Optimum curve to get best AA smart fuel discount?

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#1195991 12-Dec-2014 05:56

unfortunately for people like me the 2x $40 just doesn't work as even a full tank in both our cars doesn't quiet break the $80 mark.

I would rather drive 10km extra in auckland to pay 10c less and then save my 6c with my AA Card when the tank is empty than have to fill up with $40 every time. my time is worth more than a tiny saving.

Some people might find it useful but not for me the cost doesn't outweigh the time or inconvenience

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#1196142 12-Dec-2014 11:18

how weird - got an email saying a new post was posted at 11.09 ... but there isn't ...

DrCheese

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#1196143 12-Dec-2014 11:18

You don't have to fill up your tank. Just add $40 worth of petrol whenever you are near the BP or Caltex station. And leave extra volume in the tank in case a Thirsty Thursday appears. Remember, the 6c or 8c is compounded when you redeem your points every two months for a full tank of petrol.

I wouldn't think $500 per year is a tiny saving, but your mileage may vary (pardon the pun).

D.

dickytim

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#1196180 12-Dec-2014 11:54

My last post is missing!

Anyway i filled up at Gull 199.9 for 98

Dstarzero

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#1196204 12-Dec-2014 12:33

you guys do know that the discount can be accumulated and are valid till the end of next month right?

What I usually do is refuel $40 in Caltex to get 6 cents or BP if they have the 8cents promo. I usually refuel once every 4 days so I accumulate about 50 cents per litre per month, I save that till the end of next month ( another 50 cents off a litre) and at the very last day of the 2nd month, I get a full tank with a discount of $1.00 per litre.

if you have a family card, you can use it with every refill and multiple cars and getting a free full tank is not very hard.

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#1196232 12-Dec-2014 13:03

I only have a 40L tank, and most of the time its is around 30-33L to fill it from "empty" and I fill up once every two weeks
As a result, I just take the discount each time I need to fill up (4c = $1.20) and don't try to figure out the best way to maximise my return.

If I was filling up more than once a week, or purchased things in partner stores that have AA Rewards then maybe I would look into it.

Jase2985

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#1196350 12-Dec-2014 14:48

the problem with auckland is most stations are $1.969, there are clusters around the place that are $1.829, you save more by going to them and then adding a discount on top of that (down to $1.769) than you do filling up $40 when you are near a BP at the $1.969.

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DrCheese

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#1196382 12-Dec-2014 15:29

Jase2985: the problem with auckland is most stations are $1.969, there are clusters around the place that are $1.829, you save more by going to them and then adding a discount on top of that (down to $1.769) than you do filling up $40 when you are near a BP at the $1.969.

You've neglected the compounding factor in your calculation. It's much, much cheaper to take the $1.969 per L at BP and repeatedly buy it in $40 lots over a period of two months.

D.

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#1196445 12-Dec-2014 17:08

DrCheese:
Jase2985: the problem with auckland is most stations are $1.969, there are clusters around the place that are $1.829, you save more by going to them and then adding a discount on top of that (down to $1.769) than you do filling up $40 when you are near a BP at the $1.969.

You've neglected the compounding factor in your calculation. It's much, much cheaper to take the $1.969 per L at BP and repeatedly buy it in $40 lots over a period of two months.

D.

I've just finished 14 months of travelling 106km each way each day to work (don't recommend it for the long term!!!). Using $40 a day (although less now that price is dropping). Leave aside for one minute that if, for example, one place close by is selling at 10c cheaper, or you have a supermarket voucher for 40c off, you would utilise those. Getting back to the OP, as noted by DrCheese, the compounding factor makes it worthwhile to accumulate the 6c/l discount over the maximum two month period (up to the maximum equal to the price of the fuel) rather than redeeming the discount each time.

I did the calcs before I started the long commute just to convince myself I was right. Its not huge but as an example:
Take fuel at $2.00/litre,
Fill up, say, 25 times (@20l or $40 = 500l) over the two month period - and, for ease of comparison, add another 50l fill at the end - total of 550litres.
Total cost of fuel if you redeem at 6c/l each time you fill is $1070 (instead of $1100 = 550l x $2/l)
If you accumulate the 6c saving each time you fill with $40, at the end of the process you are up to $1.50/l off the price of 50l = $75 saving (50l @$0.50 vs $2.00) .
So, total cost of the 550litres is $1025 if you accumulate in $40 lots and $1070 if you redeem the 6c each time you fill. $45 saving.

I guess its personal opinion as to whether its worth it, but I had a Caltex close to home and close to work in Feilding so it was easy for me. I always did the $40, hang up, another $40 before paying - as mentioned earlier in this thread. My local attendant said if I wanted to fill with three, just do two fills on one pump and, assuming it wasn't in use, just pick the hose from the other side of the pump and use that for the third fill!! You still have to run the card through the till multiple times but not a major hassle to me!

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dickytim

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#1196482 12-Dec-2014 18:07

Wow! 106km and $40 a day that's worse than my big V8!

I do 100km a day on the nose to and from and another 50-100 visiting clients. I can just do that on a tank with a few trips around.

I use around $30-35 a day, but at the moment closer to $30

Jase2985

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#1196494 12-Dec-2014 18:23

DrCheese:
Jase2985: the problem with auckland is most stations are $1.969, there are clusters around the place that are $1.829, you save more by going to them and then adding a discount on top of that (down to $1.769) than you do filling up $40 when you are near a BP at the $1.969.

You've neglected the compounding factor in your calculation. It's much, much cheaper to take the $1.969 per L at BP and repeatedly buy it in $40 lots over a period of two months.

D.

are you sure about that?

all my figures are based on my cars that have 40L tanks and do about 20,00km per year, i have a spreadsheet with all the info in it and ill recalculate for a bigger tank in due course

even saving them up for 3 lots of savings only makes the price of gas just less than the reduced price at the other station, but you have had to pay 2x 40 + the cost of one full tank, to = the same saving as 1 full tank, add on the AA saving onto the $1.829 and you would have to fill up 4 times to make the same saving, so you would have spend $120 extra to make the same saving as driving a little further to a cheaper station.

now if you apply that to the cheaper station it would out in your favour, but at the dearer station it just doesnt add up

also the more you fill up at the $40 mark, means the less you eventually fill up a full tank, ie using my car which has a 40L tank and does 6.5L/100km. If you did 20,000km a year and used your discount every 5 tanks (ie 4 tanks at $40 and the 5th as a full tank) you would fill up with $40 about 43 times, and using the discount on the 5th tank (5x.06) you would fill up about 11 times. 11 tanks x 40L x $.30 = $132 so a saving of $132 per year over just buying the petrol with no discount.

how ever if you were to just buy 40L and use the $.06 discount you would save $78.30 per year over not having a discount. but you would have filled up 22 more times a year and if you say 5mins per fill up (not counting travel time) thats 1h50mins extra at the petrol station to save $53.7.

if you were to change the above to every 10th fill up you only save an extra $11.70 per year, but your time in the station increases to almost 5 hours, or 2h10m more than if you just filled your tank each time.

you have to remember the more you save the discounts the less is the amount of times per year you actually get to use the saved amounts. in this case your down to 6 times a year.

there is a exponential decrease in the amount saved per fill over an entire year if you keep accumulating them

using it every second tank nets you about $25 per year over using it every time

saving the discount does net a saving over a year, but is the saving worth the extra time and effort? to some yes to most not really

Jase2985

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#1196517 12-Dec-2014 19:07

i just ran the numbers again for a larger vehicle with a 73L tank that does 9.8L/100km and doing 20,000km per year

filling up 3 times per visit (pump $40 hang up and do it twice more) costs you $120 for 58L and at your next fill up will net you a saving of $.24 (the 3 from the first visit and the one from your next one) so over a year this will save you about $113 per year over not using a voucher, and you only save $21 per year than using a voucher and getting a full tank.

i guess it comes down to what works for you and what you perceive the best discounts are.

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#1196685 13-Dec-2014 06:53

dickytim: Wow! 106km and $40 a day that's worse than my big V8!

106km each way each day - i.e. 212km a day!! Accord Euro using 95RON. I almost considered buying something like a 90kW Golf TSI to reduce the fuel bill by 40% or more, but it never happened. Probably wouldn't have done it with your V8

- I'd be even poorer!

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#1198494 16-Dec-2014 16:37

80L of diesel in the Pajero, 35c off per litre courtesy of countdown. Nice.

Mike

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#1198498 16-Dec-2014 16:42

joker97: ok ... will save my time for something else then thanks for the maths wizzes.

I need 98 fuel so BP is what I need. didn't know pak n sav did 98 fuel?

putting Gull's tweaked fuel will make my car explode (I think?)

Talk to your cars manufacturer, theyll tell you if its safe or not for your car.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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