THE RAC has switched fuelcard suppliers for most of its 2,200-strong fleet to the diesel bunkering Keyfuels system. Bunkering allows a fleet to pre-purchase volumes of diesel and deposit them into the refuelling network.

Drivers then withdraw the diesel from any participating filling stations, and the fleet pays only the bulk pre-purchase price of the fuel, regardless of the pump price. The benefits of bunkering diminished during the oil companies' 'pump wars', when the retail price of diesel at some filling stations was cheaper than wholesale prices, but a price differential of between 4-5p per litre in favour of bunkered fuel has now returned.