Steadily rising fuel prices affect everyone – and especially businesses dependent on road vehicles. For courier companies, fuel costs figure particularly prominently in commercial overheads. There’s no alternative to keeping the vans moving.
In a volatile market, finding the service station with the lowest prices can rely simply on your drivers getting lucky. Yet last week’s ‘low’ price winner could turn out to be a poor deal next time – and, amid the uncertainty, your profit margins are taking a tumble. 'But' you might say: ' there’s nothing I can do about it'.
Oh, really ? Because, if that’s what you’re currently thinking, perhaps you need a different perspective on the problem.
Naturally, some facts of life won’t change. For example, there’s nothing you can do about the amount of fuel you need – unless there’s still room for improvement in vehicle servicing and driving style. Sadly, it’s also unlikely that the upward trend in diesel and petrol prices can be halted or reversed.
But what you CAN do is to take the price variations and uncertainty out of your company’s refuelling costs. Even better, you can start paying for your fuel at prices that are usually several pence below the national average.
Just look at the aggregate number of litres of diesel and petrol you’ve paid for in the last year – and you’ll soon sense the kind of savings that could be grabbed and parked on your bottom line. This(isn)'t fantasy – it’s fuelcards. Not the kind that offers only administrative benefits (at a price) while charging you full retail price per litre. These Retail Cards do have a certain convenience, but offer little protection against wide variations in pump price, and NO actual savings off your fuel budget. And all for up to £1 per card per month – with up to £3 per card for internet reporting, and further charges for replacing lost or stolen cards.
Commercial Cards can offer a much better deal. Bulk fuel purchase enables card operators to quote a fixed weekly rate in advance that is valid wherever their card is accepted. Even here, it’s worth keeping your eyes open to variations in charging practice. Some card operators hide behind tempting short-term introductory offers, before bouncing up the charges once the honeymoon is over. What’s more, theory isn’t necessarily followed through in practice – with tales of quoted fuel prices not always being matched on the subsequent invoices.
However, one Commercial Card operator, abbey Fuelcards, makes a particular point of ensuring that its cardholders always know exactly where they stand – not just on prices and charging, but on almost any detail of their refuelling purchases and costs.
abbey charges up to 50p per card per month. All other services are free to its members, including management reports, card replacements, round-the-clock on-line access to account and transaction information, a personal account manager rather than a call centre, and advanced security against fraudulent card use with zero liability insurance cover.
Steve Clarke, Customer Services and Marketing Manager for abbey Fuelcards Ltd. comments: ' Our policy is to be absolutely transparent from the word go – and to ensure that our members can be confident they’re getting the outstanding service, savings and security they expect from us. So we’ve no hidden charges – the monthly card fee covers everything. '
abbey quote the fuel price per litre every week, by fax, text or email. This applies to every litre the member organisation will purchase across the card’s site network nationwide for the next seven days.
Steve Clarke emphasises that continuous fuel costs savings are only half the story. With weekly direct debit 14 days after invoicing and 24/7 on-line access to account information, card membership also means major savings in administration costs. Detailed transaction information,and management reports and analyses, are set up the way each member organisation wants it. Everything is tailored to the requirements of each company who adopt one or more of Abbeys fuelcards.
abbey operate a number of cards designed to suit particular business needs – whether defined by operational range or vehicle type, or both.
For Courier companies, Steve Clarke would typically recommend the abbey fastfuel Card: ' fastfuel offers savings on both diesel and petrol – and covering both fuels can be a great convenience for a mixed fleet of LCVs. It also has the UK’s largest network of sites where the card can be used – on trunk roads and urban fringes nationwide – and all under the Texaco sign. But, having said that, we always go to the trouble of establishing the individual operational needs of each new Customer first before we definitively recommend which of our fuelcards would be best for them. '