Where should I fill up my car?

Jamie_in_London

Hello everyone,

We fill up with about 30 to 40 liters of unleaded every week for our commute to work. I've been filling up at the local Sainsbury's but was wondering today if I should be filling up elsewhere. On our route we go past a Shell, Texaco and Esso all selling petrol for the same price as Sainsbury's. There's also a BP just off our route, not sure what their price is though.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to which company would be best to use in terms of performance, economy, loyalty rewards and ethics (if such a thing can exist in the oil industry). We regularly shop at Sainsbury's so like to collect Nectar points but I'm open to trying anywhere else if we'll get money off our fuel or some other benefit that we'll actually use.

I hope other motorists in a similar situation might find this thread useful.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jamie_in_London

I've just checked and the Shell nearest to our house is selling petrol 2p cheaper than the Shell near work. It is 2 miles out of our way though and the roads there often get very busy. Would that be worth it or am I trying to be too much of a money saver?

Sandoval

Jamie_in_London wrote: »

Would that be worth it or am I trying to be too much of a money saver?

Waste of time.

luap2411

I fully expect to get shot down in flames here, but chew over the logic and see what you think.

Firstly if a petrol station takes you 4 miles out of your way (two there and two back), and assume you car can average 40mpg (might be generous round town, but lets use 40mpg for now). Lets also assume you pay £5.18 gallon (£1.15litre x 4.5 litres) for the cheaper fuel. You will have burnt 4 miles worth of fuel getting there and back which will have cost you £0.52 (£5.18/4 miles at 40mpg, so you would need to put in at least 26 litres (Cost of fuel making journey £0.52/£0.02 cost saving per litre), which is about £30 to break even, if you put £60 in you would save £0.52 ! Hardly worth the effort considering your time and hassle.

So if you stick £25 of fuel in your car and the local petrol station is 5p/litre more, and say the cost of the fuel was £1.20/litre, the actual additional cost of buying instead of at £1.15 would be just over a quid. Agree this is money worth being in your pocket, but hardly the mass hysteria it is made out to be. Me, I fill up at the local supermarket petrol station, I won't go out of my way to save a couple of pence, and if absolutely necessary will used the local franchised petrol station which is normally about 5p/litre more, annoys me, but consider the cost is not the end of the world.

forgotmyname

Collect nectar points? Worth more than the 2p saving?

Hintza

Jamie you just need to work smart. Our best station is 15 miles away (Shell) and we just try and judge it so we fill up when we pass.

All things being equal I would always choose a branded fuel over supermarket. But I will take the 5p off vouchers .

This might help:-

http://www.petrolprices.com/

dannymccann

Unless you've got a performance car that needs the 98RON super unleaded stuff, just fill up wherever is cheapest, it makes no difference whatsoever

10JH

Get a Shell card if you regularly fill up there.

The money-off vouchers they send you are pretty generous.

Jamie_in_London

10JH wrote: »

Get a Shell card if you regularly fill up there.

The money-off vouchers they send you are pretty generous.

I did get a Shell card as they were a bit cheaper than Sainsbury's at one time and ever so slightly more on the route but then Sainsbury's matched their price locally so I went back to Sainsbury's for the Nectar points. So, which is better in terms of rewards: Shell or Sainsbury's?

And does anyone have any info on the new Shell fuels that are meant to save you a litre per tank? Is it genuine or is it just another gimmick that's going to end up seizing up a load of people's engines like the stuff they tried to reinvent in the 80s? If it does work out to save you petrol maybe it would be worth filling up there.

Hintza

dannymccann wrote: »

Unless you've got a performance car that needs the 98RON super unleaded stuff, just fill up wherever is cheapest, it makes no difference whatsoever

Doesn't it?

patman99

Not sure if it is the same for petrol, but I get 7 mpg more using Shell than I do using Sainsburys (I sad enough to keep mileage records), and that is in a 1997 Astra estate.