Retail fuel prices are a mystery – let’s clear things up for you

Ruckus buys fuel below retail and passes those savings on to its members. Where we can, Ruckus buys like a service station – on a wholesale formula. But, unlike service stations, Ruckus does not make a margin on the fuel it sells to members – the only thing we add is a cost to cover bank fees (about 1.5¢ per litre).

What you probably don’t know is that the retail fuel price in our big cities bears little resemblance to wholesale fuel prices. While retail prices move in cycles – sometimes jumping 40¢ or 50¢ in one go – wholesale prices tend to change more slowly over time. 

This means the amount you save as a Ruckus member will vary depending on how high (or low) retail prices are in your area at the time you fill. However, the Ruckus member price at times can be significantly cheaper than retail prices.

The Ruckus price is always good value on good quality fuel. It’s the retail prices that swing from very bad value to good value at different points in the fuel cycle. In some areas, you may even see other retail prices go below the wholesale price – some retailers do this to try to stay lower than their competitors, even when they go below cost. They are able to do this as their margins for prior weeks could have been really high.

Retail fuel prices in each area are different, so relative savings with Ruckus will vary over time and by area.

So what does that mean for you?

We don’t know what the future holds. But we get great feedback about our record. This year (1 Jan - 1 June), our average saving* was 16 cents/L. That equates to a monthly saving of $36 for a member filling up a car with a 50L tank once a week.

Still confused? Got questions?

*We calculate savings by comparing the Ruckus price at the time of each transaction with prices in the local area. For average savings by fill, we looked at the saving for each fill using the same methodology, then averaged the result. In each case, we exclude transactions where the amount purchased was less than 10L. We also exclude our promotional prices (e.g. 99 cent days). We average the results.