Discussion
We run several vehicles through the business and we currently use Fuelgenie
I'm trying to work out if this is the most cost effective way of managing the cost of fuel - all i can see is a claim on their website that the business saves 3p per litre but i think that's because it forces you to use supermarket fuel!!
I'm trying to work out if this is the most cost effective way of managing the cost of fuel - all i can see is a claim on their website that the business saves 3p per litre but i think that's because it forces you to use supermarket fuel!!
Takemeaway said:
We run several vehicles through the business and we currently use Fuelgenie
I'm trying to work out if this is the most cost effective way of managing the cost of fuel - all i can see is a claim on their website that the business saves 3p per litre but i think that's because it forces you to use supermarket fuel!!
We use Fastfuel. They dont force you to use Supermarkets, but the choices are a bit limited. I'm trying to work out if this is the most cost effective way of managing the cost of fuel - all i can see is a claim on their website that the business saves 3p per litre but i think that's because it forces you to use supermarket fuel!!
Allstar is pump price, which is fine, you know they won’t try and stiff you like some other companies.
The fuel card company were cheaper to begin with if we used certain sites, something like 2p a litre. But after about 18 months I was going through some accounts and noticed they were around 10p a litre dearer than I could buy fuel at my nearest Texaco, and we were spending £2k a week on diesel so it really mounted up. They’d been ripping us off for about 12 months, I was so angry that I didn’t notice it far sooner.
I cancelled the account and shredded all the cards, I couldn’t get any refund from them and to add insult to injury their reps were calling me and emailing me constantly to try and get a foot back in the door. Their reps even tried to circumvent me and go to other directors trying to worm their way back in with fantastic promises of cheap fuel.
It got to a point where I had to find out who the MD was and I appealed to him directly about the aggressive sales tactics and that was pretty much the last I heard from them.
Fuel cards and trackers attract the absolute worst kinds of sales reps.
The fuel card company were cheaper to begin with if we used certain sites, something like 2p a litre. But after about 18 months I was going through some accounts and noticed they were around 10p a litre dearer than I could buy fuel at my nearest Texaco, and we were spending £2k a week on diesel so it really mounted up. They’d been ripping us off for about 12 months, I was so angry that I didn’t notice it far sooner.
I cancelled the account and shredded all the cards, I couldn’t get any refund from them and to add insult to injury their reps were calling me and emailing me constantly to try and get a foot back in the door. Their reps even tried to circumvent me and go to other directors trying to worm their way back in with fantastic promises of cheap fuel.
It got to a point where I had to find out who the MD was and I appealed to him directly about the aggressive sales tactics and that was pretty much the last I heard from them.
Fuel cards and trackers attract the absolute worst kinds of sales reps.
All Star is the only choice if spend is below £100k per annum on fuel in that others will only save you a few hundred pounds at most over a year for any spends smaller than that, you might scrape £1k saving. Most of the price of fuel is spot + tax, fuel card providers therefore can only offer a couple of pence maybe 3 on a very good week. So 2% saving on £1.20 a litre is < 2% saving on £100k and that's with disciplined rule following drivers. All Star as others have said is simple and hassle free.
However watch out for transaction fees, statement fees, card fees and other tricks e.g
If your credit rating is falling then they''ll add a credit risk few pennies to the pump price, but wont' tell you.
M6 toll (and others) they put at the displayed price, so you think you're not paying a premium but they put the inc VAT price in teh net column and then add VAT at the end of the invoice, so they are charging 20% fee on the M6 toll.
They also have another card type which is a weekly set price which if you use lots of motorway service stations is worth having so you don't pay pump price, but last time I checked the weekly price was slightly higher than supermarket. So it depends on what your fleet visits most as to which all star card to get.
Lot's of other fuel card tricks, but that's enough for a quick bulletin post.
However watch out for transaction fees, statement fees, card fees and other tricks e.g
If your credit rating is falling then they''ll add a credit risk few pennies to the pump price, but wont' tell you.
M6 toll (and others) they put at the displayed price, so you think you're not paying a premium but they put the inc VAT price in teh net column and then add VAT at the end of the invoice, so they are charging 20% fee on the M6 toll.
They also have another card type which is a weekly set price which if you use lots of motorway service stations is worth having so you don't pay pump price, but last time I checked the weekly price was slightly higher than supermarket. So it depends on what your fleet visits most as to which all star card to get.
Lot's of other fuel card tricks, but that's enough for a quick bulletin post.
Thanks for all the feedback and tips.
Probably won't end up changing as everyone's used to what we have and there don't seem to be many, if any, advantages of moving elsewhere.
Just slightly surprised that no aggregator has been able to negotiate a decent enough fuel bulk buy discount that the can be passed on to their customers which is how i thought the industry might work!
Probably won't end up changing as everyone's used to what we have and there don't seem to be many, if any, advantages of moving elsewhere.
Just slightly surprised that no aggregator has been able to negotiate a decent enough fuel bulk buy discount that the can be passed on to their customers which is how i thought the industry might work!
mattfuey said:
I tried a fuelstore card, slightly cheaper, but restricted on sites you can use as its a keyfuels card. Also invoicing was weekly, not monthly and think it was seven day payment terms.
Last place I worked switched from Allstar to Keyfuels. I've no idea how much, if any, money was saved, but I spent a lot more time driving around unfamiliar places trying to find Keyfuels sites, many of which seem to be HGV oriented and sometimes didn't have a nozzle that would fit in a car filler. Keyfuels have next to nothing on the motorway network and their mobile app was useless.The highlight was ending up at some moody unattended truckstop place just off the M1 which had a cafe in an old Portacabin so took the opportunity to grab a coffee and a bag of crisps. As the site was relatively small for HGV's to turn around I parked up out of way in the far corner to eat my crisps and received a tap on the window from a very rough looking sex worker offering business! Never had that at a Shell station
Go Allstar or don't bother.
I used Allstar (Arval) for many years but got sick of the extra charges they kept adding. Typically they send an email with unreadable new T&Cs and then add some new charge on the next invoice. Ranging from interest to environmental fee etc. The vast majority of companies probably don’t notice. Their business model is basically adding extra charges and hope companies don’t notice - charming!
I use Fuel Genie and they are much better - so OP I would stick with them. Coverage is good enough and our guys haven’t moaned about the change (tradesmen so they moan about everything generally).
I use Fuel Genie and they are much better - so OP I would stick with them. Coverage is good enough and our guys haven’t moaned about the change (tradesmen so they moan about everything generally).
No idea who we use but I have a shell card, which works at esso, total and some others and a BP card. We pay a fixed price regardless of pump price which works for me as I’m doing long motorway trips and often fill up at the motorway services.
I know we just did a comparison between pump prices and the weekly fixed price and stick with them.
I know we just did a comparison between pump prices and the weekly fixed price and stick with them.
+1 here for confirming Allstar are utter thieves. They add a few pence per litre “after continually assessing your credit rating” even though we never ever defaulted on their direct debits and actually are cash positive - think it’s an excuse that you can’t disprove.
Got Amex cards, fill up where we like and now go on holiday with the points....
Got Amex cards, fill up where we like and now go on holiday with the points....
Pistaaah said:
+1 here for confirming Allstar are utter thieves. They add a few pence per litre “after continually assessing your credit rating” even though we never ever defaulted on their direct debits and actually are cash positive - think it’s an excuse that you can’t disprove.
Got Amex cards, fill up where we like and now go on holiday with the points....
Interesting! Must take a look at that then.Got Amex cards, fill up where we like and now go on holiday with the points....
How many vehicles do you run? We have 8 currently with 7 different drivers so need cards for each vehicle. Trusting staff with an Amex card....worries me a lot!
rufmeister said:
Interesting! Must take a look at that then.
How many vehicles do you run? We have 8 currently with 7 different drivers so need cards for each vehicle. Trusting staff with an Amex card....worries me a lot!
Have a card per named driver, otherwise the cards get left in the vehicles and ultimately vanish.How many vehicles do you run? We have 8 currently with 7 different drivers so need cards for each vehicle. Trusting staff with an Amex card....worries me a lot!
Make the staff treat the fuel cards like they would their own credit cards.
We’ve had dipsticks lose their cards, write the pins on the back and then not tell us they’ve lost the card until it’s been used 20 times.
Coin-Slot said:
Please take my advice on this, never, ever try and get a quote from the Fuel Card Company/FuelCards.co.uk
They will rip you off and then constantly phone and email you until you are sick to death of them.
Utter Parasites.
AllStar are pretty good though.
This. However tempting it may be, don't. They start off well, then start charging for all manner of things you weren't expecting. Then the fuel price creeps up and before you know it you would be much better off paying pump price. Then you contact them to complain, or try to cancel, then it becomes even more of a nightmare. Worst company I have ever had to trade with. They will rip you off and then constantly phone and email you until you are sick to death of them.
Utter Parasites.
AllStar are pretty good though.
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