Drastic monthly changes in fuel prices in South Africa leave a mark in 2022, many consumers do not remember.
Spend less
In a year when petrol and diesel prices hit record highs above R26 per liter in some cases, the hopping nature of smaller increases and decreases has resulted in not only strained monthly petrol bills, but also higher food prices and less spending. over the festive season for some.
Although the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced a welcome reprieve for January by reducing R2.06 per liter for petrol and between R2.08 and R2.68 per liter for diesel, the majority of South Africans are still reeling and searching. every possible opportunity to reduce the fuel bill by even the slightest.
Due to the state of the country’s public transport sector and the price of hailing services, a larger percentage of the country’s population still depends on their own transport to get around, which has an impact on the cost of fuel.
What is myTank?
This, along with the often confusing explanations of fuel stations’ rewards program, promoted the creation of a new smartphone app whose inventor claims “helps users find the best value when filling up the car”.
Available since the end of last year, the app, myTank, has become very popular with claimed downloads to date of 50 000 and unique 200 000 location searches.
Read also: Fuel price figures confirmed by the department positive start for 2023
Downloadable for free for any of these devices, the application not only calculates the cost of driving to each registered fuel station, but also the exact nature of the loyalty program of each facility, its facilities such as restaurants, real pump prices, ATMs and even opening. – shedding schedule, plus the ability to provide and accurately read how much it will cost to fill up based on the size of the tank and the type of vehicle fuel.
Citing the detailed explanation of the various station rewards programs as one of the main successes of the app, creator Rob Gardner said that the associated success is the app’s ability to “do the thinking while telling you where to go” for the best prices.
“MyTank was created to combine all of this, along with info about what each fuel station has on site like restaurants, play areas, etc. content and offer at least some form of value/savings to everyone who uses the app ,” Gardner said The Warga.
“The principle of the application is to provide value to all users, whether through finding the best rewards program, better diesel prices or finding the amenities they are looking for on their trip”.
Benefits and challenges
Speaking about the benefits of the application for users and the station, Gardner said, “With myTank, fuel stations can control the list if they want to display prices, facilities and display promotions, etc., while some other applications rely on crowdsourced data.
“There are pros and cons to both approaches – in the end I feel that smaller and curated results controlled by site owners who know they offer good value give better results than thousands of inaccurate and unverified prices and details”.
Despite admitting the challenge has been won by convincing some of the big oil companies to list themselves in the app, Gardner said that the response of small companies has been the complete opposite, with them applying for independent retailers.
“In terms of fuel stations, there has been a very positive response and we have several offers in the pipeline that will bring more. I am working actively to get all the fuel brands on board to provide as much value as possible to users,” added Gardner.
Accurate from dead
He also allayed fears about the app’s accuracy, saying that various prices and loyalty programs come directly from gas stations or registered retailers.
“I wanted to rather have a small but accurate set of results from a potentially larger set of users updating prices which are not controlled and can easily be wrong,” he said.
“At first the app was filled with some crowdsourced prices just to get useful data. Now more and more gas stations are joining, the list clearly differentiates between updated and expired prices”.
He added, “ultimately the app will serve users best if the better sites join – many consumers don’t know these smaller brands and they usually offer big savings on solar”.
How to get?
As mentioned, myTank is compatible with Apple and Android devices and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.