Retail fuel vs wholesale fuel - what's right for you?

Keeping your fleet fuelled and running is the bottom line of keeping your business flowing and profitable. Whether you operate one machine or a range of vehicles, choosing what kind of fuel supply suits your needs best can help minimise money spent and maximise time spent, but how to choose? See our brief guide below to help guide you.

Wholesale Fuel Supply

Businesses that need constant supply for their fleet or own heavy machinery such as forklifts, generators, excavators, cranes etc that are unable to fill up at a service station, will find copious benefits buying from a wholesale supplier. When you're using thousands of litres of fuel a month, receiving your fuel from a wholesaler becomes more cost-effective as well as time efficient. Receiving larger volume deliveries means you're saving more per litre than bowser pricing and your team has the ability to refuel on-site, eliminating driver down-time at service stations. Not only is buying wholesale time efficient in this way, it also means that you have a consistent supply of quality product, eliminating the planning process that comes with finding the best priced, quality retailers and collating all those pesky receipts. However, if you are only filling up one or two vehicles, buying bulk fuel might not be as cost effective for you - you will still have constant fuel supply wherever you need it, which for things such as unregistered forklifts or immovable machinery makes up for the higher costs related to smaller volumes. Buying your fuel with a wholesaler does mean, however that you need to manage your own bulk fuel system, which comes with additional costs. These costs include things like installation, maintenance, training and safety/clean up equipment. When dealing with Kamilaroi Fuels, we offer a range of payment options for your bulk fuel facility to meet budget requirements.

Retail Fuel Supply

Refuelling from a service station is a familiar practice to majority of people and can be the best option for your business depending on your fleet requirements. Retail fuel supply suits businesses whose fleet requires infrequent refuelling and are road registered eg already on the road passing the petrol station on the way out or the way home. You are able to save costs by searching for the most cost-effective retail site on your vehicle's route. Another positive of refuelling at a retail site is avoiding the costs of managing your own fuel facility, minimising related expenses and issues like theft or product waste. A beneficial option for refuelling your fleet via retail supply is a fuel card, which offers discounts on regular retail prices from places like Shell or Ampol. Opting to use a fleet card also allows you to keep track of your expenses all in the one place rather than relying on receipt collection. Disadvantages to consider when opting to refuel at petrol stations could be the down-time of refuelling off-site, multiple vehicles refuelling constantly becomes difficult to keep track of or, if you are using a considerable amount of product when refuelling for your fleet, a bulk system might be the better option for you.

If you have any questions on how to minimise your money and maximise your time spent when it comes to fuelling your fleet, please give our team a call today on 02 9011 6995! We are here to help.