Many service station owners in Australia are unfortunately familiar with fuel drive offs. A drive off occurs when a customer leaves your service station without payment. They get their fuel, but you don’t get your money.
While this is a problematic trend for service station owners, the sad fact of the matter is that most of these people don’t get prosecuted. In fact, most of the cases don’t even get investigated. The reason behind that is because police won’t investigate unless there is proof of criminal intent, or the ‘intent to steal.’
Means of Prevention
There are certain ways that you, as a service station owner, can prevent fuel drive-offs. A common practice in other countries is implementing the rule that motorists pay up-front for their petrol rather than after the fact, but some service station owners believe that this could take away from the shop aspect of their business.
Another way that loss will be prevented in the future is through electricity. As more and more drivers switch to electric cars, the number of fuel drive-offs will inevitably decrease.
Drive Off Alert
While there’s only so much that a service station owner can do to keep drive-offs from happening, Drive Off Alert is capable of much more.
Drive Off Alert is ServoPro’s partner for a reason, they help service stations save money by reducing drive offs. They offer a highly accurate and effective solution for petrol stations when it comes to preventing fuel drive-offs. They are designed and managed with over a decade of experience behind the console.
Drive Off Alert uses a variety of different tactics in order to prevent drive-offs. These tactics include:
ANPR System
The Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system takes video streams from cameras and recognises plate numbers in real time. From a screen at the POS, the console operator receives an alert if the vehicle is on its national repeat offenders database. It is now a go to option as overall cost is not only competitive but also reasonable from an operations & ROI point of view. Existing digital IP cameras can be used for this purpose and still be able to record normally to NVR to save further on costs
iPad App
A cost effective solution for service station owners where console operators are able to manually search a number plate in the app to see if the vehicle is on the repeat offenders database. There is no need for a camera system for this option, reducing setup costs.
Drive-Off Reporting
You can upload photos and videos of incidents to the network and share them with local police officers. Drive Off alert also provides a dashboard to Police officers to access incident data so they take evidence to nab as many repeat offenders as possible.
Failed to Pay Incidents
As we all understand Petrol retail can sometimes be very busy and your new staff can make mistakes of undercharging, overcharging or not charging at all for fuel but charged only for coffee. We are all humans, it happens. But with Drive Off alert you can raise an alert under FTP where you can register an incident to get alert on their next visit. And also not to mention Customers forgetting their valets. Drive Off Alert gives the break from typical retailer anxiety.
Incident Gallery
Keeping a gallery of the latest incidents in your area can help you notice repeat offenders and become familiar with suspicious cars and drivers.
ServoPro and Drive Off Alert
At ServoPro, Drive Off Alert is one of our most valued partners. Their service is integral to the fuel industry, as they keep theft to a minimum and allow service stations to operate efficiently.
For more information you can contact us or for more information on Drive Off Alert click here.