Sharetank helps family budget for fuel and beat fluctuating prices

Auckland driver Grant, who is in his mid-forties and lives on Auckland’s North Shore with his large family, beats fuel price bumps by using Sharetank. He also shares his account with his parents, to help them out.

Sharetank is part of the Z App, and allows customers to pre-purchase up to 1,000 litres of fuel (per grade – 91, 95 or Diesel), scanning every Z service station within 30kms of their current location to access the lowest pump price within that area. Customers can then redeem the fuel themselves or share it with their friends and whānau.

Grant uses Sharetank in conjunction with petrol price monitoring app Gaspy, locating the lowest local price for fuel and getting the best deal available to him.

He believes that Sharetank is a great way to budget for his fuel expenses and says it’s “great not to have to worry about fluctuating fuel prices”.

Grant is one of more than 21,000 active users of Sharetank. About 1,000 customers a day are topping up their Z Sharetank accounts as they beat price rises and seek out the cheapest local fuel.

The average redemption rate to top-up rate is 79.9%, which suggests customers tend to redeem their litres regularly while still leaving a small amount in reserve (almost like a rainy day fund).

This year, Sharetank had its largest ever week for redemptions, on the week commencing 6 March 2023. Its highest ever rate of tops-up came prior to the Ukraine war in 2022, and similar numbers were recorded on a “Bonus litre” day that same year.

Since he started using Sharetank in February 2020, Grant has purchased a total of 2784L of fuel through Sharetank, and has saved a total of $1497.52 for the Sharetank litres he has redeemed. This comes to an average savings per litre of 53.8 cents, which he attributes to "good buying and a bit of luck".

Grant considers Sharetank to be a “no lose” situation – if the price of fuel goes below what he paid for his Sharetank litres, then he waits until the price goes back up.