What do you get when you buy a mobile fuel delivery business?

Mobile fuelling means a truck comes to the customer, whether that is a construction site, a fleet yard, a farm or a generator that needs topping up. It differs from home heating, where the customer is a household on a seasonal cycle. Here the customers are businesses with schedules and purchasing rules of their own, so the sale is built around contracts and the equipment that serves them.

What the purchase usually covers

Expect customer contracts and the fuelling schedules that go with them, plus trucks, pumps and meters. A supply arrangement with a wholesale source is central, since the business cannot run without fuel to sell. The sale may also include dispatch software, delivery and billing records, and the drivers. Ask the seller for a clear list of what is included, truck by truck and contract by contract.

What may not transfer

Whether contracts need the customer’s consent before they pass to a buyer depends on their terms. A supply arrangement may be personal to the seller. Software licences, driver certificates and insurance policies may not move automatically either. Ask your lawyer to review each of these and tell you which need approval from someone else. Our guide to selling a fuel delivery company shows what sellers are told to prepare.

Questions to ask the seller

• Which customers are under written contracts, and which order as needed?
• Which customers account for most of the business?
• Are the trucks and meters maintained and inspected on a schedule?
• Is the supply arrangement written, and does it carry over?

Rules for handling and transporting fuel stay with the regulator, so ask them and your lawyer what applies. Our due diligence guide for fuel delivery companies lists the records to request, and the page on how a fuel delivery company makes its money explains the income side.