Possible 5p-10p/litre petrol discount

rappius

I've signed on and my wife too. Let's hope this thing gets going.

carter2901

TOAD wrote:

hello all thanks martin for everything one of the threads i see on this topic was saying about a price checker for your local area well this is the price checker i use to find the best price each day
http://www.petrolprices.com
they do a search up to a 20 mile radius for petrol prices form your given town

Yeah, I use this too. Great site, and well worth a look.
Anything that saves you even 1p per litre saves you money!

Dot

I have registered with my alternative email address - just in case - but it has been pointed out that Ben's name is Scammel - scam all??
I wonder

Mary_Hartnell

Here are a few thought starters:

* Am I right in thinking something like this has already been tried in USA ?

* It would work like the system used by the car companies for "moving the metal":
Individual members would pledge a certain "gallonage" through their card for the
year, they would be offered a pence per gallon deferred rebate if they achieved
their pledge of say 3 - 5 pence depending on usage pledged.

* At Xmas (say) they would be paid out, perhaps in the form of free fuel.

* I can only see it working in the UK if a supermarket will take it up - Tesco would be ideal but would shoot themselves in the foot - how about a struggling one like Morrisons ?


One after thought on fuel performance: One of the car programs on the telly proved that "Shell" was better BUT ONLY IF YOU HAD A CAR THAT COULD USE THE EXTRA PERFORMANCE.

I have checked a USA web site and found this discussion:

http://www.knightopia.com/journal/archives/000779.html

Look into discount gas card offers. Shell, Gulf, BP-Amoco, Exxon-Mobile, and others have rebate programs that offer as much as 5-10 percent off the gas you buy.

redux

Ben&#64 wrote: »

Fuel prices have come down a little recently but they are still far too high and we still pay more for our petrol than just about anyone else in Europe. The website - https://www.pipelinecard.org - doesn't need you to give us a load of personal info - just minimum contact details so we can keep you up to date and, soon hopefully, send you your card.

I have signed up, but with a degree of caution or scepticism. I was concerned about the privacy policy and unsubscribe options, but then again this may tend to support statements that this is not a professional operation.

I also wonder whether it will be possible to undercut the fairly common supermarket voucher offers of 5p per litre off fuel when buying your groceries there, added to a further 2% using their own points and credit card schemes, on top of lower prices anyway, so 8 or 10p overall, ie petrol (87.9 -5) x 0.98 = 81.2p/l here at the moment.

But what disturbs me most is use of propaganda statements about fuel prices here and abroad. Because we are used to the lorry drivers' occasional protests, we believe such remarks. In actual fact diesel is cheaper abroad, and should be here, but petrol has little significant difference. Drive along French, Belgian, Dutch and German motorways and compare the prices - all within about 3p per litre of here, some higher. The fact that Clacket Lane is more expensive does not really represent all of Britain.

It is a useful idea, but I'd like to hear a bit more realism to be convinced.

Marigold123

There's a lot of scepticism, and maybe it's justified, I'm not really qualified to judge. But I did have a few thoughts.

Whether or not there is enough profit margin on fuel to offer a 5p discount, various supermarkets certainly do it from time to time, so if it's financially viable for supermarkets, perhaps it is for the fuel companies as well. It's got to be worth something to them to get a degree of brand loyalty out of the card-holders. There would be plenty of people who, once they started using the card, would continue to use it out of habit, regardless of whether there is cheaper fuel available elsewhere, in the same way many people use the same familiar supermarket.

And presumably, in some areas, and at some garages, the fuel card will always be cheaper. For instance, on long journeys where you don't have a lot of choice but to fill up at more expensive petrol stations. We'd just need to exercise a bit of judgement, that's all.

As for grumbles about the profit the Scammel guy would be making, (and I'm not sure this is necessarily his prime motivation), if they've got upwards of 100,000 people using the card at least some of the time, then he'd only need to be collecting a teeny weeny bit of the potential value of the saving from each fuel purchase to have a pretty good profit. Certainly no-one is losing, because they're making a saving that they couldn't get by themselves.

And if we don't make a saving, we won't use it.

It will be interesting to see just how many people do end up using it, (if it works). I'm thinking about how quickly MSE got so huge. Admittedly, MSE is a really class act, but one shouldn't underestimate the power of the Internet in itself. And the greater the number of people using the scheme, the better the discounts, (in theory at least!)

Also, if it works for one bloke with a website, it'll work for others. We might even get some respectable competition that brings down fuel prices across the board. I wonder if this is part of the reason Martin has promoted this in such big letters in the Moneytips email? It's a great opportunity to play with collective consumer power and see what happens. It could open some very interesting doors.

Personally, I'm rather more in favour of co-operatives, which are non-profit-making, and hence fairer to their members, but what the heck, the guy's doing it, so good on him.

EDIT:
Oh, and there's a data protection bit on his website, which appears to be saying that your details are safe and won't be used for anything else. I wasn't going to sign up unless there was, so I guess I'll go and add my name to the others.

I was also interested to note that there is no advertising on there either, which to me is a good sign. I'm of the opinion that someone who's just looking to make money out of the site itself would have it loaded with banners and click-throughs to maximise his profit. I reckon it's genuine, but as with most things, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

NumboJumbo

I've just signed up to it, although with a hint of cynicism to it. I'll be amazed that the major retailer (whoever it is) will be able to undercut the price I pay at my local ASDA's. If this major retailer wants my custom, then cut the price of petrol at the pump. Why does it need a scheme like this to do that?

On another note, if this scheme does get off the ground, does this mean I have to wait longer at the petrol station to join the queue with all the other card holders all now flocking to this major retailers forecourts. I may just go back to ASDA and fill up there - less chance of 'forecourt rage', I say.

Anyway, good luck to the scheme. I'm not sure whether I'll personally save money, but if I do. I'll eat my hat.

Mike

PS. I have a candy flavoured hat somewhere. Best to keep my options open!!!!

Vital_Spark_2

Sounds good to me. I also registered on the site for getting cheapest petrol prices.

I have sent your web address along with those of the two aforementioned to all those in my address book.

Oh how I wish I was more proficient on these dashed machines and, thereby, able to search more quickly: takes all day right now and even then, I don't always achieve my goal. Thank God for the generosity of folks like you, Martin, who do the hard work for us.
:j :j :j :j

Vital_Spark_2

NumboJumbo wrote:

I've just signed up to it, although with a hint of cynicism to it. I'll be amazed that the major retailer (whoever it is) will be able to undercut the price I pay at my local ASDA's. If this major retailer wants my custom, then cut the price of petrol at the pump. Why does it need a scheme like this to do that?

On another note, if this scheme does get off the ground, does this mean I have to wait longer at the petrol station to join the queue with all the other card holders all now flocking to this major retailers forecourts. I may just go back to ASDA and fill up there - less chance of 'forecourt rage', I say.

Anyway, good luck to the scheme. I'm not sure whether I'll personally save money, but if I do. I'll eat my hat.

Mike

PS. I have a candy flavoured hat somewhere. Best to keep my options open!!!!

I'm probably wrong but I thought this proposed card would give discount from regular asking prices at pumps. Don't know, though, if it's planned to be from only designated pumps or all.

Can't hurt, whatever the outcome, if pressure is applied to the major retailers. At the very least, it lets them know that many are unhappy with their present prices.

Paul_Herring

mad_cash_cow wrote:

Has anyone had trouble with this? Is it just a coincidence that I signed up on 23/11 & my spam level has rocketed today (25/11)??

None here. I signed up with a unique email address, and I've yet to recieve /any/ mail through it. I reckon coincidence in your case.