VARS Technology is the UK’s leading provider of forecourt protection, actively preventing thousands of drive-offs every year and recovering millions in stolen fuel costs for forecourt operators.
VARS Technology’s market-leading Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system provides the highest level of protection possible from the threat of drive offs. Protected from a blacklist of over 100,000 known problem vehicles, staff are provided with instant audio and visual alerts as soon as a blacklisted vehicle enters a forecourt. This allows staff to request payment in advance before a pump is authorised, preventing drive offs before they happen.
Leading independent forecourt operator Valli Forecourts uses VARS Technology to protect their estate of 16 filling stations. In 2024, alerts warning staff of blacklisted vehicles saved them an estimated £630,000 in drive off losses, based on their average drive off value of £47.
Our dedicated claims team work to recover money owed to forecourt operators due to drive off or no means of payment incidents. Every penny we recover goes straight back to our customers.
All VARS Technology customers are provided with the VARS tablet, allowing staff to quickly and easily submit new claims. This replaces the lengthy paperwork previously needed to pursue fuel debts via the DVLA, with VARS handling the entire process on behalf of customers, up to an including civil enforcement through our legal partner DCBL.
VARS Technology have recovered more than £14,000 for Exelby Services across four forecourts, achieving an overall recovery rate of 92.5%. Automatic blacklist alerts also save the business an estimated £97,000 annually by alerting staff to known problem vehicles before they have a chance to steal fuel.
Exelby services have blacklisted 330 vehicles themselves, but also enjoy protection from over 100,000 other vehicles blacklisted by other operators using the VARS Technology ANPR system.
Forecourts across the UK have seen an increase in No Means of Payment incidents. While many of these are genuine accidents, some drivers aware of the system use No Means of Payment to effectively force forecourts to provide them with a payday loan service. Others fill out No Means of Payment forms with no intention of ever paying for their fuel.
The VARS tablet allows No Means of Payment incidents to be logged quickly and easily, minimising disruption for staff and what can be an embarrassing incident for the customer. The driver is then provided with a payment link via text, allowing them to resolve the payment immediately. More than 90% of No Means of Payment incidents submitted to VARS are resolved within three days. If still unpaid after two weeks, incidents are escalated and treated the same as a drive off.
The VARS tablet device supplied to all ANPR and debt recovery customers comes loaded with a host of additional features at no extra cost. All of these are features that the VARS Technology development team created in-house following requests from forecourt operators for help solving specific problems. Many processes that previously required extensive paperwork have been digitised and streamlined via the VARS tablet, allowing staff to focus more of their time on providing high quality customer service.
These features include:
The VARS ANPR system can also be used to provide a boost to customer service, automatically flagging up to staff when regular customers that may need a little help filling up arrive on the site. Long-standing VARS customer Guy White at the Laurels Service Station has over 100 regulars using this service and even uses it to ensure their favourite coffee order can be taken out to them while they wait.
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