Fuel retailer Caltex has announced the introduction of Pumped fuel discounts for Airpoints and Fly Buys customers from the 1st August 2019. Caltex announced last month that their existing relationship with AA Smartfuel had not been renewed by AA Smartfuel.
Caltex are owned by Z Energy who already offer Pumped fuel discounts for Airpoints and Fly Buys customers at all Z sites.
Everyday 6 cents per litre instant discounts for Airpoints and Fly Buys customers will now be on offer at all Caltex and Z sites, along with extra deals on bonus discount days. Customers can also chose to earn either Airpoints Dollars or Fly Buys points with their fuel purchases.
For those customers earning Airpoints Dollars, the earn rate is APD $1 earned per 100 litres of fuel. For those earning Fly Buys points you'll earn one Fly Buys point for every 20 litres of fuel.
With the price of 91 petrol currently sitting around 219.9 cents per litre here in Wellington, you'll need to spend $219.90 to earn APD $1 which really is a rather poor earn rate for a loyalty program. With the average New Zealand motorist using just over 650 litres of petrol per year, it would mean a year of spend at Z or Caltex would deliver you around APD $6.50 in total (excluding bonus promotions).
For Fly Buys customers that same 650 litres would earn you 32 Fly Buys points, valuing each point at 16.6c each. You'd need 534 Fly Buys points to book a $89 Flight between Auckland and Wellington.
From the 1st August Pumped customers at Z and Caltex will also be able to "stack" their discounts for purchases over $40 - meaning that instead of offering an instant 6 cents per litre discount on that fuel purchase, the discount will be able to be accumulated and used on top of your next fuel purchase over $40.
This means on your next purchase you'll earn a 12 cents per litre discount - the 6 cents per litre you saved, plus the 6 cents per litre you would have earned on your second fill. For those customers who want to go to the effort of only putting $40 fills in, stacking discounts, and then waiting until your tank is fully empty and filling it right up, it does mean a slight extra saving.
With the retail price of fuel being inflated by BP, Mobil, Z and Caltex to cover 6 cents per litre instant discounts, you've got to be stupid not to use your Airpoints or Fly Buys card at a Z or Caltex site as this will save you around $2 - $3 instantly at the pump depending on the size of your tank. Just don't expect to be booking that overseas holiday anytime soon with the earn from your Airpoints or Fly Buys points!
