[cents/litre] accumulate or redeem instantly?

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › [cents/litre] accumulate or redeem instantly?

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501 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1729181 2-Mar-2017 22:49

I accumulate for as long as possible (to the end of the second month) to maximise my discounts. I only ever put $40 in at a time but will do multiple $40 transactions whilst at the service station. BP seems to give 10c/litre discounts most weeks so I make use of this. The BPMe app makes this even easier now as you can pay for your fuel without going into the shop making multiple transactions even easier.

My car uses 98 which (in Wellington at least) is $2.239/L which means I put in 17.87L for each $40. Based on the fact that I only collect my discount when I put 50 litres of fuel in my car I can consider the discount on each $40 fuelling to be either $5 (on 10c/L discount) or $3 (on 6c/L discount). This brings the price of the fuel down considerably when I accumulate.

The price I will pay for fuel over the duration I accumulate means for each 17.87 litre transaction I only really pay $35 (based on 10c/L discount), taking the price of my fuel down to $1.959/L which gives me a 28c/L discount. Even at the standard 6c/L if I accumulate in this same way I would be paying $2.07/L giving me 16.9c/L discount.

As you see these figures are much bigger than the posted discount if you play it properly and accumulate and only collect when you put 50L in.

Even more satisfying is having a few occasions that I have put 50L of fuel in my car and paid less than the price os a coffee for it as I had collected discounts to within a few cents of the price of fuel :D

Oblivian

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#1729190 2-Mar-2017 23:37

Teeps:

I accumulate for as long as possible (to the end of the second month) to maximise my discounts. I only ever put $40 in at a time but will do multiple $40 transactions whilst at the service station. BP seems to give 10c/litre discounts most weeks so I make use of this. The BPMe app makes this even easier now as you can pay for your fuel without going into the shop making multiple transactions even easier.

My car uses 98 which (in Wellington at least) is $2.239/L which means I put in 17.87L for each $40. Based on the fact that I only collect my discount when I put 50 litres of fuel in my car I can consider the discount on each $40 fuelling to be either $5 (on 10c/L discount) or $3 (on 6c/L discount). This brings the price of the fuel down considerably when I accumulate.

The price I will pay for fuel over the duration I accumulate means for each 17.87 litre transaction I only really pay $35 (based on 10c/L discount), taking the price of my fuel down to $1.959/L which gives me a 28c/L discount. Even at the standard 6c/L if I accumulate in this same way I would be paying $2.07/L giving me 16.9c/L discount.

As you see these figures are much bigger than the posted discount if you play it properly and accumulate and only collect when you put 50L in.

Even more satisfying is having a few occasions that I have put 50L of fuel in my car and paid less than the price os a coffee for it as I had collected discounts to within a few cents of the price of fuel :D

I was about to comment on the ad, "And sometimes free!" quip at the end. Don't hear of too many people getting a 'free' tank of gas...

frankv

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#1729252 3-Mar-2017 08:27

New spreadsheet link

coffeebaron

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#1729262 3-Mar-2017 08:36

The discount applies to 50 litres of fuel. So you could use it all at once e.g. 12c * 50 = $6 or use it each time e.g. 4c * 50 + 4c * 50 + 4c * 50 = $6

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Teeps

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Ultimate Geek

#1729269 3-Mar-2017 08:43

frankv:
New spreadsheet link

Looking at your spreadsheet it looks like you collect your discount every time you put $40 of fuel in as the total price is only going up by $37 for each $40 transaction. To get the best discount you should keep accumulating and only use it when you put 50 litres in your car.

Teeps

501 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1729271 3-Mar-2017 08:46

Teeps:
frankv:
New spreadsheet link

Looking at your spreadsheet it looks like you collect your discount every time you put $40 of fuel in as the total price is only going up by $37 for each $40 transaction. To get the best discount you should keep accumulating and only use it when you put 50 litres in your car.

Actually scrub that thought as you'd only get $3 off by putting 50 litres in. I'm not sure how the table on the right works now!

gehgood

29 posts

Geek

#1729289 3-Mar-2017 09:18

I think this works best when combined with the countdown offer - if I wasnt doing $40 fills, i would probably only need a full tank every 3/4 weeks. $200 supermarket spend each week for 2 months gets 48cpl discount (at the base rate of 6cpl off every $200 - sometimes more with offers), combine that with 3/4 $40 fills over 2 months means i get 72cpl off every couple of months. More if there is an offer on. This benefits me more as I dont fill up that often, and I can accumulate the supermarket 6c rather than having a bunch of unused receipts in the car.

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KillerHulk

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Ultimate Geek

#1729290 3-Mar-2017 09:20

it does not matter if you accumulate or redeem immediately.

in the end you going to get the same discount.

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dryburn

430 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1729294 3-Mar-2017 09:23

frankv:

New spreadsheet link

Thanks Frankv

I think your spreadsheet is the best way to calculate the most savings by accumulating the discounts.

So to answer my original question:

Yes there is an actual benefit to accumulating the discounts, by filling up the tank upon redeeming the accumulated discounts.

Yet the fluctuation in fuel prices can add or subtract to the total savings at the end.

Jase2985

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#1729442 3-Mar-2017 14:52

the question is

is your time worth the what $1.50 you save by accumulating the savings? given you probably spend 3-4x the time at the service station over the same period

Teeps

501 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1729481 3-Mar-2017 15:37

KillerHulk:

it does not matter if you accumulate or redeem immediately.

in the end you going to get the same discount.

Far from it. Put in more than 50 litres at a time and you're actually reducing the discount/litre if you collect immediately. You can increase the value of the discount if you only put in $40 each time and accumulate then collect when putting 50 litres in.

Teeps

501 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1729487 3-Mar-2017 15:49

Jase2985:

the question is

is your time worth the what $1.50 you save by accumulating the savings? given you probably spend 3-4x the time at the service station over the same period

The savings are way larger than $1.50 when accumulating the savings. I've accumulated and saved over $100 a few times, and the AA Smartfuel app says I've saved over $1000 in total up to now. It's the same amount of fuel going into the car each time, it's just you stop the pump at $40 and then start it again so hardly takes any time longer.

Not everyone sees it's worth doing though which is ok, but most people probably spend more time in a year researching discounts to get other products or services cheaper and you'd get less savings overall.

shk292

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#1729511 3-Mar-2017 16:22

Someone should work out the $/hr value of fiddling around doing $40 fills in order to save a couple of $. Probably less than the minimum wage

frankv

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#1729545 3-Mar-2017 18:14

shk292:

Someone should work out the $/hr value of fiddling around doing $40 fills in order to save a couple of $. Probably less than the minimum wage

Not hard... assuming it takes 6 minutes(because it's easy... 1/10 of an hour) to stop, pay, get going again (excluding the actual pumping time), and that your tank will hold over $80 worth of petrol, it costs you an extra 6 minutes every 2 fills. At $16/hr (because it's easy & close to minimum wage) that's $1.60. So it's worth it if you're on minimum wage. OTOH, petrol is paid for with *after* tax money, so maybe you should add (or subtract?) 10-39% from it.

Jase2985

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#1729618 3-Mar-2017 20:46

Teeps:

Jase2985:

the question is

is your time worth the what $1.50 you save by accumulating the savings? given you probably spend 3-4x the time at the service station over the same period

The savings are way larger than $1.50 when accumulating the savings. I've accumulated and saved over $100 a few times, and the AA Smartfuel app says I've saved over $1000 in total up to now. It's the same amount of fuel going into the car each time, it's just you stop the pump at $40 and then start it again so hardly takes any time longer.

Not everyone sees it's worth doing though which is ok, but most people probably spend more time in a year researching discounts to get other products or services cheaper and you'd get less savings overall.

you missed the point. to amass say a 30c saving you have to go to the petrol station 6 times (5 to accumulate and 1 to use it say) thats 2x as many fuel ups as you would need if you just filled it up 3 times over the same period/distance. does the meagre amount you save between the 2 fuel ups using your 6c per L vs the 6 fuel ups 5 @ $40 and 1 full tank make it worth your time of having to A. potentially go out of your way to find a station, and B. spend the extra 3 amounts of time fueling up at say 5 minutes a fuel up (15 minutes minimum)

3 tanks at 50L = $300 (fuel at $2/L) less $.06/L = $291

5 tanks at 20L = $200 (fuel at $2/L) + 1 tank at 50L = $100 less $0.30/L = $85 total = $285

difference = $6 or average $2 per extra fuel up or $1 for each fuel up.

for me the savings isnt worth the hassle given I would be filling up every week as opposed to every almost 3 weeks.

it may work for some but for others the merge savings just isnt worth is

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