Yahoo Finance How to fill up cheap petrol when prices are high
A new Australian mobile app is promising cheap petrol for drivers even when everyone else is paying through the nose.
Refueler works by allowing users to pre-purchase fuel when the price is low then pump it into their vehicle later when needed. The motorist has 10 days to collect the petrol.
This means the driver can potentially be paying the cheapest price when everyone else is paying top dollar – a difference that can be as much as 40 cents per litre.
This adds up to a $32 saving for a full tank of petrol in a Ford Falcon.
Refueler is currently undergoing a trial with SE Fuel, a petrol station in Mt Waverley in south-east Melbourne. But the service is expected to open up to the general public this week.
"We've got about 500 service stations that have signed our expression of interest – ready to board, effectively," managing director Luigi Antonuccio told Yahoo Finance.
The focus is to sign up independent petrol stations because they don't have the digital presence and resources of the big name chains like 7-Eleven, Woolworths, BP, Shell and Caltex.
Refueler has similarities to the 7-Eleven app, which allows drivers to lock in a price for seven days. But the difference is that Refueler will not be limited just one chain of service stations.
The carrot for service stations is that more customers will come through their stores, with the hope that they will buy other items like milk and fast food.
The app charges the service station, so it is free for the user.
The vision is to rollout the system nationally but more funds are required for the startup to do that.
"We've been working on Refueler for two years… We're about to launch equity crowd-funding for the app," said Antonuccio.
"We decided to go down the crowdfunding route to get engagement – let people be part of something that'll actually work and save them some money."
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