opt for Chrysler's deal will get the first 12,000 miles they drive during each of the first three years they own the car subsidized at $2.99 per gallon using a special credit card. To make sure Chrysler's plan doesn't backfire on its bottom line, company executives made sure to buy gas futures to hedge against price increases, according to a company spokeswoman.

With all the marketing ploys hitting consumers now, it is best to read the fine print and ask lots of questions, though.

Comfort Inn's deal, for example, isn't compatible with other offers, possibly making it a bad option for some travelers.

To get the card, customers must register online and agree to receive seasonal mailings, said Mia Muñoz, director of operations at the Comfort Inn in Edinburg.

And the deal ends Aug. 14.

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Dave Hendricks covers general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4454.