Buying fuel in advance

Money_Grabber13579

I'm not sure that this is the right section to be posting in however given that fuel prices are falling quite quickly at the moment, is there any way of buying fuel in advance, based on current prices, so that when the price does inevitably rise again, you can top up using the fuel already purchased?

I'm guessing its possible using complex forward contracts and other hedging techniques, but what about for the man on the street?

ACG

You could buy a few of these?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200-Litre-Steel-Oil-Drums-/111548387183?pt=UK_BOI_Containers_Pre_Fab_Buildings_ET&hash=item19f8cd4f6f

Im not sure how legal it would be to have that much fuel in your garage though.

DUTR

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

I'm not sure that this is the right section to be posting in however given that fuel prices are falling quite quickly at the moment, is there any way of buying fuel in advance, based on current prices, so that when the price does inevitably rise again, you can top up using the fuel already purchased?

I'm guessing its possible using complex forward contracts and other hedging techniques, but what about for the man on the street?

I buy my fuel in advance, the last time I charged the tank was before last weekend.
The storage costs may well outweigh any alledged fuel savings.

Money_Grabber13579

Apologies, I wasn't so much thing of storing it, but if there was any sort of pre paid card you could get i.e. add 500 litres to a fuel card, for a certain price?

DUTR

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

Apologies, I wasn't so much thing of storing it, but if there was any sort of pre paid card you could get i.e. add 500 litres to a fuel card, for a certain price?

I think we know what you mean, and the answer is more than likely not. Besides it would work both ways, fuel has gone down 2p/litre since I last topped up. You maybe better off trying to gain or save moeny elsewhere to absorb fuel costs.

gilbert_and_sullivan

In theory if you have the land, and don't mind forking out on a proper fuel tank, you could buy Diesel in bulk when it's at its low point, just as home owner with oil fired heating do.

I suspect you'd need planning permission, possibly a bunded tank to satisfy HMRC, and all sorts of safety certificates, plus a finite lifespan of the product and i can only see it being viable if you formed a co-operative of some sort with like minded others to make the volumes enough.

Petrol would need lots of safety measures, i'm fairly sure you can only keep something like 10 litres at home in correct cans legally.

Even then you've got the real problem of the usual suspects stealing the stuff (ask any lorry operator who they are), so you'd want a low, possibly underground, tank not one mounted higher that could feed by gravity, which means you need electric pumps, meterable.

AdrianC

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

Apologies, I wasn't so much thing of storing it, but if there was any sort of pre paid card you could get i.e. add 500 litres to a fuel card, for a certain price?

What would be the benefit for the seller? Seems to me that it's all downside for them...

"Excuse me, can I pay for petrol at £1.10/litre, and actually have it once it's gone up enough that you're paying more than that...?"

WobblyDog

A relative, who had a bit of a survivalist mentality, used to have a couple of un-bunded steel tanks that could store about 1500 litres of diesel in total.

Even ignoring the cost of the tanks, I don't think he actually saved any money by doing this, and keeping the tanks drip-free and rust-free was a hassle.

shopbot

AdrianC wrote: »

What would be the benefit for the seller? Seems to me that it's all downside for them...

"Excuse me, can I pay for petrol at £1.10/litre, and actually have it once it's gone up enough that you're paying more than that...?"

I guess that the seller benefits when the price continues to fall and stabilises below what the buyer bought for. The buyer has bought at a higher price. The buyer could try and wait it out but I guess any prepaid thing would be time limited.

SB

tight_scotsman

I think you mean fuel bunkering. We use them to fuel coaches when away from the depot. BP ,SHELL ,DKV. The idea is you purchase say 20000 litres of fuel from one of the above companies and driver use a fuel card to draw fuel at one of their sites. Im not sure what the minimum amount you can purchase in advance. But no harm in asking

harveybobbles

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

is there any way of buying fuel in advance

I always buy my fuel in advance..