Fuel Cards

cormie

Hi,
I've had a few calls about these fuel cards. One from fastfuel.ie who deal with Texaco and Maxol. They sound good alright and I'm a stickler for cheap fuel. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with them and who the best company to go for is? Fastfuel are based in Galway and I remember a call from another crowd in Galway too, not sure if it was fastfuel though. Seems like a win win situation from what I've heard.

If anyone has any experience or suggestions on who to use I'd appreciate it

Matt Simis

Whats the current price of petrol on the Fastfuel card?
I use the Benchmark Motorcard, was paying 1.12 per litre when the station pump was trying to charge 1.20 a couple of weeks ago (all the local stations are overpriced).
http://www.motorcard.ie/prices_this_week.php

Benchmark's card works with Topaz stations and a few independants.

rebel.ranter

Matt Simis wrote: »

...was paying 1.12 per litre when the station pump was trying to charge 1.20 a couple of weeks ago

Do you ever get hassle trying to get the rate on the card? Or does simply paying with the card guarantee that you get the Benchmark price?
Have you ever noticed any discrepancies with your bill? i.e. € amount charged rather than litre amount.

Sorry for all the questions but I am considering gettign a fuel card.

cormie

I'd be using Diesel myself. Think it's about 1.00 with average price being 105 I think he said.

tw0nk

just looking at the benchmark website there, the diesel seems very overpriced, 1.06! all the stations around here charge 1.02 - 1.04 max

Matt Simis

tw0nk wrote: »

just looking at the benchmark website there, the diesel seems very overpriced, 1.06! all the stations around here charge 1.02 - 1.04 max

Yeah, they have always been rubbish for diesel.

To the other questions, to the retailer is like a Credit Card, comes out of your account via Direct Debit once a month. They email a PDF Invoice too, looks ok though the pre-Vat pricing is hard to work out. Had the car over 2years now.

Note that most but not all Topaz stations take the card as well as almost anywhere that takes the Statoil card.

testicle

eh wha, did Benchmark reverse their decision not to honour the lower price on the card if the pump price was dearer?

R.O.R

testicle wrote: »

eh wha, did Benchmark reverse their decision not to honour the lower price on the card if the pump price was dearer?

Think it's the other way around - you pay the card price regardless of whether the pump price is cheaper or not. That's the way it's been working with the corporate cards since early this year.

As as word of warning to everyone with a Benchmark / Statoil / Topaz card - they are going PIN only from the 1st December for all transactions (was just international). This month you have the option to sign or use the PIN, but from 1st December it's PIN only.

(sorry for hi-jacking Cormie)

cormie

No prob, the more info the better

Stephen

I haven't used my Benchmark card in ages because it has been more expensive than the pump price for quite some time now.

rebel.ranter

R.O.R wrote: »

As as word of warning to everyone with a Benchmark / Statoil / Topaz card - they are going PIN only from the 1st December for all transactions (was just international). This month you have the option to sign or use the PIN, but from 1st December it's PIN only.

We got the PINs in work for some (pool) cars, loads of questions, at least there is a month to sort out. It is a good idea though, security wise.

cormie

So the fastfuel crowd seem a better deal for Diesel for sure anyway. With their price being 5c or so below my local that's a fair saving. Are there a lot of these companies around or is it just Fastfuel and benchmark so far?

cormie

Just got another call/email off a crowd called fleetgreen:

PRICE GUARANTEE* - CARBON EMISSION / BIODIESEL CERTIFICATION

FleetGreen offers you a Price Guarantee -

We guarantee to provide one of the markets most competitive prices on a consistent weekly basis.
If in any week another fuel card supplier supplies you diesel at a lower rate than ours,
we promise to match that price and refund the difference on your purchase.*

FleetGreen fuel card, is a card designed to assist you in reducing your Carbon footprint, to make this reduction process as straight forward as possible for your business. In addition it is offering you the opportunity to meet your refuelling needs by way of one of the most cost effective pricing networks available.

FleetGreen is the only fuel card that offers this diesel price guarantee which gives you the reassurance of competitive prices week after week

Environmental impact
In addition to our price promise, we are giving you a biodiesel certification for every litre of fuel you use – making FleetGreen a unique combination.
We are committed to replacing diesel used by your company with a blend of 5% biodiesel supplied from a number of reputable companies to industry standard EN 590 into the network. Your carbon emission reduction will be advised on your invoice.

FleetGreen offers access to over 800+ sites nationwide, catering for all types of vehicles with various operating hours available.
We are customer focused, and concentrate our efforts on working with customers to ensure that the customer gets value in terms of cost, relevant information, access to people. Working with customers to create a professional and beneficial relationship for both.

FleetGreen offers ONE weekly price across the entire CORE site network .

PRICE: PRODUCT NET VAT RATE
Derv (road diesel) 83.44 cpl 21%

What does a FleetGreen card offer you?
A weekly diesel price – the same at all CORE sites nationwide
Additional 2cpl on non core sites.
Competitive price GUARANTEE
Biodiesel Certification
Carbon Emission reduction notification
The largest fuel card network in Ireland – over 800 locations available
No application fees or set up charges
No minimum purchases necessary
No Fixed contract – you can cease using the facility any time you wish. No minimum usage and no minimum number of cards required.
One weekly invoice and one weekly payment ( 21 days after invoice)
PIN card security
The price adjusts on a weekly basis and can be advised via e mail or text.

Locations:

The network now offers 850 locations around the country to fuel your vehicles. This is one of the largest fuel networks of its type in Ireland, and growing.
WE ALSO HAVE EVERY TOPAZ SITES NATIONWIDE AVAILABLE.WE ALSO HAVE A SELECTION OF GREAT GAS EMO ESSO TOP TEXOIL TEXACO

Fuel management:

All fuel transactions are available online through our WEB fuels facility. At www.webfuels.com FleetGreen will forward this information via e bill showing detailed transaction history by card along with VAT breakdown.

Payment terms

All accounts are invoiced on a weekly basis and payment is due by direct debit on or about 21 days following date of invoice. Transactions invoice run from Monday to Sunday each week.

Security:

The fuel card is issued with a PIN security number that the card holder uses to validate his fuel transaction. The security is as good as the card holder is trustworthy in so far as if the card holder allows the PIN number to be given freely to others it lessens the security in place.
In addition a receipt is available for all fuel transactions to use as a cross reference with your transaction report information.

Reports:

Invoices are available by E Billing format as previously stated.

FleetGreen would be delighted to meet with you to discuss any items referred to above and would be willing to try and accommodate in as far as possible any other requirements you may have.

Aoife00

Stay clear from fuel cards if you can. They all bump up the price over time and if you don't keep an eye on it you'll soon find you're paying way above the normal pump price

L1011

Aoife00 wrote: »

Stay clear from fuel cards if you can. They all bump up the price over time and if you don't keep an eye on it you'll soon find you're paying way above the normal pump price

Any Topaz Fuel Card Services cards don't have introductory offers, so they don't go up over time. I have a personal and a company one; personal was obtained via Benchmark but I've never dealt with them since. Both have identical prices.

The main advantage of fuel cards is for business customers - one single VAT invoice, can let them handle the VAT reclaim, reduced admin work. If you've got staff it reduces expenses claims and the hassle that goes with that.

I mostly have my personal one for the international element, I pay the pump price and get a decent currency conversion rate if its non-Euro and get the pay the month after the trip. Theres no charges for this at all, which is very handy.

JHMEG

Aoife00 wrote: »

Stay clear from fuel cards if you can. They all bump up the price over time and if you don't keep an eye on it you'll soon find you're paying way above the normal pump price

Not keeping an eye on the price reminds me of that woman who phoned Joe Duffy to complain after filling her own car up at €1.79 a litre.

Kristopherus

I have DCI and Benchmark cards. Dont use either much as I can get diesel 2/3 cents cheaper locally. Benchmark is 111c this week and DCI is 108c.

Matt Simis

R.O.R wrote: »

Think it's the other way around - you pay the card price regardless of whether the pump price is cheaper or not. That's the way it's been working with the corporate cards since early this year.

As as word of warning to everyone with a Benchmark / Statoil / Topaz card - they are going PIN only from the 1st December for all transactions (was just international). This month you have the option to sign or use the PIN, but from 1st December it's PIN only.

(sorry for hi-jacking Cormie)

I think Benchmark did reverse that actually, you always pay the lower price, either pump or card.

Also I have 2 cards and 2 PINs and still havent been asked to put in the PIN in any Garage. Benchmarks letters said PIN was mandantory.


To the comment about "bumping prices over time", thats not at all how the Benchmark card works. They redo the price weekly, its clearly on their site:
http://www.motorcard.ie/prices_this_week.php. They dont "hide" when their price is more than the AA average either.

Is the Fleetgreen card available to the public too, like Benchmark? If not, then its not really comparable (though Benchmark have generally always been poor for diesel).

cormie

Still haven't decided to go with any of the above. I guess I could just get them all and decide at the pump.

cormie

Just got another call off DTI fuel cards (or maybe it was DCI), based in Galway. Would probably make sense to get one for convenience, although I'm not sure if it would be convenient, more accounts, more bills, more potential problems.

Absurdum

I have the Topaz one myself, current price is 148.03c which is about 2c less than my locals. It's handy to have I suppose.

Vicxas

Ok, forgive my ignorance.

But do you need to be a business to get a fuel card? Otherwise why have i not heard of this before?!

BronsonTB

I was looking into getting one as I do a fair bit of mileage with work but on comparing prices for the last 4 weeks, the price at the pump has always been cheaper.(Bare in mind I do shop round for the best price) (Paying 139.9 for diesel as of today)

Absurdum

Vicxas wrote: »

Ok, forgive my ignorance.

But do you need to be a business to get a fuel card? Otherwise why have i not heard of this before?!

I have mine through a group scheme in work, so no.

Wats_in_a_name

I have a topaz one for personal use & am only 18 so doesn't appear to be any criteria to get one. Sign up through motorcheck though so you get it for free.

Absurdum

current prices for Topaz are:

Your Diesel price today is 142.38 cpl inc vat (117.67 excl vat)
Your Unleaded price today is 148.03 cpl inc vat (122.34 excl vat)

most places I've seen for petrol are around 149.9 or 150.9 so it's a litle cheaper, I find it handier to pay once a month as well. They are also doing a free coffee when you buy the Irish Independent for fuel card users at the moment.

Just signed up there, currently 147.73 per liter with the card, a good 4c less than any stations near me.

Paying in once go will be handy too.

cormie

Who did you sign up with? Would prefer one that can be used at any station as opposed to just Topaz and the likes. 142 price for diesel is high enough.

Matt Simis

cormie wrote: »

Who did you sign up with? Would prefer one that can be used at any station as opposed to just Topaz and the likes. 142 price for diesel is high enough.

Benchmark Motorcard is both DCI and Topaz.

Vertakill

BronsonTB wrote: »

I was looking into getting one as I do a fair bit of mileage with work but on comparing prices for the last 4 weeks, the price at the pump has always been cheaper.(Bare in mind I do shop round for the best price) (Paying 139.9 for diesel as of today)

Well, as was said earlier in this thread, they don't seem overly great at diesel prices. They are definitely cheaper than the majority of other stations for petrol though.

And, bear in mind, if the price at the pump is cheaper, you pay the price at the pump.
So actually having the card in your wallet has no negative really because you always only pay the cheapest rate (either pump or card).

wet-paint

Vertakill wrote: »

And, bear in mind, if the price at the pump is cheaper, you pay the price at the pump.

It hasn't been that way for about two years, I'd say. They emailed round, saying they were stopping that practice.

Captain Commie

i have 2 topaz cards through a scheme in work and over the 6 or so months that ive been using it i would say that i have saved a good bit.

Normal fuel bill is around 300 a month but is so much handier having it come out at once, alot easier to regulate

Vertakill

wet-paint wrote: »

It hasn't been that way for about two years, I'd say. They emailed round, saying they were stopping that practice.

Doesn't the benchmark/motorcheck card not work that way right now?

Matt Simis

wet-paint wrote: »

It hasn't been that way for about two years, I'd say. They emailed round, saying they were stopping that practice.

Which card? Benchmark did send some emails on this, announced this change but then sent a follow up that said it wouldnt be going through, you would continue to pay whichever is cheaper (card or fuel).

Did they change that policy back again?

Matt Simis

Matt Simis wrote: »

Which card? Benchmark did send some emails on this, announced this change but then sent a follow up that said it wouldnt be going through, you would continue to pay whichever is cheaper (card or fuel).

Did they change that policy back again?

I have the topaz card and iirc I read that if the price at the pump is cheaper you should pay in the station and not use the fuel card.

On the topic of price, I find its usually a few cent cheaper on petrol than the majority of stations, you might get the one of station here and there which has a similar price but overall its worth having one.

I don't buy diesel but from what I can see its usually possible to get diesel cheaper without the card.

_Kaiser_

I've had a Benchmark/Topaz card for af ew years now as a private individual and the main benefit to me is it's one bill per month that I can more-or-less plan for, rather than constantly looking for money at the pump (which as 1000-1100km per week per tank is a fair bit!)

As far as I'm aware though they stopped the practise of getting the cheaper of the pump/card rates about 2 years ago (now it's caard only). I do remember them sending emails about having to use a PIN with the card but that was then restated as only applying to business users.
The website (motorcard.ie) isn't exactly clear and still refers to "Statoil" stations so may not be accurate either!

Be interested to know though!

Vicxas

So whats the best card to get?

L1011

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

I do remember them sending emails about having to use a PIN with the card but that was then restated as only applying to business users.

My personal card had a PIN on it, which is always asked for abroad (I've an international card and do use it as such), and was asked for here for a few months after they introduced it - then when I phoned them about the card not being accepted in a Tougher garage that was on Topaz's accepted list - and the garage had taken them before - I never got asked for it again in Ireland!

Work recently changed from Topaz-specific cards to UK Fuels ones that are accepted at DCI and Topaz, which is handy, although the card design and "UK Fuels" on the back has got a few questions asked, it goes through as DCI.

Shane732

I tend to get my petrol in Maxol on the Harold's Cross Road. I think the last price I paid was 147.9. Which is similar to the price offer by Benchmark.

The savings are pretty small for me as that particular Maxol garage is always pretty competitive.

cormie

Would also be interested in the "which is the best" question.

I never even thought of usage in the UK. That could be very handy, what way does the VAT work on that though with regards claiming back and everything? Do the card supplier charge @ 17% VAT, or is it still up to you to claim VAT back from UK?

I'd be looking for: the most widely accepted card, UK/Europe usage if possible, and obviously the most competitive with the best billing system (online account checks etc would be nice). Also multiple cards for the same account with pin (changeable by the user) would also be very good!

Do any of the companies meet these requests does anyone know?

cormie

Was in one of my local stations (esso) yesterday and they said they only accept DCI cards (and Esso card aswell). Does this mean they accept benchmark cards too then if Benchmark is also DCI?

Anyone have any idea on my above post and who would be the closest match for my preferences?

Matt Simis

cormie wrote: »

Was in one of my local stations (esso) yesterday and they said they only accept DCI cards (and Esso card aswell). Does this mean they accept benchmark cards too then if Benchmark is also DCI?

Anyone have any idea on my above post and who would be the closest match for my preferences?

Yes on Benchmark being DCI, no idea on pan-Euro usage though.

cormie

I'd be looking for: the most widely accepted card, UK/Europe usage if possible, and obviously the most competitive with the best billing system (online account checks etc would be nice). Also multiple cards for the same account with pin (changeable by the user) would also be very good!

Thanks Matt, I see in your earlier post that you indicated you have 2 cards and that you've never been request the PIN. Has this changed at all since?

You also mentioned that benchmark isn't generally competitive on diesel, is this still the same and I wonder would another card provider be better for me (high diesel usage)?

Can you confirm whether benchmark has an online billing and account check system (it doesn't look so from the website) where you can check your expenditure etc and whether it can be used in the UK also? (also doesn't seem to be mention of this).

dahamsta

I notice via some googling that the likes of the Gaelic Player's Association and some credit unions get their fuel cheaper than AXA and Motorcheck. Anyone got a comprehensive list of affiliates? Can we build one?

• AXA
• Motorcheck
• Gaelic Player's Association (note price)
  
• Eircom
• Glen Fuels
• St. Paul's Garda Credit Union
• Dubco (note price)
• National Guild of Master Craftsmen (outdated)

cormie

Interesting about the affiliation scheme but I guess that wouldn't be obtainable by most of us.

I wonder do any of the providers fit my request of "the most widely accepted card, UK/Europe usage if possible, and obviously the most competitive with the best billing system (online account checks etc would be nice). Also multiple cards for the same account with pin (changeable by the user) would also be very good!"

and does anyone know the situation where the card is used for example in the UK, with the different VAT and currency rate, how is it invoiced?

L1011

My Benchmark card (my personal one) is EU-wide accepted. However I've no online account checks (emailed out once a month) and my PIN is set by them.

cjt156

How does the Benchmark card work overseas? Who accepts it and how is rate set? Is it country by country or do you always pay the Irish rate?

cormie

Was just phoned by DCI trying to get me to sign up, I was asking them about it being used in the EU and they said it can't be and that no other Irish card can be either. She also said that DCI wasn't benchmark and it's nothing to do with them

_Kaiser_

Benchmark/Topaz cards are NOT the same as DCI cards

I did apply for a DCI card since my last post in this thread, but despite me explaining to the girl it was going to be for my own private car she didn't seem to grasp that and started asking me to provide a reference from someone I'd done business with??

Jaysus it's a fuel card, not a job interview! I left it at that and still use the Benchmark card.

cormie

Can I ask why did you apply for DCI if you already had benchmark?

The woman I was onto in DCI said Benchmark is only for personal users and not for businesses because the VAT etc. I can't see what difference it would make, surely they state the VAT rate which can then be claimed back on Benchmark too, I think she also said it can't be used for diesel?

_Kaiser_

cormie wrote: »

Can I ask why did you apply for DCI if you already had benchmark?

The woman I was onto in DCI said Benchmark is only for personal users and not for businesses because the VAT etc. I can't see what difference it would make, surely they state the VAT rate which can then be claimed back on Benchmark too, I think she also said it can't be used for diesel?

Don't know about the VAT side as I can't claim it back anyway, but the invoice is a standard format that shows what VAT has been added.

Benchmark cards can be used for petrol and/or diesel - my card would let me fill both if I wanted so not sure what she's talking about there unless it's a sales tactic?

I wanted a DCI card more for flexibility rather than a replacement. Where I'm living now the local station stopped accepting the Benchmark card for a while (though it does again since) and the nearest Topaz is a 25-30 min drive away, whereas more garages generally seem to take DCI