One year of fuel

In 2023, Engen ran a competition where 30 people won fuel for a year. Actually, those 30 lucky drivers won R35,000 worth of fuel, which got us thinking: How much do South Africans spend on fuel in a calendar year? ‍

To find the answer, we analysed spending at all the major fuel retailers, including Shell, Total Energies, BP, Astron, Engen and others, from March 2023 until March 2024, to see how much individuals spend in a year.

Here’s the good news. Despite the fact that the price of fuel seems to be on a never-ending upward trajectory, R35k is a very generous prize. Even when controlling for income, it’s the upper limit of an individual’s typical annual fuel spend.  

The bad news is how badly the poor are affected by the rising price of fuel. Fuel spend increases with income, as expected, but at a relatively slow rate. Consequently, the proportion of monthly income allocated to fuel falls much faster as incomes increases.

In other words, someone earning R10–15k per month spends R13,300 per annum on fuel. Someone earning R40–60k per month spends close to R25,000 per year on fuel, but because their income is 4x higher, the proportion of that income the higher earner spends on fuel is 60% less. Since lower-earning users spend a much greater share of their monthly income on fuel, the fixed rand increase affects them so much more.

On a more frivolous note, have you ever wondered whether it’s more expedient to fill up to a round number rand value, say R400, or to fill your tank to the click?

We have, and it seems that many others have, too.

It turns out that 40% of the more than 800,000 fuel transactions in this analysis are multiples of R50. Remember, we’re just tracking card transactions – the huge numbers of cash transactions (almost always round numbers) are not included.

So, what’s the most popular amount? Controlling for income and age, two amounts stand out. For younger, lower-income drivers, R200 is the most popular fixed amount. For older, higher-income drivers, R500 is the winning number.

There you have it. Random information, maybe, but empirically true.

And here’s a final thought: If most people are spending R15,000 per year on fuel, and a large majority are spending R200 each time, it’s no wonder forecourts are important locations for a combo offering of a grocery retailer and a quick-service restaurant chain.

On the flip side, if consumers were somehow incentivised to increase their average transaction value – vehicles have the tank capacity and consumers will use the fuel – would we need as many service stations?

Food for thought while you eat your next garage pie.

If you want to find out more about how Reveal’s unique data and analysis can help your business, send us a mail. We can track any aspect of consumer spending in real time, from fuel stops to coffee shops.