Price of gas sky-high, but fuel delivery company plans to expand in Vancouver

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – From food to pot, you can get pretty much anything delivered these days, so why not gas?

An American company is doing just that and about to eliminate the need to fill up at the pump ever again.

Even high fuel prices around Metro Vancouver don’t seem to be much of an obstacle for Filld Inc., which has a fleet of “highly constructed and designed” Ford F-250s and Chevy Silverados.

“[They] have a very safe what we call fuel rig in the back of it,” explains company CEO Michael Buhr. “It’s not what people think of a typical fuel truck. These are very highly constructed and highly designed by us for the delivery of fuel into a residential neighbourhood.”

Buhr says they’re all certified by both the U.S. and Canadian departments of transport, and adds the company ensures each of its operators follows safety regulations required in each of the cities it delivers in.

Filld Inc. has been up and running for a couple of years now, and operates in five different markets across North America, including Seattle, Portland, the Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and Vancouver.

So how much does it cost? $4 per delivery, on top of the fuel cost.

“From a customer’s perspective, it’s actually really, really simple. You go to filld.com, you register, and then you literally just answer a text that we send to you that says ‘Do you need gas tonight?’ If you respond ‘yes’, then we’ll literally for $4 fill all of your vehicles that are parked in front of your house, or your driveway, or your work for that $4 fee so that when you wake up in the morning or go get your car at work, you have a full tank of gas.”

Buhr adds the customer doesn’t even need to be there — they just need to make sure their car’s gas flap is open.

Even though Metro Vancouver has some of the highest pump prices around, Buhr says people still need to drive.

“If you have a vehicle and you need to get to your job, or you need to get to work or you need to go pick up your kids from school, within reason, the gas price is kind of irrelevant of whether you’re going to go or not,” he tells NEWS 1130. “That’s just the truth of how we’ve seen gas prices over the last decade. As they go up and down, it doesn’t change peoples’ travel behaviour as much as people think.”

The company has already been taking care of the Car2Go fleet across the region as it gets ready to add expand and add personal and business vehicles.

Buhr says he’s seen people with various types of vehicles sign up for the service, and adds it’s not just limited to high-end cars.

He believes, within reason, that convenience trumps price.

“And people getting their time back. I’d rather spend 20 or 30 minutes more at home in the morning with my kids before I need to get in the car and head off to work. If I can get just that 20, 30 minutes back by not going to the gas station, it actually means a lot.”

If all goes according to plan, people around Vancouver should be able to get a delivery starting next month.