Katina Vangopoulos, NT News, 6 October 2015
AUTOMOBILE Association of the NT (AANT) membership has dramatically increased since the introduction of a fuel-saving partnership with United Petroleum in May.
Since then, 500 new memberships a month have been processed, a 37 per cent increase on the same period from last year.
AANT CEO Byron Henderson said there had been an overwhelming response to the campaign so far
“We’re not only impressed with the increase in memberships, we’re happy with the effect the partnership has had on the fuel market,” he said.
“We’re seeing fuel prices at a much more competitive level.”
There have been more than 61,000 transactions at United since the mid-May partnership launch.
More than 8700 members have taken advantage of the deal, collectively saving $216,000 in that time with the average saving each visit sitting at $3.34.
Though AANT memberships across the Territory now total more than 21,000, Mr Henderson said that there were other factors leading to the steep increase.
“Though we have had members join because of the deal, we can’t put 100 per cent to just United,” he said.
“We’ve got a number of partnerships that members can take advantage of like Repco and Beaurepaires, and we’ve been a lot more active in the community this year.”
The drawcard of the AANT-United partnership for drivers was the opening promotion of an 8c/litre saving, and it is now at a 6c/litre saving when showing a registered card.
The AANT is on track to meeting its targeted savings goal of $500,000 in its first year.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission figures revealed for the June quarter that Darwin was the country’s cheapest capital city for fuel, and Katherine cheaper than any capital city.
The strong results have provided Mr Henderson a good start in his role as AANT’s first ever CEO, which he began in August to focus on leading the association’s 2015-20 strategic plan.
The AANT hopes to grow to 35,000 members in the next three years.
Extracted in full from the Daily Telegraph.
