Fuel prices are finally falling a little, but they’re still through the roof, so anything that’ll make a difference is more than welcome
The cost of filling up your car can be eye-watering, and despite a bit of a fall recently, they’re generally on the up.
As with other rises in the cost of living, managing fuel price increases can feel out of your control. But there are ways to help you save at the pump and to drive more efficiently.
Here are some of the best ways to get cheaper fuel and get it to take you that extra mile.
Find the cheapest petrol near you
As a general rule, supermarkets tend to have the lowest prices, but these can vary massively from town to town, something that could be worth looking into if you’re travelling further afield anyway.
And when searching for a petrol station, don’t forget to look at both sides of the road. Petrol stations on opposite sides of the same road can sometimes have massive differences in price per litre — but remember that they’re competing, so the best-priced station will switch all the time.
There are also a couple of websites which compare the prices of petrol based on whatever postcode you enter. These can be handy if you know in advance you need to fill up, but they’re less useful if you’re driving!
RAC App
You don’t need to be a member of the RAC to access the petrol price feature on its app – though you will need to set up an account.
You’ll be able to see prices within two, five and 10 miles of any postcode.
You can also see trends, average prices and predictions on the RAC website.
PetrolPrices.com
You have to register to use this. By default, you’ll see results within five miles of the postcode you enter, but you can expand this as far as 20 miles. You can search on your desktop or any browser, but there’s also an app you can download to your phone.
You can see the last date each pump price was updated.
Waze
Waze is a navigation app that finds the quickest routes using data from other users. It also has a feature which shows petrol prices at your local petrol stations — some of these are crowdsourced, but it’s also updated by fuel retailers. We’ve noticed that the supermarkets seem to be updated directly by the retailer. You can see when the price was last updated and who by directly from the app.
Waze is free to download and is available for Apple and Android users.
Confused.com
This is a free service which covers 83% of petrol stations across the UK. You can expand your search to a 25-mile radius. You get 20 searches per week but have to log-in to Confused.com to see the full results.
Work out if it’s worth going out of your way to fill up
The flip side of locating cheaper petrol stations is that they could be some distance away. This means using more petrol to get there and back.
Most of the time it’s hardly worthwhile if it comes to saving a few pence per litre, but if you’re on a motorway where prices are through the roof, there’s more likely to be a larger price difference that could save you a lot.
Ideally, you should choose which station you visit as part of a planned journey, using the tools listed above.
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Save money by using less fuel
You might think you can’t change the efficiency of your car, but there are small things you can do to get you an extra few miles on a full tank of fuel. With most of these, it’s about reducing aerodynamic drag.
Make your car lighter
The heavier your car, the more petrol you’ll use. So get rid of anything in the boot that you don’t need, and take off things like roof racks if you’re not using them.
Don’t always fill up
Also, it can make sense to only half-fill your tank at the petrol station, as that extra weight makes a difference. Or put enough in so you can get to a location where you know pumps will be cheaper.
Though of course, if you’re going on a long motorway journey or going out into the sticks, both places where prices are much higher, it could be worth topping up. It also means you won’t run out if you can’t find a petrol station.
Switch off the aircon
The air conditioning can make driving a lot more pleasant on hotter days, but your car can use a lot of fuel pumping out that lovely, cool air.
But of course, an open window can create drag, which means you need to use more fuel, so you’ve got to balance it out. Halfords reckons you ought to keep the window open until you’re going 50mph — over this and you should shut the windows and turn on the aircon.
Change how you drive
You might not realise that the way you drive can change your fuel consumption. This includes how you brake and accelerate. If your car shows your fuel consumption as you drive, you can be surprised at the difference this can make. Check out this article from the RAC with some suggestions.
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Get points and cashback
There’s little point using a petrol station just because it offers points back, but if you are at a garage offering them then it makes sense to claim them.
The supermarkets have their own schemes. Esso uses Nectar, while BP has its own scheme, BPme.
If you already have a physical BPme card but don’t have a digital version yet, you can register for one online or through the BPme app and receive 500 points (worth £2.50) once you’re successfully signed up.
BPMe also offers reward prices exclusively for members (it works in a similar way to Nectar Prices and Clubcard Prices). So you can also save on selected M&S food, Wild Bean Cafe goods and retail store favourites.
It helps to download the apps so you’ve got them on your phone if you happen to visit one of their stations.
When you pay, use a cashback debit or credit card to earn a little back (at most 1%) on your spending.
Drive less.
Accelerate gently, conserve momentum by reading the road ahead and braking only as much as necessary.
Drive more slowly.
These will make much more difference than messing about trying to save 2/3 pence a litre.
I get 10% better Mpg than my wife, driving the same car on the same journey.
As you say, “how you drive” is far more important that saving a penny or 2 at the pump.
The confused.com prices seem hopelessly out of date. It’s better to use Waze, it shows you petrol prices in the area and gets updated more regularly
PetrolPrices.com is brilliant, but it really needs more people to sign up and report prices. In my area it often feels like there are only one or two of us reporting prices, so they’re often 4-5 days out of date, which is no good when prices are changing so rapidly. We all benefit from having this information available, so I’d encourage everyone who reads this to get actively involved.
It’s worth being aware also, that if you are using the self-service pumps at Sainsbury’s, you need to make sure you have at least £100 in your account for pre-authorisation.
I use Chase as an additional account so only transfer as much as I need each time. Completely forgot about this and couldn’t work out why my card kept getting declined when I knew there were funds in there!
At the end of the day what can the government do they a measly 5p off but from what I did see it went straight in to the garage forecourts till there must be vast profits being made by both oil company’s as well as on the forecourts as you see one garage selling for £1.79 a ltr then look across the road and another selling for £1.89 ltr so is the one selling at a loss or the other just ripping you off?