Czech automaker Skoda is rolling out its in-car digital fuel payment service to the six European countries already using its pre-payment parking app.
The automaker is already teamed up with Parkopedia to consumers to book parking spaces through its Pay to Park app which is now joined by its Pay to Fuel service in Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria and Switzerland. It promises to extend these two services to other European countries in the future.
The new service claims to speed up the refueling experience allowing drivers to settle their fuel bill through the Skoda vehicle’s infotainment system.
Service stations able to support Pay to Fuel are listed in the vehicle’s navigation system. After choosing one as a destination, the vehicle automatically recognizes the fuel station on arrival. The driver opens the app on the vehicle’s display, confirms the chosen station and enters the pump number. After filling up, the amount of fuel is confirmed on the infotainment display and payment processed via debit or credit card. The driver then receives a transaction notification on the vehicle screen and can pull away.
The service is available on all Skoda internal-combustion vehicles with Amundsen or Columbus infotainment systems and requires an active Skoda Connect account with the Remote Access feature enabled.
Markus Dohl, vice-president of sales and business development Europe at Parkopedia, says: “Drivers benefit from a seamless and secure payment process across all available services, accessed directly through the vehicle’s infotainment system, without having to leave the vehicle, use third-party mobile apps or re-enter payment details for each transaction.”
