Cheaper Petrol / Diesel

zod

Apologies if posted before .. I just signed up with this crowd .. does anyone have any experience ?

http://www.benchmark.ie/fuelcard.htm

Clause

Put it this way.......
Statoil are among the most expensive retailors of fuel in the country.
According to their website- their wholesale price of petrol is only 2 cent a litre cheaper than the average ***retail*** price of petrol in the country. And thats the ***average*** retail price, not the lowest by any means.

If you are living in an area with SFA competition and only a Statoil nearby- then maybe, just maybe, it might make sense for you.

For example- Tesco have numerous filling stations now, which are 3 cent a litre ***cheaper*** than this fuelcard deal, without any restrictions whatsoever. If you are saving Tesco clubpoints, its worth another 1 cent a litre on top of that- and if you shop in Tesco and buy in excess of 40 Euro of shopping, its another 5 cent a litre discount- a total of 9 cent a litre cheaper than you fuel card. On an average 45 litre fill, thats a little over 4 Euro, and over a year it could be 250 Euro less than you would pay using this fuelcard.

Shop around- you can do far better than buying petrol from Statoil....... To be honest the "discount" they offer is miserly at best, and a piss-poor excuse for tying yourself into a contract with them.

crazyhorse1980

This card is currently offering petrol for 106.5c and diesel for 105.0c per litre.. is Tesco cheaper than that with all their discounts ??

v10

Clause wrote:

Put it this way.......
Statoil are among the most expensive retailors of fuel in the country.
According to their website- their wholesale price of petrol is only 2 cent a litre cheaper than the average ***retail*** price of petrol in the country. And thats the ***average*** retail price, not the lowest by any means.

If you are living in an area with SFA competition and only a Statoil nearby- then maybe, just maybe, it might make sense for you.

For example- Tesco have numerous filling stations now, which are 3 cent a litre ***cheaper*** than this fuelcard deal, without any restrictions whatsoever. If you are saving Tesco clubpoints, its worth another 1 cent a litre on top of that- and if you shop in Tesco and buy in excess of 40 Euro of shopping, its another 5 cent a litre discount- a total of 9 cent a litre cheaper than you fuel card. On an average 45 litre fill, thats a little over 4 Euro, and over a year it could be 250 Euro less than you would pay using this fuelcard.

Shop around- you can do far better than buying petrol from Statoil....... To be honest the "discount" they offer is miserly at best, and a piss-poor excuse for tying yourself into a contract with them.

Think your wrong on this one clause. This fuel card is offering petrol at 106.5 currently which is 12 cent cheaper than my nearest tesco and offers 2 weeks credit.

By the way, did you know tesco buys their fuel from statoil ?

jimmycrackcorm

crazyhorse1980 wrote:

This card is currently offering petrol for 106.5c and diesel for 105.0c per litre.. is Tesco cheaper than that with all their discounts ??

Having seen some statoils charging 125 cent / litre - I think the benchmark card is a dead cert.

SnotNosedGit

I usually worry about offers like this but i've been tracking this one for a few months now and i cant fault it.
I'm thinking about going for it now.
If they introduce any charges for it or it ever works out cheaper for me to buy petrol in other stations though i'll dump it in the bin.

ROVER

Can an individual sign up to this or is it just for Fleet?

taung

Individuals can indeed sign up.....I've just signed up myself, will let you know how I get on.

Only problem I can see is that you are limited in the Statoil filling stations which actually accept the card. Here is the official list of places you can use it;

Statoil Fuelcard Filling Stations

So, you can't just run into any filling station with a Statoil sign and expect to be able to use your card.....

jimbobwalton

Is it classed as a credit card? Does the government look for 40 euro for the card???

Stephen

All statoils should accept Routex cards (that's what this is). At least that was the case when I worked there a few years ago.

LostinBlanch

Eh Zod,

haven't you heard of the Rossport 5? Statoil also owns 25% of that deal with Shell you know. Some things are worth more than a couple of cents a litre. [Rant over]

yop

I have the card now a month and based on this month alone I am saving about 5 euro per fill.
BUT BEWARE, they take the AVERAGE price for the petrol for the month, then they take 2c off this. This month average will be huge, so where I was saving up to 19c per litre at one petrol station per fill, it may only be 2c next month. BUT in saying that 2c in our pocket is better than theirs!!!

Myself and the wifey have one, handy for her as it takes the money from my account!!!

Dopey

Hi Folks,

Just like to confirm something before I sign up to this thing. Is the price charged at the Statoil petrol pump the price quoted on http://www.benchmark.ie/fuelcard.htm

i.e. Statoil Wholesale to 29/09/05 107.5 for petrol and 106.7 for diesal?

Many thanks,

Dopey

nava

Hi

Can you only pay by Direct Debit, i would prefer to pay by Credit card?

Thanks

taung

It's only direct debit....I guess this is one of the reasons why they can give Benchmark a discounted rate.

viking

yop wrote:

BUT BEWARE, they take the AVERAGE price for the petrol for the month, then they take 2c off this. This month average will be huge, so where I was saving up to 19c per litre at one petrol station per fill, it may only be 2c next month. BUT in saying that 2c in our pocket is better than theirs!!!

According to www.theaa.ie, the average price per litre is now:

Unleaded
117.7c

Diesel
112.8c

Funnily, in the USA they pay massively over the odds for a litre of petrol:

Unleaded
0.538c (€ equivalent)

Diesel
0.546c (€ equivalent)

Must be tough

Dopey

Viking,

If the average price of petrol, obtained from the AA web site, is 117.7 does that mean that the statoil card will get you a litre of petrol for approximately 117.7 next month?

Is the wholesale price for the current month based on the average for the previous month?

Thanks,

D

viking

Yes, "Dopey". They seem to take the average price from the AA and knock a cent or two off, so the price after Friday (29th) will probably be 116.7 or so.

The handy thing seems to be that if an Esso garage is cheaper down the road then just go to that garage and pay by cash. You probably need to be keeping an eye out on prices around the place to make sure you are getting the cheapest petrol possible when you decide to use cash with a different garage or pay with the fuel card.

Dopey

Thanks for the response Viking.

If that is the case then the real saving occurs when the price of petrol goes up significantly from the previous month. If they set the price for October at 116 then it's more expensive than the current price in Tesco at approximately 111.9.

I heard this morning that the price of crude oil has come down slightly again. However it is predicted that it is on an upward trend. If the price trend is upwards then it probably is worth doing.

Thanks,

D

viking

Essentially, if there is a rise in the price of petrol you are not exposed to it immediately as you are getting it at the rate Benchmark have set. However, when that rate expires it will catch up with the current average rate set as per the AA.

I got my card yesterday, and went to a statoil in Mullingar. I put in 37-ish litres, the price at the pump was 119.9 which would have cost me ~€45 however because I used the card it will only cost me ~€40, a saving of almost €5.

I've been using the Benchmark.ie card for 2 months now.
It's a routex statoil card.
It is not charged credit card tax.

The price at the pump when you fill is whatever price at that garage But you are invoiced for the agreed rate between Statoil and bench mark(currently 106 I think for petrol)

You do get 2 weeks credit and you are sent an invoice via email stating the date the funds are taken from your account

Do I recommend this card- DEFINITELY YES.

By the way they are usually 10 to 12 cent cheaper than most filling stations that I've seen.

denachoman

Earthman/Viking

I applied for the card last week and just got it yeaterday.

I actually got 2 cards and they came with pin numbers – do you actually need to put in a pin number when you use the card (as with a credit card)?

no you don't need the pin number.

It's safe to give the person in the garage your reg number each time though-in case the card is lost for a while before you notice it's lost.

That way the Reg mumber of the car will be on the invoice.

Stephen

The normal procedure with routex cards is that you don't need a pin to use them. The person at the till normally asks if you want to enter your registration number and mileage and that's about it.
Usually the only people that bother entering the reg number are gardaí or fleet drivers. the mileage can be handy to track your fuel consumption.

viking

Not too shabby:

Statoil Wholesale to 06/10/05: 110.5c 110.0c
AA Average for September: 117.7c 112.8c

ROVER

denachoman wrote:

Earthman/Viking

I applied for the card last week and just got it yeaterday.

I actually got 2 cards and they came with pin numbers – do you actually need to put in a pin number when you use the card (as with a credit card)?

I received my card yesterday with pin, you will need to use the pin if you decide to use the card outside of Ireland.

Does anyone know what price would be applied if I used to card up North or in the UK?

mike65

Looking at those quoted figures its debatable if I'd be better off as I'm in Waterford where you can get a litre for 112c right now. Well its two cents better I guess but nothing to write home about. If I lived in certain towns/counties however I'd sign in right now.

Mike.

taung

Just reporting back on this card; I've used it twice now and the process works very well;

- authorise payment at filling station by handing in card and signing receipt
- price on receipt is filling station price, not price you will pay
- week after authorising payment your receive e-bill with full details of filling station transaction, and details of discounted price you will pay
- two weeks after the e-bill bank account is debited with discounted price

Everything is very straightforward and quick; excellent service. No more need for re-routing to find a Tesco filling station or no more need for queuing at Tesco filling station for me!

peckerhead

I've the card too, and used it for the first time outside Killorglin the other day. Mind you, it didn't save me anything 'cause the diesel price at the (Statoil) pump was already 108.9c/litre.

Why does Kerry always seem to get get cheaper petrol/diesel than the rest of the country? It's particularly noticeable if you happen to be in a Gaeltacht region - a friend of mine swears he can get diesel for under €1, near Dingle. But I think he's just winding me up 'cause I'm a Jackeen... :cool:

jor el

How long does it take them to process the application? I'm off on holidays from next weekend so I might sign up when before I go or when I get back.

Seems like a pretty good deal, you can't really lose.

peckerhead

Mine took about a fortnight. They posted the PIN separately, and the card arrived a couple of days later...

Newshound

Their website www.benchmark.ie only has the price up to yesterday. I need petrol today but would like to know what the price is before i get it.

Where can you get an up to date price for the petrol?
Is there any other way to get the current petrol prices? perhaps a different website who update the prices when they change.

taung

"Your Unleaded price today is 110.50 cpl inc vat (91.32 excl vat)"

From Statoil's webpage here. (You'll need a login)