In-Car Payments: Mobivia invests in CarPay-Diem

The open innovation unit CarStudio from Mobivia –European leader in car maintenance– officially announced their investment in the Luxembourg start-up CarPay-Diem at this year’s CES event. Together, they will be working on payment services for gas stations based on mobile and GPS technologies.

CarPay-Diem was founded in 2016, in Luxembourg, and developed an automated payment solution for fuel refills at gas stations. Their CarPay-Diem service drew Mobivia’s attention as it does not require that additional infrastructure should be rolled out, and can directly be implemented in existing mobile apps.

The vehicle’s location is identified at the gas station, and the app launches automatically so the driver can access the integrated CarPay-Diem feature. He specifies the pump's number to initiate his payment which is automatically settled through the app. His paperless receipt is also sent instantly.

CarPay-Diem lets the users pay by card (debit, credit or fuel cards). The service is compatible with more than 85,000 gas stations. This FinTech will be relying on a key partner through Mobivia’s incubator by way of rolling out their service EU-wide.

Comments – In-car payments taking off

According to a study conducted by Mobivia, European car drivers visit gas stations three times a month on average. This frequentation rate is significantly higher than the one observed for the group’s maintenance locations (Norauto and Midas), where customers only go once every 10 months. Their integration of CarPay-Diem allows them to propose an additional service and stay in touch with their customers.

This move confirms the interest paid by technological companies in dematerialised, in-car payment solutions. More players are entering this market, and more services have been unveiled. Jaguar and Shell, for instance, introduced a digital payment solution as early as in February 2017.

Yet, in-car payments do not only attract leading car manufacturers. The mapping service Here just announced a partnership with Mastercard on crafting a payment solution to be accessed from the car’s dashboard. These announcements are all the more important that self-driving connected cars could hit the market in the near future.