We have had a local garage which for years we had an account with. Our operatives would fill up with petrol and diesel and then we would be presented with a monthly bill - it operated just like any account with any other supplier.
The garage has since closed all of its accounts (I think mostly due to the accounts lady retiring)!. We have discovered that with our fuel cards (we have Esso, Shell and BP ones provided by UK Fuels and The Fuelcard People) that there is a massive loading on the price of petrol - as much as pump price plus 20%!!
My question (aimed mainly at employers, but could be anyone with a fuel card) is this: What is your mechanism for paying for petrol? Do you use the fuel cards and swallow the price? Do you give the operatives cash? Do you issue the operatives with company credit/debit cards? Do you (the boss) fill up all the petrol cans on a potentially daily basis?
The last option is not one for me - I've got better things to do than having my time wasted by filling up fuel cans!
Thanks for your time! Nick
Views: 194
Replies
Nick, sounds like you have 'Bunker' pricing on your cards.
We have same Shell/Texaco cards with weekly fixed prices (based upon national average).
They can implement different pricing types across cards.
If I keep on top of the fuel card company the price is 1-2ppl less than the national average and can be cross checked with petrolprices.com.
Stay away from ALLSTAR cards, particularly the Supermarket one (as recommended by someone who used to be on LJN) as they charge £2 per pump tranaction, as well as card fees etc
Even if on parity with national pricing I would not give them up. No hassle, no employee expenses, no 'mistakes', HMRC qualifying VAT reciepts and a great online card management system foc.
I can see exactly who is buying what, where. In addtion I can compare MPG across vans/teams (and tell who is canning it ;) With the same vans it's like shooting fish in a barrel :D
Mark@mwjones
Do you have to pay an account fee with mycashplus?
Many thanks
Nick.