What would a van user do with an extra £300? This is being asked by The Fuelcard People, a Fuel Card Group company. Steve Clarke, group marketing manager, said: “If you pay 4p per litre less for diesel, you save £300 on 7,500 litres, which is not excessive annual consumption for a van. That simple maths explains why pump price fuel cards are falling out of favour. Van users enjoy having to answer the £300 question.”
He has seen a sudden increase in enquiries about The Fuelcard People’s commercial rate fuel cards, which offer significant discounts on every major brand. He suggests that this was almost inevitable, in the wake of recent activity by a pump price fuel card supplier. “After years of trying to talk down the obvious benefits of fixed price fuel cards, the market has made them accept reality,” he said. “Now, they admit, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them,’ by launching their own version of a discount fuel card. They even suggest that their existing pump price customers should carry both cards.”
Steve Clarke believes that the move has backfired. “We are grateful to the pump price folks for pointing out so powerfully that our approach to cutting van fuel costs was right all along. In highlighting the importance of discounts, they encourage van users to come to the people with the track record in that area. It helps, of course, that other firms give discounts with one hand, then take them away in transaction charges with the other hand.”
The Fuelcard People is unusual in not levying transaction charges on refuelling. “The whole point of a fuel card is to save money,” said Steve Clarke. “It hardly helps the customer to save if a ‘network service fee’ of £2 is added to every transaction, regardless of the amount pumped.”
He does not expect competitors to copy every aspect of The Fuelcard People’s approach, such as its emphasis on personal service. “They like call centres, we believe in giving every customer their own named account manager. It requires serious long-term investment, but we know which approach customers prefer. They also like saving £300 on fuel for every van they run.”