Cheap Petrol & Diesel Cut your fuel spend by a third
Updated
7 Jun
The Money Team
The Money Team consists of Dan, Alana, Wendy and Sunny, and they have worked together to write and update this guide. Martin oversees the process with this guide.
The Consumer Team
The Consumer Team consists of Archna, Jenny, Rose and Becca, and they have worked together to write and update this guide.
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It's possible to cut your annual petrol/diesel bill by a third, saving £100s. Yet most fuel costs go in tax as a deliberate result of Govt. environmental and anti-congestion policies, so it takes more than finding the cheapest forecourt.
It's about pain-free, speedy ways to make your car and driving more efficient, and making sure you pay the right way.
Of course, the trite answer to cutting petrol bills is to use your car less, walk more or take public transport, and of course that
benefits the environment too. Yet even if you need to do the same mileage, you can hugely slash your costs and get there at the same time.
MSE Challenge: The 2011 petrol diet!
Once you've read the steps below, why not try the 2011 petrol diet? No, we don't advocate swigging the stuff - it's a new challenge on the MSE forum, where MoneySavers share tips to help cut their annual fuel spend, track savings, and inspire others.
The forum's proven to be hugely powerful in the past, seeing people work together to get debt free, pay off mortgages and more. It's free to join in, and open to all - see the 2011 Petrol Diet Forum Discussion.
Step 1: Make your car more efficient
You could see big improvements by making minor tweaks to your vehicle. Thanks to the RAC for help with the efficiency improvement data.
Keep your tyres inflated. Efficiency Improvement: Up to 3%
Lower tyre pressure increases the drag on a car meaning you need more fuel, so regularly check the pressures are correct and your car needs less oomph to keep it moving.
Declutter your car.
Efficiency Improvement: Up to 2%
The lighter your car is, the less effort it needs to accelerate. Therefore, by decluttering, clearing out junk from the boot, and not carrying unnecessary weight, you can make extra savings.
Take your roof rack off.
Efficiency Improvement: Up to 2%
A roof rack, even unused, adds massive wind resistance to a car, increasing drag and making the engine work harder. So if you don't need it, take it and anything else that's inefficient off. Even closing the windows'll make the car run slightly more efficiently.
Turn off the air con.
Efficiency Improvement: Up to 8%
Air conditioning also uses an incredible amount of fuel, so make sure it's turned off unless you really need it. However, if it's really hot, it can become a more effective proposition - driving with the windows closed is more economical than having them all open, due to the extra drag it causes.
Also, don’t keep the engine running; drive off as soon as you start up and switch off the engine as soon as you reach your destination.
However, if you’re not using it, it's worth turning it on once in a while as not using it can mean it stops working.
Don't fill it up. Efficiency Improvement: Up to 1%
Fuel is heavy, so by filling the car up you're adding quite a weight. The less fuel your car has in it, the more efficiently it drives. Thus filling up slightly more often and putting less in (to 1/2 or 3/4 full) will make the car run more efficiently.
Step 2: Drive more efficiently
It's possible to drive the same distance in the same time, yet use considerably less fuel, to chop up to 60% OFF your fuel costs without cutting your top speed. It’s simply about driving more smoothly to boost your fuel efficiency.
Accelerate gradually without over-revving.
Speed up smoothly; when you press harder on the pedal more fuel flows, but you could get to the same speed using much less power – a good rule is to stay under 3,000 revs.
Drive in the correct gear.
Always drive in the highest gear possible without labouring the engine.
Slow naturally.
Rather than brake all the time, let your car slow naturally and use its stored momentum.
Think about road position.
To do all this takes road awareness, so the more alert you are, the better you can plan ahead and move gradually.
In many ways this all comes down to one little rule of thumb ...
Every time you put your foot on the accelerator, remember the harder you press, the more fuel you spend.
Just being conscious of this, and your road position, should massively increase how far you can drive on a tank of petrol. It's estimated someone who averages 35 miles per gallon, or mpg (in old money) could reach 40 mpg by driving better, a near 15% saving.
The real world impact - Martin's story
On an overseas holiday I got to test this thanks to a sexy little digital display in my hire car, which gave me a km/litre readout. For every trip, I drove normally on the way there and used the ‘think when pressing the pedal’ method above on the way back ...
And if you’re thinking 'did he really bother while on holiday?' - yes I did, and I loved it; luckily my girfriend (now wife) is very understanding!
The improvement is enormous!
Overall I drove about 500 miles and the different ‘efficiency’ averages per litre of petrol were incredible: for normal driving, it was 11.2 kilometres per litre, but for efficiency-conscious driving, a remarkable 13.4 kilometres per litre.
Most intriguingly, the efficient driving didn’t cost me any time at all, and on motorways my top speed didn’t change. Others drove harder only to brake harder at the next traffic light ...
- Martin
For someone spending roughly £50 a week on fuel, an equivalent 20% efficiency increase would save around £500 a year. And, according to the RAC, boy racers could expect annual efficient driving gains of up to 60 per cent!
The easiest way to find the cheapest forecourt in your area for petrol, diesel and LPG (and more) is by using the free website PetrolPrices.
After registering, enter your postcode and tell it how far you’re willing to travel (2, 5, 10 or 20 miles) and it’ll list today’s cheapest petrol stations in your area for unleaded, diesel, LPG and other fuels. A quick check before you need to fill up should be enough to save you serious cash.
60p (46%)
42p (33%)
21p (17%)
5p (4%)
Note: Based on average unleaded price & percentage data from PetrolPrices.com as of 11 Jan 11.
VAT is 20% of all the other costs.
In January 2011, for a sample postcode the average unleaded price was 129p/litre, the highest price was 136p and the cheapest price 124p.
This type of variance is typical regardless of the actual numbers.
While the difference is only pennies, in percentage terms that means about 10% cost cutting could be possible, so for someone who fills up £50 a week it's a reduction of well over £200 a year.
We've worked with PetrolPrices to build a quick tool to show you the target cheapest price you should be aiming for. Then to find the specific prices it shows, you'll need to sign up, for free, via its site.
Find your target price
The easiest way to cut the price you pay is to use this quick tool to find the target cheapest price you should be paying in your local area. Just enter your postcode and click submit.
Grab supermarket petrol promotions
Supermarkets commonly run petrol promotions, and as they're usually cheap for fuel anyway, utilising these schemes means you can save. Usually these take the form of "spend £50 and get a 5p off/litre voucher" deals. The best of these promotions are always included in the free weekly MoneySaving e-mail.
Current Offers:
Co-op 5p/litre off fuel
Starting Wed 3 Aug, spend £30 or more on groceries at selected Co-op stores to get a voucher valid for 5p/litre off petrol, diesel and LPG at its forecourts. Vouchers are scheduled to be given out until Wed 31 Aug, and redeemable until Tue 6 Sept.
Key Ts & Cs: Earn vouchers at 669 Co-op food stores. It has 3,000 in total but Co-op says these 669 are all close to its petrol stations. Spend them at all 221 Co-op petrol stations. See the Co-op fuel offer link for list of participating stores. One coupon per transaction, subject to availability.
Tesco up to 15p/litre off fuel
There are now several ways to get a 5p/litre off petrol, diesel or LPG voucher at Tesco with selected items. You can use up to three vouchers from any of the following to get 15p/litre off in one transaction:
5p/litre off when you buy selected items. Get 5p/litre off vouchers when you buy specific items, including Coca Cola 24 pack and Finish All in 1 (28s) while stocks last. Find the full list of items on the Tesco* website.
5p/litre off when you buy two or more inkjet cartridges. Excludes Epson ink cartridges.
Vouchers are scheduled to be given out until Sun 14 Aug, and are valid for two weeks from date of issue. Do note, as each 5p coupon would only save £2.50 on 50 litres of petrol it isn't worth buying these items just for the discount, though it's a handy bonus if you'd pick them up anyway.
Key Ts & Cs: Valid at participating Tesco superstores, Metros & online. Up to 4 vouchers can be issued in a single transaction. Full terms on Tesco website.
Use loyalty schemes
Buying petrol is a regular outlay, and you spend more on it in a year than you think (eg, £30 a week is £1,500 a year!) As many petrol stations (including the supermarket ones) run some form of loyalty scheme, it's worth signing up to schemes for the forecourts you'll use most regularly to get a little bit extra back.
However, never choose a petrol station just for its loyalty scheme, as the difference is small compared to petrol price variance (also see the Increase Your Loyalty Stash guide)
What about the Pipeline card?
In earlier incarnations of this guide I included mention of the Pipeline card, which aimed to get 100,000 people together and then said it could pull off a discount card for up to 5p/litre off petrol; it seemed worth a punt and cost nothing.
Using the power of the MoneySavingExpert.com weekly e-mail that happened quite quickly; yet sadly Pipeline never delivered, and still doesn't look like doing so. Now it's taken a turn for the worse, tending to send emails to the distribution list for its own commercial purposes. As it's never delivered, steer clear and take yourself off the distribution list.
Always fill up at least fifty miles before your tank's dry.
This way there’s no panic and you’ve enough time to get to a cheaper petrol station. Leave it longer and you’ll fill up at ‘the next one I see’, and that means you're not focused on the fuel price.
Of course this is slightly offset by the fact that a lighter car uses less fuel, but with 50 miles of fuel left, the difference is minuscule.
Only use ‘better fuel’ if your car can cope.
Many petrol stations sell ‘high performance fuels’, yet there’s little or no performance difference for most non-performance cars - so only fill up with the super-fuels if you've a sports car that you've been specifically advised will actually utilise the petrol correctly.
Fill up at night..?
Talk of filling up at night getting you more is a slight urban myth, as the differences are miniscule, pennies at best. Petrol pumps are calibrated by volume, so fill up at night when it’s cold and you get a tiny tiny extra bit.
Don't try to put more in after the clunk.
While filling up to full isn't great as it adds weight to the car (see make your car more efficient above), if you must, don't keep going after the petrol nozzle 'clunks', because you're overfilling.
Step 4: Get cashback
Buying fuel is the biggest single regular expenditure that most people make by plastic or cash. This means there are opportunities to increase the saving by the way you pay.
Pay with a cashback/fuel credit card
Cashback cards pay you back each time you spend on the card, but always remember the golden rule.
Set up a direct debit to repay the card in full each month, so you never pay interest, which would outstrip any gain.
Each time you spend on one you could get up to 5% of your outlay back, which quickly adds up. It's also worth noting that if you got the Asda credit card between July '06 and October '08, you get 1p per litre discount on petrol bought at Asda - so if you got one at that time it's worth keeping hold of it.
MBNA AmexPetrol & supermarket 1.5% cashback
Cashback: 1.5% on supermkt/petrol, 0.75% on everything else (or 1.25% & 0.5% with the Visa)
Paid out: Once a year in January
Max cashback/year: N/A
Annual fee: N/A
Min spend: N/A
Rate: 18.9% representative APR (see Official APR Examples)
Card issuer: Amex or Visa
Min income: N/A
The MBNA Amex* pays 1.5% cashback at all major petrol stations and supermarkets, eg, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose & Ocado, plus 0.75% cashback elsewhere. For £300/week family spending, half on fuel & food, that's £175/year cashback. If you don't fully repay, it's 18.9%
representative
APR.
As some smaller retailers don't accept Amex, alternatively MBNA Visa* pays 1.25% cashback on supermarket/fuel and 0.5% elsewhere. For £300/week family spending, half on fuel & food, that's £137/year cashback. If you don't fully repay, it's 18.9%
representative
APR.
AA Members only3% petrol cashback, 0.5% on everything else
Cashback: 3% petrol, 0.5% on everything else
Paid out: Reward points added straight away
Max cashback/year: Spend up to £2k on petrol
Annual fee: N/A
Min spend: N/A
Rate: 19.9% representative APR (see Official APR Examples)
Card issuer: Visa
Min income: N/A
Existing AA Breakdown or Loyalty Club Members can apply for the AA Rewards Plus credit card which gives 3% cashback on all petrol purchases for up to £2,000 worth of spending. After this and for all other purchases on the card you'll earn 0.5%.
The rewards come as AA points, which can be turned into cash, gift vouchers or spent on AA products, though clearly cash is the most popular option. It's a good card for big petrol spenders who are AA members, but if not you can get Breakdown Cover much cheaper.
AA has said there's only 2,000 cards available as it's a trial. If you're unsuccessful you may get offered a less rewarding card which only gives 0.5% cashback (1% for members), which is easily beatable, see the Cashback Cards guide. Repay in full each month as it's 19.9%
representative
APR.
Amex Platinum5% cashback on EVERYTHING for 3 months
Cashback: 3mths 5% (max £100) | 0.5% to £3.5k | 1% to £3.5k-7.5k | 1.25% above £7.5k
Paid out: On card anniversary
Max cashback/year: N/A
Annual Fee: N/A
Min spend: £3,000
Rate: 0% for 6 mths, then 19.9% representative APR (see Official APR Examples)
Card issuer: Amex
Min income: £30k household salary
Restrictions: £20 dormancy fee if no spend
For one-off big purchases, Amex Platinum* gives a huge 5% cashback for the first three months on ALL spending up to £2,000. After that, cashback's tiered up to 1.25%, so it only beats MBNA for big spenders or low food/fuel spenders.
It's 0% interest on spending for six months though, but 19.9%
representative
APR after and requires a £30k household income.
Full daily-updated info see the Amex Platinum section in the guide: Top Cashback Cards
An easy way to cut petrol costs is to drive less! One option is to share lifts to work with friends. There are a few sites that connect people doing the same journey.
Liftshare. Simply register your details on Liftshare (it's said it doesn't use your details for marketing purposes) and enter the journey you'd like to share.
You can then check its map for matching commuters, plus you get emailed once a month (more if you want) alerting you to new matches. The site's been going since 1998 and has over 400,000 people registered so in cities you have a fairly good chance of getting a match.
Liftshare reckons an every day commuter sharing a journey can save around £800/year.
Rideshare. Here, Rideshare lets you view possible matches before registering your details, then if you find a match you can register to get in touch.
It has 1.4 million registered users across Europe, not just the UK, and is better for longer one-off trips rather than every-day commutes.
It also allows you to only travel with people 'authenticated' so their ID has been checked and proven, for extra safety.
Anything to watch for?
Be safe.
Both sites store details securely but when it comes to travelling it's important to be vigilant. Arrange to meet for the first time in a public place, let friends/relatives know what you're doing and check their ID to ensure they are who they say they are.
Taking passengers shouldn't affect insurance.
If you're giving a lift to someone and asking for a contribution towards petrol costs, the Association of British Insurers says, provided there's no element of profit then your car insurance is unlikely to be affected.
However to be completely sure, check with your provider first. Liftshare has a good template letter you can use.
Successes by following the 5-step system
I doubled my fuel economy!
Over the last 2 years I have almost doubled my fuel economy, without changing vehicles.
1. I drive much more smoothly and don't overtake other car users just to get one or two places further along in a big queue.
2. I leave for work a little later and return home a little later- as a result I no longer spend 30 mins plus on a 4 mile crawl through stop/start traffic on a 26 mile (each way) commute into and out of the city of Aberdeen.
My blood pressure is also lower!
MoneySaver 'Caleypine'
20 extra miles per tank!
Results I've got from trying to drive more fuel-efficiently. Most of this has been city driving:
Previously, 33-35ltr gave me around 215 mile
Driving more carefully increased this to around 235 miles.
Turning engine off at lights increased my mileage to 293 miles
MoneySaver 'Krishna'
How much can you save?
The savings from following the four-step system can be huge. For someone who drives 15,000 miles a year averaging 35 miles per gallon (12.4 km/litre), just buying petrol at the average UK cost is £2,490. By following all four steps the reduction could be over 20%, cutting the bill by £540 a year.
To work out the initial approximate cost of running your car, Directgov has a fuel consumption search tool (it's best for new cars) which will help you to work out roughly how much it'll cost you to run your car.
Fuel Cost Cutting (as at January 2011)
Annual Mileage
Average annual cost (1)
Increase efficiency by 5%
Increase efficiency by 20%
Plus reduce fuel cost by 5% (2)
Plus get 1.5% cashback
Total Saving
5,000 miles
£830
£790
£690
£655
£645
£185
15,000 miles
£2,490
£2,370
£2,075
£1,970
£1,940
£550
30,000 miles
£4,985
£4,745
£4,150
£3,945
£3,890
£1,095
(1) Cost at 35 miles per gallon (12.4 km/litre) at 128p/litre. (2) After increasing efficiency by 20%, fuel 122p/litre.
Representative APR
Where credit cards or loans use a representative APR, this means that 51% of successful applicants will be given the stated interest rate.
Credit Cards
With credit cards, the rate for purchases (as opposed to balance transfers or cash withdrawals) is used as the main rate to advertise the card.
So if that is described as 19.9% representative APR, then 51% of people accepted will get 19.9% APR, but 49% will get a different rate (likely to be higher).
Personal Loans
Loans are slightly simpler as they only have one rate. So if a loan is advertised as being 7.5% representative APR, this means 51% of accepted applicants will get 7.5%, and 49% will get a different rate (likely to be higher).
Of course, some people will be rejected outright for the card or loan too.
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Keep your tyres inflated. 
Accelerate gradually without over-revving. 
Always fill up at least fifty miles before your tank's dry.
