The German carmaker had advertised the Audi A3 TDI as “the most fuel efficient Audi ever” achieving “a quite remarkable 68.9mpg on a combined cycle”.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint from somebody who had bought the car and had been unable to achieve that fuel consumption.

Audi told the ASA that fuel consumption figures did not give an accurate representation of the actual fuel consumption which could be expected from any particular vehicle and were provided only to enable comparisons between different vehicles or models.

Fuel economy figures are based on rolling road tests in laboratory conditions carried out in accordance with European regulations.

However, the ASA upheld the complaint against Audi and it will now force carmakers to include a disclaimer in adverts to explain that quoted mpg figures may not reflect real-world performance.

“This is a significant ruling that draws a line in the sand,” said an ASA spokesman.

“It is not just about Audi. It sets a precedent that will have ramifications for other car manufacturers.

“The ruling sets out quite clearly that qualification is needed when quoting mpg figures. There will be an industry-wide communication to manufacturers and trade associations so they are aware of what to expect in future.”

www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk can show you the best deals based on your individual requirements, from your estimated fuel spend to the size of your fleet.  

The  FTA is asking ‘Transport for London’ the organisation responsible for the congestion charge – to drop the charge on freight operators who have no option other than to use the city’s roads and Congestion Charge zones. The London Congestion Charge was introduced on 17 February 2003 and includes the whole of the City of London, the financial district, and the West End, London’s primary commercial and entertainment centre, and remains today one of the largest congestion charge zones in the world.

In order for London businesses to thrive, to be at the centre of the world economy and to attract tourists, the capital is dependent on the thousands of deliveries made to shops and businesses every day, and FTA is asking ‘Transport for London’ to recognise that this inevitably leads to an essential requirement for goods vehicles to enter central London, which are subject to the Congestion Charge.

FTA’s Head of Policy, Natalie Chapman, said:

“Whilst traffic has now risen back to pre-charging levels, there is no doubt that congestion in central London would be far worse without it. However, FTA believes that the Congestion Charge is purely a tax on deliveries and its focus should be to deter discretionary or non-essential journeys where there is an option to choose an alternative time or to use public transport.”

FTA states it fully recognises that the aim of the Congestion Charge is to reduce congestion, CO2 emissions and improve air quality, but considers the charge to be a ‘tax on deliveries’ as in many cases the delivery driver has no choice but to enter the Congestion Charge zone. In addition, FTA is asking that where the vehicle is essential to the journey and the user has little or no choice, such as is the case for blue badge holders, a 100 per cent discount is and should continue to be offered.

FTA also makes the point that it is not feasible to deliver goods on public transport and nor are alternative modes practical for the to-the-door deliveries that central London requires. With no charge-free breaks available in the daytime to encourage deliveries to be made outside of rush hour, the Association is appealing to ‘Transport for London’ to consider all available options for providing discounts and exemptions to the scheme for freight.

www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk can show you the best deals based on your individual requirements, from your estimated fuel spend to the size of your fleet.  

If you like many other people are looking around for another Fuel supplier, then please read our seven success tips which explains how Fuel Cards work and what they can do for your company.

We hope that reading this will help you make an informed decision on what to do next and also help you to choose the right Fuel Card for your company.

1) Fuel Pricing

Fuel costs are more often than not, the first point raised by new clients when discussing the various fuel card options. With fuel prices consistently reaching new highs here in the UK, there is more emphasis than ever to save money wherever possible so it seems like the logical place to start!

There are a number of fuel card products that offer the user a fixed, weekly rate for their diesel (and even on unleaded petrol too for “Fastfuel” customers).

Some of these products are “commercial” fuel cards which offer (predominantly) diesel at wholesale rates, usually linked to the Platt’s pricing mechanism.

These cards normally offer the best solution for those looking to save money off pump prices, with savings occasionally as high as ten pence per litre in extreme cases, but usually closer to two or three pence below the UK national average pump price.

However, many suppliers have been known to offer artificially low fuel rates in the first instance to gain interest from their prospects and then slowly but surely increase rates over time, often eventually leading to the customer consistently paying rates higher than average pump price!

One of the key factors you should look out for when opening a commercial fuel card account is to request a weekly price notification from your chosen supplier. This would normally be sent in advance either by email, SMS text or fax, whichever is your preference.

Receiving a price notification allows you to monitor the price
movement from week to week and compare it with national
average or individual pump prices at the stations you regularly use to ensure you continue to receive a competitive rate.

If a fuel card supplier refuses or is unable to send you a price notification, this should set alarm bells ringing, as it probably means they’re reluctant to be up front about their fuel pricing!!

In other instances, fuel may be supplied at a national rate based on the card supplier’s
network of sites. This can result in savings for some or result in paying a higher rate for others, it all depends on how competitive the pump prices are at the particular outlets the end user draws from.

Once again, a price notification in advance ought to be requested to ensure you’re paying a fair rate.

Finally, there’s a number of fuel cards that simply offer fuel pricing at the prevailing pump price at the time of the transaction, which of course means no savings are made but equally importantly, you’re not paying more than the pump price either!

In 2009, Forecourt Fuels successfully introduced a brand new, price guarantee scheme to over 500 customers which ensured the account holder would save a minimum of three pence per
litre on average off the national average pump price over the course of the year, the first of its kind and something no other supplier had previously offered before or since (at the time of
writing).

These customers were assured by the guarantee they would receive at least a three pence per litre saving off national average or else they would receive a refund for the difference in the event  of the savings falling short of target!

Since 2009, over three thousand UK businesses have taken advantage of what is still a unique offer in the fuel card market and have collectively saved over £3.5 Million off their fuel costs!!

2) Site Coverage

Another vital aspect when choosing the right fuel card for your business is the service
station coverage it offers.

This could range from a handful of sites in the case of a small, independent company that own a handful of sites through to several thousand sites with extensive coverage right across the UK (and Europe in some cases).

Some businesses just need sites in their
local town or on a particular route, whilst
others may require regional or even national coverage in the case high mileage drivers, larger fleets or companies with multiple depots.

When speaking to a potential fuel card provider, be sure to tell them about any key areas where site coverage is essential to your business… and get them to prove any recommendations they make will meet your requirements in those locations.

Either way, it’s vital to do this or else you may well end up standing the time and cost of drivers having to go off route to fill up (which can easily negate any potential savings on offer through a keen price!).

Forecourt Fuels have recently launched an app in conjunction with UK Fuels called
“e-Route UK” which allows users to pinpoint their nearest available sites by card type, either by current location or destination.

Alternatively, to gain a greater perspective of available site coverage in any chosen part of the UK and to help you to see which product best fits your needs,
visit our Station Locator

In addition to this, Forecourt Fuels have also added a free satellite navigation website at
www.SatNavDownloads.com which allows regularly updated service station networks to be
downloaded and installed on to TomTom, Garmin and Navman units, ensuring drivers can easily find their nearest available site.

3) Online Account Management

Most, but not all suppliers are now able to offer an online facility to enable you to manage your account via the web.

Examples of the type of features you should expect to be available to you free of charge include:-

•    View transactions on your account, both historically and new, uninvoiced ones
•    Organise individual cards into cost centres for accounting purposes
•    Run MPG reports
•    Gain snapshots of MPG fuel usage patterns either individually or collectively
•    Stop any existing cards promptly and reliably, especially in the event of loss or theft
•    Order additional cards for any new vehicles or employees
•    Download or view historical invoices for your account
•    Update account information such as contact details etc.

With the vast majority of companies now using the internet as an integral part of running their business, it’s vital that any prospective fuel card supplier is able to offer these facilities (especially in the case of larger fleets) to ensure your account runs smoothly and efficiently.

Of course, if you’d rather speak with a human being when you have a query, then make sure
you have a point of contact you know you can confidently expect to reach during business hours.

Forecourt Fuels have their own bespoke online account management called “Velocity” which has all of the above features plus several more and is available to all clients completely free of charge.

4) Management Information / Cost Centre Reporting

One of the main features of using a fuel card, regardless of type and normally of supplier too, is the additional information available as standard to the account holder, which is normally sent as part of the regular invoicing at no extra cost.

Features such as breakdown by vehicle in showing the registration and mileage at the time of the transaction cannot be demonstrated by any other purchasing method, including credit cards.

This makes life far easier for businesses needing to break costs down by individual driver or vehicle in order to help manage their fleet efficiently, as mentioned in the previous section

VAT breakdown is also an extremely useful feature for your accountant or accounts department and will save you money alone as it means you won’t need to trawl through mountains of receipts working out the VAT element!

If you’re running a larger fleet of vehicles, you may need to break the standard transaction reports down into cost centres (as mentioned in the previous section) to enable different parts of your business to breakdown their individual costs.

Not all fuel card providers have the technology available to meet these requests and in the case of those that do, will charge for it in many instances.

If cost centre reporting is important to your fleet, be sure to check with any provider you speak with as to whether they’re able to meet your requirements.

5) Security

Another feature that sets most fuel cards apart from other fuel purchasing methods is the ability to pick and choose by individual card exactly which products can and can’t be purchased.

An example of this would be a fleet with twenty vehicle comprising 15 salesmen, 3 engineers and 2 directors.

The salesmen could be restricted to just diesel only to ensure they’re not buying snacks,
cigarettes or magazines etc, on the company’s account!

However, the engineers may need petrol as well as diesel to power machinery for example, so their cards could be set up to allow “all fuels”.

And finally, the directors could have a fuel card which allows them to buy anything available within the shop (as after all, it’s probably their money! ☺)

Some fuel cards are issued with a pin number for added security. Normally this is a 4 digit number and is generated at random when the card is produced.

6) Free Issue Of Fuel Cards, Transaction Fees & Set Up Costs

Another factor to check with your preferred fuel card provider is whether they charge for
opening an account by way of an admin or set up fee and do they charge an annual or monthly fee for the cards themselves?

It has also recently come to light that one of the leading fuel card suppliers in the UK has
started charging up to £2.00 per transaction! This alone can add up to 5 pence to the cost of every single litre which could potentially cost a large fleet thousands of pounds a year for
essentially zero added value!

For example, a fleet with 100 vehicles, all of which fill up twice a week, would have just had their fuel costs increased by £20,800 + VAT!!

Card fees have also been known to vary from £5 a year (or 40 pence a month) per card to a whopping £75 per year per card in some cases, so well worth checking the small print and asking the question when signing up as failure to do so could cost you a small fortune.

Finally, I’ve also noticed recently that some suppliers have started charging their account holders for low or non-usage so once again, check the small print carefully.

Personally, I’ve always felt it inappropriate to charge customers for choosing Forecourt Fuels as their fuel supplier and therefore we definitely do not charge any of the additional fees mentioned above!

There’s only one product we have a card cost for and this is because we’re contractually bound to do so by the oil company in question!

7) Interest Free Credit

My final tip is to check the payment terms applied to your fuel card and ensure there are no charges for receiving a credit account.

Payment terms are nearly always by direct debit only, normally taken on a set amount of days after the end of the accounting period (usually a minimum of seven).

Some fuel card providers will also offer monthly payment terms (subject to credit status) to give you the maximum amount of credit available.

Again, if requesting monthly terms, this may come at a price due to the “cost of the money” and the very small margins associated with selling fuel so it’s worth asking the question whether the additional credit line sought will affect the cost of the fuel and if so, by how much.

Well, that’s it! I hope you’ve found this guide to finding the best fuel card for you helpful and informative and has made the numerous choices available a little easier to set apart from one another!

If you have any questions on using a fuel card that remain unanswered, please feel free to call our team here at Forecourt Fuels completely free of charge on 08000 14 14 64 and ask away!

Thanks for reading and best wishes,

Nick Staples

Managing Director – Forecourt Fuels Ltd

www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk

Research was presented to the treasury illustrating the impact of fuel duty on UK growth and the economy, amplifying the pressure on the government to axe the fuel duty hike scheduled for 1st January 2013. This information was presented in a face to face meeting organised by the FTA and the FairFuelUK Campaign.

James Hookham, FTA’s managing director – policy & communications said: “We have been able to get this issue to the heart of the political debate in Westminster and ensure the weight of public and business opinion is brought to bear on decisions about future tax rates. We hope and expect that George Osborne will not only cancel the increase, but will abandon any further rises before the next election, as it is clear that a precedent has been set and that similar debates and votes will take place ahead of all future planned increases. The Chancellor may as well give up on fuel duty increases as a bad job.”

In recent fuel saving news, Petrol Prices Down By Another 2p as supermarkets battle it out for Christmas trade

Did you know we can save you a guaranteed 3 pence per litre on diesel pump prices when using one of our fuel cards?  

Visit www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk  for more information

Asda was the first to announce the discount, which follows similar reductions towards the end of last month.

Sainsbury’s and Tesco followed suit, saying they would also slash 2p off their prices.

Welcoming the move, the president of roadside recovery group AA, Edmund King, said: “Once again the supermarkets have led the way on fuel price reductions.

He said that many people are cutting back on the number of car journeys they make because of the high cost of fuel.

“This reduction will go a little way towards helping families and businesses keep mobile,” he added.

Asda’s petrol trading director, Andy Peake, said his company was “leading the way” in reducing the price at the pump.

A Tesco spokesman said: “As Britain’s biggest petrol retailer with 490 forecourts, more motorists will make savings at the pumps at Tesco than at any other fuel retailer.”

And Sainsbury’s head of fuel, Richard Crampton, said: “With Christmas on the horizon, we know that this can be an expensive time of year so we’re delighted to announce that we will be lowering our petrol and diesel prices.”

In recent news, New tyres could save you £280 per company van!

Did you know we can save you a guaranteed further 3 pence per litre on diesel pump prices all year when using one of our fuel cards?  

Visit www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk  for more information.

At a meeting with chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander on Monday, they discussed the impact of fuel duty on the economy. There the FTA presented the findings of studies carried  out by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

The talks, held at HM Treasury were agreed as a result of discussions between FTA backed petrol and diesel campaign group FairFuelUK were seen as a ‘promising start’ to future discussions with a further planned meeting expected in the next few weeks.

The meeting purposely took place before the Government’s planned 3p per litre fuel duty hike, which is scheduled for 1 January 2013. Critical analysis undertaken by FairFuelUK on the impact of fuel duty on UK growth and the economy formed the centrepiece of the discussions.

FairFuelUK is supported by more than a quarter of a million members of the public and was created by road hauliers and motoring organisations as a result of rising fuel costs which have a devastating impact on haulage businesses, their customers and ultimately everyone through the prices on the shelves.

Quentin Willson, national spokesman for FairFuelUK, said; “This is an enormously positive gesture from the Treasury for FairFuelUK to present their ground-breaking research on the impact raising fuel duty has on the UK economy. The fact that Treasury figures are interested and listening sends an important message to all the business and families out there deeply anxious about the forthcoming 3p rise in January. This sort of open-minded engagement is exactly what this country needs to see.”

James Hookham, FTA Managing Director – Communications and Policy, said: “FTA believes that the reductions in fuel duty are the key to un-locking economic growth and we are determined to enlighten the Treasury as to how that can be done.”

The results of the recent study include the identification of the impact of fuel duty on UK growth and the economy, and follows earlier research which was carried out by the Centre of Economic and Business Research.

Hookham added: “It is important that the Treasury understands the reasoning behind the reports both the FTA & RHA have commissioned, and takes the opportunity to act upon them in the autumn statement.”

In recent news,IAM call for a change in daylight hours for safer driving

Fuel cards give your fleet drivers an easier and safer alternative to cash or plastic at the pumps. 

Check out www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk to see which package best suits your fleet’s needs.   

A recent report, in The Telegraph newspaper, claimed that the average monthly motoring bill had increased by as much as £10. Initially, this might not sound like very much, but if a company hires several vans, this very quickly adds up. Over the space of a year, an entire fleet could be costing a company thousands in petrol alone, and that is before MOTs, road tax & van insurance.

For van drivers, especially those who are working as “self-employed”, this is particularly worrying. Many companies are looking for ways to reduce their costs, and often this including cutting down on the number of vans and of course van drivers that they use. The underlying problem is that even if van drivers attempt to cut down on the amount of fuel used, by doing less journeys, driving economically and organising delivery routes that are the most cost effective isn’t doing enough.

It is quite common, in the UK, for prices to hike at the beginning of the summer before the school’s break up. They will then, ordinarily, begin to reduce once summer is over. Whilst reductions do still occur, they are still not good enough.

Another issue that many van drivers must now contend with, as a direct result of price hikes on petrol is fuel theft. With rises going through the roof, the number of people who can no longer afford to run their vehicles has vastly increased, which has led to a subsequent increase in the number of fuel thefts. Unfortunately for their unwitting drivers, vans as well as lorries are the biggest targets for thieves. The question is why? There are a number of reasons, but the most popular assumptions are because vans and lorries tend to sit for long periods of time, or even that they contain larger amounts of fuel than most other vehicles

In other news,  Women’s car insurance premiums are to rise by 26%!

Did you know we can save you a guaranteed 3 pence per litre on diesel pump prices when using one of our fuel cards?  

Visit www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk for more information

It costs between £500 and £3,000 to fix a car  and only half of owners can claim the cost back on their insurance.

Industry experts believe the rising number of people switching to more economical diesel cars is to blame for the increasingly common mistake.

Rory Carlin from Halfords Autocentres,  which compiled the figures, said: ‘We saw a noticeable increase in mis-fuelling during  March and September – the peak months for  new-car purchase – which could be attributed  to new owners getting mixed up about Petrol and Diesel.

The AA runs a service for this kind of mistake in which they clean out fuel tanks of cars and get them running again. This service can cost upwards of £300 a time.

In May a bungling tanker driver left dozens of motorists stranded and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to their cars after accidentally putting diesel into an unleaded storage tank.

The driver caused around £14,000 worth of damage after the mix-up at a Sainsbury’s petrol station forecourt in Salford, Manchester.

A total of 44 cars were affected – and owners faced bills of hundreds of pounds to get their engines fixed.

Bosses at the Regent Road store in Salford closed the pumps when they discovered the mix-up. By then, reports were coming in of cars conking-out on the streets.

Sainsbury’s apologised and agreed to cover the cost of repairs to the vehicles.

In Other News,Business are cutting spending on fleet fuel as prices continue to rise

Fuel cards give your fleet drivers an easier and safer alternative to cash or plastic at the pumps. 

Check out www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk to see which package best suits your fleet’s needs.