Smartfuel rewards

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#2072975 13-Aug-2018 21:48

I didn't know that with the AA Smartfuel card, you can fill your tank with say 2 x $40 fills in the 1 visit, swipe your card twice and get 12c per litre off instead of 6c per litre. Heard that on a radio ad today.

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rugrat

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#2073010 13-Aug-2018 23:06

you would have to accumulate the discount first $40, and get no discount off that.

The next fill, yep can get 12 cents off, but if it's another $40 fill, no better off then taking 6 cents off the lot, and if less then will end up getting less then average of 6 cents - you are only better off if second fill is more then $40.

Sounds like the radio ad is trying to sucker people in that aren't able to work it out.

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#2073043 13-Aug-2018 23:21

kiwiharry:

I didn't know that with the AA Smartfuel card, you can fill your tank with say 2 x $40 fills in the 1 visit, swipe your card twice and get 12c per litre off instead of 6c per litre. Heard that on a radio ad today.

I've been dealing with setting up something complex on Linux all night so that took me way too long to process.

But, that is not how it works as above.

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kiwiharry

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#2073059 14-Aug-2018 06:47

rugrat:

you would have to accumulate the discount first $40, and get no discount off that.

The next fill, yep can get 12 cents off, but if it's another $40 fill, no better off then taking 6 cents off the lot, and if less then will end up getting less then average of 6 cents - you are only better off if second fill is more then $40.

Sounds like the radio ad is trying to sucker people in that aren't able to work it out.

Yeah that is what I thought too.

Is the ad misleading then?

Here is the ad. https://www.dropbox.com/s/rptt1va9rbcc1vj/SmartFuel.mp3?dl=0

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frankv

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#2073063 14-Aug-2018 07:19

Maximising savings is pretty simple... only ever get $40 at a time for just under 2 months, always accumulating. Then, just before the end of the second month, get a 50L fill and use all the accumulated discounts. If you use lots of fuel, you can get to the point of a free 50L fill. With a bit of care/luck and a large fuel tank, you can get from one 10c discount day to the next without needing to refuel at only a 6c discount. NB: Months are calendar months. AA/BP/Caltex helpfully sends you a notification towards the end of the second month telling you your rewards are about to expire.

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#2073067 14-Aug-2018 07:37

The logic is that you fill your tank at least twice with $40 and accumulate 6cpl with both earns. You can then go and fill your tank completely and get 12cpl off on a fuel tank of petrol which gives you an extra discount.

This used to seriously annoy staff as people would tie up two pumps doing this, but I guess with the BP app now you can do it from the forecourt. I've also been in the queue at a BP filling up a rental car and had to stand waiting in the queue while a guy at the front was trying to get somebody outside to fill his tank twice.

Lets look at it -

first fill $40 @ 2.239 cpl = 17.86 litres if you took the straight 6cpl discount you'd get a $1.07 discount or you can accumulate the 6cpl discount

second fill $40 @ 2.239 cpl = 17.86 litres if you took the straight 6cpl discount you'd get a $1.07 discount or you can accumulate the 6cpl discount

If you now go in on your 3rd fill and completely fill your 50 litre tank @ 2.239 cpl = $111.95 you'll get 12cpl off which gives you a total of $6 off

Had you just used the 6cpl on the 50 litre purchase you would have saved $3, and adding in the 2 x $1.07 savings you didn't get it means you saved $6, whereas you would have saved $5.14 had you simply taken the 6cpl discount on all 3 transactions.

If you can't empty your tank and maximise the 50 litre fill your savings are less - only put in 40 litres on the big fill @ $2.239 cpl which costs you $89.56 and you'll get a $2.40 saving at 6cpl or $4.80 saving at 12cpl vs the $4.54 you would have got taking the 6cpl on all three transactions. All that effort over 3 visits just to save an extra 26c

I'd simply much rather visit a chain that offers me a fair price on petrol and doesn't engage in inflated prices with a offering that's nothing but a scam that is artificially inflating petrol prices.

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#2073249 14-Aug-2018 12:54

frankv:

Maximising savings is pretty simple... only ever get $40 at a time for just under 2 months, always accumulating. Then, just before the end of the second month, get a 50L fill and use all the accumulated discounts. If you use lots of fuel, you can get to the point of a free 50L fill. With a bit of care/luck and a large fuel tank, you can get from one 10c discount day to the next without needing to refuel at only a 6c discount. NB: Months are calendar months. AA/BP/Caltex helpfully sends you a notification towards the end of the second month telling you your rewards are about to expire.

Yes. This is exactly how it is.

I ran the numbers comparison back when fuel was about $2.00 per litre - use or accumulate?

Example 1 510 litres purchased over the two month period (to maximise accumulated savings)

Using an equal mix of 6 cent and 10 cent discounts you average out at a saving of 8 cents per litre if you 'use' as you 'buy'.

Using the same equal mix of 6 cent and 10 cent discounts (which have been accumulated) and then a final 50 litre buy (which is actually close to free) on a 10 cent day where you also use all your accumulated saving it all works out to 19 cents per litre saved over the previous two months.

So 8 cents or 19 cents savings per litre - you choose.

Example 2 430 litres purchased over the two month period (to maximise accumulated savings)

Calculated on all 10 cents days the numbers become 10 cents saving if you use as you buy, or 23 cents saving per litre if accumulated and use to get (I wont say buy as little money changes hands) a final 50 litres just before the end of the second month.

In practise how it works for my wife and I

-we both contribute to the same Smartfuel account

-we both only put in $40 dollars at a time usually on 10 cent days (sometimes I will put in 2 or 3 lots of $40 using the BPMe App if it will fit).

-we accumulate about 70 cents into our Smartfuel account from non petrol related transactions (every two months) so that's less petrol we are buying to maximise savings.

-If we don't get up to the price per litre that fuel is currently (to get the free 50 litres) that's good - we spent less on fuel overall. Usually we get pretty close.

-about two weeks before the end of the second month I remind her to run her tank down to a quarter full so she can do the 50 litre fill for cheap (which she has no problem remembering to do).

sbiddle

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#2073261 14-Aug-2018 13:21

Buster:

In practise how it works for my wife and I

-we both contribute to the same Smartfuel account

-we both only put in $40 dollars at a time usually on 10 cent days (sometimes I will put in 2 or 3 lots of $40 using the BPMe App if it will fit).

-we accumulate about 70 cents into our Smartfuel account from non petrol related transactions (every two months) so that's less petrol we are buying to maximise savings.

-If we don't get up to the price per litre that fuel is currently (to get the free 50 litres) that's good - we spent less on fuel overall. Usually we get pretty close.

-about two weeks before the end of the second month I remind her to run her tank down to a quarter full so she can do the 50 litre fill for cheap (which she has no problem remembering to do).

All that effort of driving around, with multiple petrol station visits along with planning fuel usage is seriously just way too much effort.

Buying petrol shouldn't be a game, but I guess if people are happy to support BP and Caltex by paying inflated prices so they can feel they're getting a bargain I guess that's their choice.

Buster

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#2073290 14-Aug-2018 14:09

sbiddle:

All that effort of driving around, with multiple petrol station visits along with planning fuel usage is seriously just way too much effort.

Buying petrol shouldn't be a game, but I guess if people are happy to support BP and Caltex by paying inflated prices so they can feel they're getting a bargain I guess that's their choice.

Fair enough, but it doesn't feel like that much effort and buying fuel certainly never feels like a bargain. We both buy BP because we want 98 for our engines, not some ethanol blend (cheaper) that you have to buy more of to travel the same distance.

We are both shift workers (medical and electrical occupations) and buy our petrol out of the rush on the way to or from work generally so no special detours or trips just for gas.

As long as the fuel gauge is a bit under 3/4 of full you can get another $40 of 98 in there.

Of the six BP stations selling 98 in our general area the price variance is 9 cents which seems huge to me. Gaspy ftw.

allan

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#2073296 14-Aug-2018 14:29

The only time I really bother is if I'm heading through Levin/Foxton or somewhere equally cheap when I'll accumulate because of their lower prices and redeem when I'm back in Wellington.

Buster

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#2073316 14-Aug-2018 15:05

sbiddle:

Lets look at it -

first fill $40 @ 2.239 cpl = 17.86 litres if you took the straight 6cpl discount you'd get a $1.07 discount or you can accumulate the 6cpl discount

second fill $40 @ 2.239 cpl = 17.86 litres if you took the straight 6cpl discount you'd get a $1.07 discount or you can accumulate the 6cpl discount

If you now go in on your 3rd fill and completely fill your 50 litre tank @ 2.239 cpl = $111.95 you'll get 12cpl off which gives you a total of $6 off

Actually the 3rd fill of 50 litres would get 18 cpl (6 cpl + 6 cpl +6 cpl) off which would be $9 off.

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#2073320 14-Aug-2018 15:13

I remember when smartfuel first launched, someone (on here I believe) created a spreadsheet to calculate the optimum strategy to maximise the returns.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=162&topicid=159746

frankv

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#2073374 14-Aug-2018 15:52

sbiddle:

All that effort of driving around, with multiple petrol station visits along with planning fuel usage is seriously just way too much effort.

Buying petrol shouldn't be a game, but I guess if people are happy to support BP and Caltex by paying inflated prices so they can feel they're getting a bargain I guess that's their choice.

Not that much effort, and no driving round involved for me. I drive within a few hundred metres of 2 BP stations and a Waitomo on one route to work; past 2 Caltexs, a BP, a Gull, and an Allied on the other route. Both routes are about the same distance.

Mostly it's letting the tank get down to the light before reluctantly putting in $40 at 6c off, or putting in as many $40 lots as possible if it's 10c off. Planning for the end of the 2nd month is required to avoid getting caught with a full tank and a pile of accumulated discounts. It's also worth keeping a track of prices at the various stations (Gaspy is your friend)... currently PN is about 4c cheaper than Bulls. Feilding is 0-1c cheaper than PN.

I'd also prefer to just have straightforward petrol prices without the fake discounts. But, by playing their game, my average price per litre is *lower* than by buying at Gull, Waitomo or Allied. No wonder I feel like I'm getting a bargain.

Buster

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#2073492 14-Aug-2018 20:30

rugrat:

you would have to accumulate the discount first $40, and get no discount off that.

The next fill, yep can get 12 cents off, but if it's another $40 fill, no better off then taking 6 cents off the lot, and if less then will end up getting less then average of 6 cents - you are only better off if second fill is more then $40.

Sounds like the radio ad is trying to sucker people in that aren't able to work it out.

If less than $40 you don't qualify to get a discount. Not sure if you can redeem your saved discount on amounts under $40?

rugrat

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#2073535 14-Aug-2018 21:18

Correct. Would not be able to redeem anything under $40.

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