Controlling your Petrol Spending.

Wouldn't it be nice, if we have a pre-paid concept for petrol/diesel for our cars? We can allocate ourselves RMx amount of money each month, and just like a mobile top-up, learn to control our petrol usage so that we can't overspend.


Well, we do have something like that. Sort of. Petronas' SmartPay seem to offer exactly that until they shut down the website for maintenance. There's no mention on when they're opening back. Valid only for Petronas, it seems to be the only one of its kind, offering a pre-paid system for gas.

I like this service. It can:

a) Make us more aware of how much we spend on petrol each month.
b) Avoid overspending - the limit, much like a mobile topup, you'll have that, 'nah, I can't use it all up today, I need it for the rest of the week/month' mentality.
c) Parents who let their children drive - it's a good way to control how much they spend on petrol, as well as driving too fast. You see, if you give just enough, they're less likely to speed, as that uses up more petrol. Likewise, you don't have to worry about giving them more money than they should have, which could be spent on anything. 'Anything' in italics because you know how young people are like.

There's probably a few more benefits that I can't think of right now, but the thing is, well, it's not good dwelling on it too much since the service isn't even offered at the time being.

Click on the picture to see how SmartPay works, anyway.