Fuel pre-purchasing and sharing system and associated methods

Abstract

A fuel pre-purchasing and sharing system (and associated methods) is disclosed herein. The system allows consumers to pre-purchase fuel at a pre-purchased price, and redeem pre-purchased fuel at a subsequent time regardless of the current price of fuel posted at the point of re-fueling. The pre-purchased price can be based on current fuel prices of fuel at one or more service stations that are near to a consumer at the time that the fuel is pre-purchased. Pre-purchased fuel of one or more grades of fuel can be held in a pre-purchased fuel tank. The pre-purchased fuel tank can be shared with other consumers such that the other consumers can redeem pre-purchased fuel held in the pre-purchased fuel tank.

I/We claim: 
     
         1 . A method implemented on a computing system for pre-purchasing fuel, comprising:
 searching for one or more service stations within a radius of a current location of a consumer;   retrieving current fuel prices of a fuel grade offered by the one or more service stations;   determining a pre-purchase fuel price of the fuel grade based at least in part on the retrieved current fuel prices;   presenting the pre-purchase fuel price to the consumer; and   receiving a request by the consumer to pre-purchase an amount of fuel of the fuel grade at the pre-purchase fuel price.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the pre-purchase fuel price includes determining a minimum of the retrieved current fuel prices, and wherein presenting the pre-purchase fuel price includes presenting the minimum of the retrieved current fuel prices. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining the current location of the consumer by determining a current location of a mobile or computing device of the consumer. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining the current location of the consumer by determining one or more service stations frequently used by the consumer, a zip code frequently visited by the consumer, a geographical region frequently visited by the consumer, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the requested amount of fuel is less than or equal to one or more maximums, wherein the one or more maximums include at least one maximum of the following:
 a maximum amount of pre-purchased fuel in volume per transaction;   a maximum amount of pre-purchased fuel in volume within a first period of time;   a maximum amount of pre-purchased fuel in dollars per transaction;   a maximum amount of pre-purchased fuel in dollars within a second period of time;   a maximum amount of requested fuel of the fuel grade equivalent to a maximum amount of fuel of the fuel grade per account less a current amount of fuel of the fuel grade in an account associated with the consumer; and/or   a maximum amount of requested fuel equivalent to a maximum amount of fuel of two of more fuel grades per account less a current amount of fuel of the two or more fuel grades in the account associated with the consumer, wherein the two or more fuel grades include the fuel grade.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 charging a payment account associated with the consumer; and   crediting the requested amount of fuel of the fuel grade in litres to an account associated with the consumer.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein searching for the one or more service stations includes searching for one or more service stations within the radius of the current location of the consumer that meet one or more search terms, and wherein the one or more search terms include a specific vendor, a specific brand, a type of service station, and/or a specific fuel grade offered for sale. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein no services stations are located within the radius, and wherein:
 searching for the one or more service stations includes searching for a next nearest service station to the current location of the consumer that offers the fuel grade;   retrieving current fuel prices of the fuel grade includes retrieving a current fuel price of the fuel grade from the next nearest service station; and   determining the pre-purchase fuel price of the fuel grade includes setting the pre-purchase fuel price at the current fuel price of the fuel grade at the next nearest service station.   
     
     
         9 . A computer-implemented method of redeeming pre-purchased fuel, comprising:
 receiving a request from a consumer to redeem pre-purchased fuel of a fuel grade from an account associated with the consumer, wherein the account holds a balance of pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade;   determining that the consumer is authorized to redeem pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade from the account; and   causing a fuel pump at a service station to be unlocked such that the consumer can redeem fuel from the fuel pump without having to pay a current price of fuel of the fuel grade at the service station;   receiving an indication that the consumer has redeemed an amount of fuel of the fuel grade from the fuel pump at the service station; and   decreasing the balance of the fuel grade in the account by the amount of redeemed fuel.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein receiving the request from the consumer to redeem pre-purchased fuel includes recognizing a vehicle identifier associated with the consumer at the fuel pump. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining that the consumer is authorized to redeem pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade from the account include determining that a code received from the consumer matches a fuel transaction code associated with the account. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising preauthorizing redemption of fuel from the account for a preauthorized amount of fuel of the fuel grade up to the balance of pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade, up to a maximum limit of fuel per transaction, and/or up to a lesser of the balance of pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade and the maximum limit of fuel per transaction, wherein:
 preauthorizing the redemption of fuel includes decreasing the balance of pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade in the account by the preauthorized amount of fuel; and   causing the fuel pump to be unlocked at the service station includes unlocking the fuel pump to dispense an amount of fuel up to the preauthorized amount of fuel.   
     
     
         13 . The method of claim of  12 , further comprising:
 determining a difference between the preauthorized amount of fuel and the redeemed amount of fuel reported in the indication; and   increasing the balance of pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade in the account by the difference.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising charging a payment account of the consumer an amount equivalent to a product of (a) a difference between the redeemed amount of fuel reported in the indication and the balance of pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade in the account before redemption and (b) the current price of fuel of the fuel grade at the service station. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 comparing a carrying cost of fuel of the fuel grade corresponding to the balance of fuel of the fuel grade to the current price of fuel of the fuel grade at the service station;   based on the comparison, notifying the consumer that the current price of fuel of the fuel grade at the service station is less than the carrying cost of fuel of the fuel grade in the account; and   prompting the consumer for approval to continue with redeeming pre-purchased fuel of the fuel grade from the account.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein comparing the carrying cost to the current price includes comparing (a) an average price at which fuel of the fuel grade corresponding to the balance of fuel of the fuel grade was pre-purchased to (b) the current price of fuel of the fuel grade at the service station. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein comparing the carrying cost to the current price includes comparing (a) a lowest price, a highest price, and/or each price at which fuel of the fuel grade corresponding to the balance of fuel of the fuel grade was pre-purchased to (b) the current price of fuel of the fuel grade at the service station. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 in response to the request from the consumer to redeem pre-purchased fuel of a fuel grade from an account associated with the consumer, generating a fuel redemption transaction code;   presenting the fuel redemption transaction code to the consumer;   receiving a code from the consumer via an electronic terminal at a point of redemption, via the fuel pump, and/or via a mobile phone of the consumer; and   determining whether the code received from the consumer matches the fuel redemption transaction code,   wherein causing the fuel pump at the service station to be unlocked includes unlocking the fuel pump at the service station only where the code received from the consumer matches the fuel redemption transaction code.