Making the cost of motoring more manageable by saving pounds at the pump

Whether or not you’re driving your dream car, fuel prices are fast becoming the stuff of nightmares. We look at some of the popular fuel price finder apps in search of ways to help make the cost of motoring more manageable.

The price per barrel of crude oil shot up in the days after outbreak of war in Iran. Wholesale trade prices are now feeding down to the pump, making the per litre price of petrol and diesel several pence higher than before the war began. The UK government has been vocal about its ambition to minimise the impact on consumers and continues to promote the virtues of its own Fuel Finder service. For some months now, the government has been pressing fuel vendors for participation, having made it mandatory for vendors to notify the service when they update their prices on the forecourt.

Other fuel price comparison apps do exist, so whereas the government’s Fuel Finder UK app (https://fuel-finder.uk) has the advantage of showing all prices local to a postcode, other apps may be just a little easier to use, even if they don’t show all the prices in the area.  And, since price comparison services are part of an industry in their own right these days, it’s no surprise that famous brands such as GoCompare and Confused.com have leapt on the bandwagon. But do they really help save motorists money if they only show prices from a few local outlets?

Searcher beware

We found a huge disparity between the number of local vendors listed per postcode across different sites and apps. Go Compare, for example, listed 5 ‘cheapest’ sites, with the lowest price shown being 12 pence higher than the lowest local price on the Fuel Finder UK site. So, it makes you wonder, how many other sites claiming to show the cheapest pump prices local to a postcode are actually just promoting  brands, rather than helping cost-conscious consumers.

We compared diesel prices for a local postcode across several sites and here’s what we found for the 10 mile range. The results are not easy to compare due to the different formats each app or website uses to present the results, so buckle up for a quick ride through the findings.

Fuel finder UK: Cheapest 138,9p at 7.2.9 miles away; 5^th cheapest 153.9p 7.8 miles away.

Gocompare.com:  Cheapest 154.9p at 6.3 miles away; 5^th cheapest, 159.9p at 4.45 miles away.

Petrolprices.com: Cheapest 153.9 at 5.27 miles away; 5^th cheapest, 154.9 at 7.7 miles away.

MyRAC: 43.9p – 149.9p over 6 miles away.

Allstar: Cheapest 159.9p, highest 164.4p

The myRAC app gave only a few options, all of which were over 6 miles away ranging from 143.9p – 149.9p. My RAC app takes its data from Allstar, which is known for providing fuelcards, business payments and EV charging as well as offering a roadside assistance service like RAC itself.

Allstar’s website fuel price checking tool shows both petrol and diesel prices for a postcode, and is sorted by distance. This is great if you’re just looking to find fuel close by but is unhelpful if price is your main consideration.

It came up with a range of 159.9p to 164.4p, only showing the closest five sites in the 10-mile radius. Their app shows the sites on a map, but as with everything except the government’s fuel finder app, it’s not comparing the whole market, just from a selection of fuel outlets, so it can’t tell you the absolute cheapest price.

Fuelmap.co.uk gives results based on your location at the time, not on a postcode you input, but the range seemed to be 154.9p to 164.9p within an approximate 10-mile range. This means, you can’t sit at home and research prices near a destination if you’re planning a journey, but if you’re looking to fuel up soon, it will give you a number of options, albeit not necessarily the cheapest or nearest.

Fleet News

Whilst not a service that lets you find the closest and cheapest for a postcode, the website does show prices for each region in the UK. The lowest for diesel on the day we searched was 131.25p in Belfast and 155.40 in Dumfriesshire, making a difference of 24.15 per litre.

Why does this matter?

We’ve learned from the onset of the war in Ukraine, when Russian oil was sanctioned, that price volatility can remain for quite some time.  As this is probably only the start of another period of fuel price hikes, it’s likely that as the prices at the pump go up further, we’ll all start to feel the additional costs and will be looking for value at the pump as well as the convenience of somewhere local.

One more cost

Fuel is not the only thing to have gone up in price. Food price inflation over the last two years has also come as quite a shock. In the automotive sector, the cost of parts and labour has also risen by 50% in the last five years according to the OECD.

If you use your vehicle for work, whether commuting or in a field-based role, you’ll be filling up more than once per week, and the pence per mile you can claim back on expenses may not go up in line with rising prices.

Small businesses, contractors and those who need to be mobile to carry out their work: from taxi-drivers, to plumbers to nail technicians; will also feel a squeeze on profits by the rise in their overhead costs. And, when filling up a 73-litre diesel vehicle, itcould cost you £17.60 more at the most expensive petrol station, compared with the cheapest. So, if you’re filling up five or more times per week, using cheaper fuel vendors could save you up to £100 per week or £400 per month.

Conclusion

Although we all tend to know the cheaper places to fill up near our homes or workplaces, it’s on longer journeys that you’ll need to refill and that’s when a bit of planning can make a difference to your budget.

You’ll have to make up your own mind on the usability of the different services, but if you want a failsafe for finding the lowest cost fuel near where you’ll need to fill up, the Fuel Finder UK app and website does have the edge. It’s worth using it for a week or two to become familiar with it, because while it scores low on presentation and usability, it isn’t pushing its favourite fuel vendors to the top of the list – it’s simply giving you the juicy details so you can make an informed choice.

If you could save even £20 per week by using a fuel finder, you can afford to pay for £4 per week for a warranty on your vehicle that could protect you against the financial shock of a £2,000 repair bill.

For a 2023 Audi A6 Estate with 25,000 miles on the clock, you would pay around £9 per week for our Advantage policy and just over £16 for Superior: our absolute premium used car warranty.  And that’s just for a 12-month policy. Take out a warranty for three years and the costs come down, and, if you run a smaller vehicle, the amount you could save on fuel each week will more than cover the cost of a warranty that could pay out up to £2000 per claim if a mechanical or electrical component fails.

We’re here to keep you mobile and make the cost of motoring more manageable. Better budgeting translates into more confidence and less stress. That’s why we not only create warranties that really work for your vehicle but work for you when you need them. Fast, friendly service, quick payouts and collaboration with your chosen repairer make the problem go away faster.

For a quote on your used vehicle, call our team on 0345 222 4540.