Looks like following Countdown pulling out, AA SmartFuel is shutting down.
I also got an email from Countdown:
Everyday Rewards is coming 1 February 2024
We are launching a new loyalty programme early next year that will replace Onecard and we’re proud to announce bp as our foundation partner.
Sounds like without BP and Contdown, AA SmartFuel aren’t able to continue.
For the love of Zeus, just give us lower prices instead of rewards programmes.
I never go to BP anyway as it’s almost always more expensive even after “discounts”.
Wait for Wednesday to put gas in at BP. Put in $120 in $40 increments, gets you 30c per litre off. When you hit over 60c per litre, next time fill your tank.
I have had my cost per litre reduced by almost a whole dollar which definitely offsets any slightly higher prices when filling.
Shit feels bleak to talk about. I remember when gas was under $1.
This effort is offset by paying more for your initial 3 at full price.
If petrol is $3 per litre and the discount is 10c per litre, you pay $4 more total across your 3 fills of $40 each, then save $12 on your second fill, a total saving of $8 extra across two fills.
Honestly it seems there must be other ways to cut costs that are more effective but if every dollar counts then it helps a little.
Just cut 5km/h off your average/typical speed.
Quickest, easiest way to get better fuel efficiency.
Accelerate more gently too.
More power to you for getting one over the oil companies, but I can’t be bothered doing all that. I just want to fill up the car every few weeks and pay a reasonable price.
How long ago was that? I remember complaining when it went over $1.20 when I was a newish driver.
I was about … 15 maybe? Before I started driving. Early 2000s I guess.
That is far more effort than I’m willing to go to, to purchase fuel.
Download Gaspy and support the independents, they’re usually cheaper anyway.
Thanks, I do use Gaspy already. I usually just go wherever is cheapest.
I’ve done the math on what you save with discount vouchers, and it’s rarely worth it, especially since my car has a reasonably small tank anyway. The only exception is Pak n Save, who are usually the cheapest even before the discount.
I feel like a few loyalty/discount type programmes have been shutting down recently. From bigger ones like this, to smaller ones like the stamp cards you sometimes get at food places.
I guess they’re a way of addressing inflation by cutting costs instead of raising sticker prices, which the reptilian part of our brains notice more readily
Just a reminder to everyone that Gaspy is both free and an awesome app, it’s saved me a chunk of money over the years.
AA smart fuel and it’s ilk always seemed more trouble than they’re worth to me.
We replaced our Corolla with a Leaf last year so we don’t have to worry anymore about rising petrol prices & for environmental reasons. Initially we had range anxiety, but we’re very happy with it now. Sure, long trips can be annoying, but we have a camper van as backup. But even with our Leaf we could do long trips, just would have to QC and take a break every 60-90 minutes.
While it’s not an option for everyone, I think it makes a lot of sense for many people to go for an EV. Even if you don’t have the cash, you could get a cheap green loan and be much better off in the long run.
It also drives so much better than an ICE, very quiet and continuous traction.
I’m pretty sure National indicated that Road User Charges for EVs are coming early next year, plus the removal of rebates, so owning and running an EV is probably about to get a lot more expensive if recent polls are anything to go by.
We also have a leaf, but don’t use it for long trips. I’d like to get a longer range EV, but not sure it wil happen now. I get the feeling we are about to become an international embarassment when it comes to climate action.
Yep they said that, but they still don’t know what to do with phevs… As then they would pay twice.
Even with RUC added, assuming $70/1000km, we save about 2-3k / year compared to our Corolla.
And yes you’re right, if National wins, climate action is taking a step back. That’s why we’ll vote Greens.
We definitely don’t drive enough to save $2k a year! When we had two petrol cars, we would have spent probably $2k a year on fuel 😆
I work from home most of the time, but even when I used to go to the office each day I’d take a train (drive to train station because we’re on the edge of walking distance and I’m lazy). So we don’t do all that many KMs.
We worked out just for dropping off and picking up kids from school (we live rurally) that it was $1800/year in our Santa Fe vs $200/year in our Leaf if we used grid power to run it. As it turns out our small solar system (3kw) is enough to keep it charged most of the year. RUCs will obviously add to that but still a saving. Plus I like not giving money to some of those tinpot oil exporters or killing the environment for the kids.
That’s great! A second hand leaf is a nice budget-ish way of using less petrol, but when it comes to getting a long range EV finances definitely come into it, and I doubt it adds up anymore for most people.
Agreed. Our leaf was $16500 after rebate, and at 40kwh has about 240km of range. More would be nice as that puts the nearer major centres just in range return without charging but with little margin left. Fast chargers obviously make those longer range trips more viable though.
I do recall seeing data saying something like (making up a number here) 97% of trips were under 100km but I know people feel anxiety for those few longer trips. Once you get into the routine over charging at night as needed (or in the day with solar in our case) it’s not much of an issue I find but definitely a learning experience.
We bought our leaf as a second car. It was bought to replace a car that never went further than the train station or supermarket. In the end we got one that now has about 130km range on a charge. We now use it for almost all our driving. It gets us anywhere in the Wellington area and home again.
Our petrol car is only used for long trips now. But I’d love an EV that could go 400km without fast charging to 80% five times, I just don’t want to pay a house deposit to save a few hundred in petrol a year.
Everyone will pay RUCs is the plan. Probably the simplest option.
… that actually seems like a pretty reasonable policy - what is this!?. Devil in the details - like I’d probably support setting the pricing brackets such that hybrids and EVs are slightly cheaper per km than the equivalent class petrol car, and cynically I can’t help but expect someone to suggest something idiotic like a RUC on bicycles - but in a post-petrol world, RUC seems like the most sensible way to maintain user-pays taxes to fund roading infrastructure
Yup, even PHEV owners I’ve spoken to accept the idea.
Personally, I think it would be the simplest option by far to just do it by weight, we already have emissions levies on fuel.
You can set it to convert your petrol discount into chargenet credits (1c discount = 25c in chargenet credit). I’m sitting on about $80 which will easily pay for a cross-country road trip.
The last big hurdle for EVs, in my view, is towing. Every so often, I do a trip towing a trailer with a number of sea kayaks on, and it typically adds 50% to my fuel use. And these are long trips, Wellington to Coromandel for example.
It would mean a huge increase in range, KWH capacity of the pack, better fast charging, and chargers set up so I don’t have to un-hitch the trailer to make that feasible.
In the meantime, I don’t use my own car for commuting, it’s used for weekend running around and holidays, so the upfront cost of an EV doesn’t make sense.
What?? That sucks! I’ve saved over a grand using AA smartfuel! $1317.92 to be exact.
I’m not going back to shopping at Countdown either.
Yeah, I’ve saved over a grand but petrol is normally a bit more expensive before the discount so probably really only half that.
Then spread that grand over the 12 years the programme has been around and it’s really not as impressive as it first seems.
Noooo we use that religiously, it always works out cheaper.
I have saved a LOT with this thing over the years - I live close to a Countdown, and cycle there to shop, plus cycling to work etc. So although I dont fill up very often, I have a car with a large tank, and save usually about $15-20 or more a fill (in conjunction with Gaspy to find the cheapest nearby BP/Gas to fill up at and filling on a 15 cent/litre off day). But there is a Pak n Save being built nearby now
This is good news. These loyalty programs should be illegal, it’s customer discrimination.
