Fuel Cards that actually list local garages?
Discussion
I keep getting calls from Fuel card companies that offer a huge saving on diesel, and offer a really convenient way to pay.
Fuel cards would be brilliant for my business - they would mean that my drivers never had to dip into their own pockets for diesel.
The problem is that all the companies that have contacted me seem to list really obscure garages. Basically all the convenient ones in terms of location are Esso, BP and Total. But I can't get the fuel card companies to list them as an option.
I'm not running a car halfway up the M2 to save 10p a gallon when the buggers in the services charge 10p more anyway!
Is anyone involved in this market, or can anyone make any suggestions?
Thanks.
Dave
Fuel cards would be brilliant for my business - they would mean that my drivers never had to dip into their own pockets for diesel.
The problem is that all the companies that have contacted me seem to list really obscure garages. Basically all the convenient ones in terms of location are Esso, BP and Total. But I can't get the fuel card companies to list them as an option.
I'm not running a car halfway up the M2 to save 10p a gallon when the buggers in the services charge 10p more anyway!
Is anyone involved in this market, or can anyone make any suggestions?
Thanks.
Dave
Glassman said:
Was using UK Fuels for about a year. Had to use TOTAL filling stations, but UKF provided a list of all stations (and a tel no for over the phone locos).
Total would be fine. You got their number?I just phoned Esso fuel cards, snooty
on the end of the phone treated the call like she'd be doing me a favour to check credit, and demanded £1500 deposit in case we didn't pay... Yeah, righto. off! 
Got BP fuel cards, we get the choice of using them or paying for the fuel and claiming it back eventually on expenses, works fine....
going to pin very soon, had hoped to be able to choose the pin, but it gets block assigned, only another pin of several to remember, but guess signature hardly matches anyway
going to pin very soon, had hoped to be able to choose the pin, but it gets block assigned, only another pin of several to remember, but guess signature hardly matches anyway
After much research into different fuel cards and looking at the discounts you can get, I decided for our business a card that gave no discounts but more choice was better suited to us as we don't want to be having to drive 2 miles out of the way to find e.g. an Esso.
We use Arval fuel card http://www.arval.co.uk which lets you use any petrol station you want. The service is fantastic for new/replacement cards etc. and has a great online system which can get you any number of reports on how your fleet operates. E.g. what % of fuel is bought from different petrol stations, ave. price paid, # litres bought, mpg, most economical drivers, Drivers who buy most expensive fuel etc etc.
The main advantage of the Arval card is that you can buy fuel anywhere and after analysis of our last year the cheapest place we bought fuel was supermarkets. Cant remember exact figures, but when you compare prices at supermarkets and if you were tied into only buying from 1 company, the discounts you would have received are often no better than if you had just filled up at the cheapeast local place such as a supermarket.
Our account manager is fantastic, so let me know if you want her details to talk to.
We use Arval fuel card http://www.arval.co.uk which lets you use any petrol station you want. The service is fantastic for new/replacement cards etc. and has a great online system which can get you any number of reports on how your fleet operates. E.g. what % of fuel is bought from different petrol stations, ave. price paid, # litres bought, mpg, most economical drivers, Drivers who buy most expensive fuel etc etc.
The main advantage of the Arval card is that you can buy fuel anywhere and after analysis of our last year the cheapest place we bought fuel was supermarkets. Cant remember exact figures, but when you compare prices at supermarkets and if you were tied into only buying from 1 company, the discounts you would have received are often no better than if you had just filled up at the cheapeast local place such as a supermarket.
Our account manager is fantastic, so let me know if you want her details to talk to.
I run a fleet of 300 vehicles across the South of England. We have our own bulk diesel tank at head office but use Arval cards for off site fuelling. I would echo the comments about Arval service and back up.
We used to use BP and get a very small discount but they kept closing filling stations; it became more difficult to find a filling station where you could use the cards. Our vehicles operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the Arval card is the best solution that we have found.
There are cards offering discounts for buying at bunker sites but these are often truckstops or out of town sites on trucking routes.
Also, we get a weekly electronic statement from Arval and can export this to excel to identify the drivers who don't look for the lower priced sites at each fill up.
We used to use BP and get a very small discount but they kept closing filling stations; it became more difficult to find a filling station where you could use the cards. Our vehicles operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the Arval card is the best solution that we have found.
There are cards offering discounts for buying at bunker sites but these are often truckstops or out of town sites on trucking routes.
Also, we get a weekly electronic statement from Arval and can export this to excel to identify the drivers who don't look for the lower priced sites at each fill up.
Edited by 530dTPhil on Thursday 25th October 21:41
530dTPhil said:
I run a fleet of 300 vehicles across the South of England. We have our own bulk diesel tank at head office but use Arval cards for off site fuelling. I would echo the comments about Arval service and back up.
We used to use BP and get a very small discount but they kept closing filling stations; it became more difficult to find a filling station where you could use the cards. Our vehicles operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the Arval card is the best solution that we have found.
There are cards offering discounts for buying at bunker sites but these are often truckstops or out of town sites on trucking routes.
Also, we get a weekly electronic statement from Arval and can export this to excel to identify the drivers who don't look for the lower priced sites at each fill up.
Not being funny, but if the drivers dont have a stake in the profits, why would they bother their arse trying to find the cheapest location? We used to use BP and get a very small discount but they kept closing filling stations; it became more difficult to find a filling station where you could use the cards. Our vehicles operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the Arval card is the best solution that we have found.
There are cards offering discounts for buying at bunker sites but these are often truckstops or out of town sites on trucking routes.
Also, we get a weekly electronic statement from Arval and can export this to excel to identify the drivers who don't look for the lower priced sites at each fill up.
Edited by 530dTPhil on Thursday 25th October 21:41
emicen said:
Not being funny, but if the drivers dont have a stake in the profits, why would they bother their arse trying to find the cheapest location?
The information is fed back through to the drivers who are encouraged to 'bother their arse' and reduce costs for the company. It's called management! In our next edition of our company car policy we are actively encouraging staff to fill up at supermarkets to reduce costs. The reports we had showed a staggering difference between the average supermarket price and the most expensive average place to fill up (which we used 40% of the time) which was BP.
Again we can monitor which staff fill up where to give them a prod in the correct direction if required. The reports really are useful.
Again we can monitor which staff fill up where to give them a prod in the correct direction if required. The reports really are useful.
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