Motorists will face increasingly long queues at petrol stations unless fuel retailers install new payment technologies such as pay-at-pump systems, according to a new report by Datamonitor.

 

Alex Jeater, a retail analyst at Datamonitor, and author of the report ’Payment Behavior and Technologies in European Service Station Retail’, said: "While pay-at-pump technology is not new, fuel retailers should continue to roll it out across their networks.

 

"It undoubtedly has the ability to cut the time spent at the pumps, and will help each site serve more cars. Some fuel retailers could also look to take the technology one step further and invest in completely unmanned sites a common sight already in Scandinavia."

 

The report also reveals that although pay-at-pump facilities are only suitable for card payments, more people are opting to pay for their fuel on debit and credit cards rather than use cash. For example, in the UK, credit and debit card payments account for more than half of all fuel purchases a proportion that Datamonitor expects to increase. Therefore, according to Jeater, offering the ability to pay at the pump in more locations will prove popular with motorists.