It Pays To Watch - Save £2,400 on fuel

PetrolSavingExpert

Just watched the programme “It Pays To Watch EXTRA” on channel Five.

Martin said you can save £2,400 a year if you shop around for fuel. Having been in the fuel trade for 10 years I don’t understand where he gets this figure from.

Based on:
An individual who fills up 40 litres per week
52 weeks in a year
4p difference in fuel between the highest and cheapest petrol station – (In my area this is excessive 2p is realistic)

Calculation

0.04 pence * 40 Litres = £1.60 you pay extra per week
£1.60 * 52 weeks = £83.20 per year


I think 2p is realistic in my area so I will do a calculation for this as well.
0.02 pence * 40 Litres = £0.80 you pay extra per week
£0.80 * 52 weeks = £41.60 per year

So now you have to think is it worth it going to the cheapest petrol station to save them pennies. It may cost you more to travel. Some people only fill up 10 / 20 Litres at a time so it will cost more to travel to the petrol station.

Also there are other factors to consider like the quality of the fuel, e.g Total claim there fuel can give you an extra 30miles per tank full or they will refund the difference.

So my conclusion is if the petrol station locally is a couple of pennies more expensive, it’s probably not worth it travelling to the cheapest.

If I have misunderstood guys let me know. Big difference between £2,400 and my calculations.

Poppycat

also Op mentions it here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=788127

PetrolSavingExpert

Poppycat wrote: »

also Op mentions it here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=788127

I can’t move the post so i reposted it in the correct section.

Poppycat

I missed the program and have to agree with you that its more likely to be around 2p or less per litre, 40 litre per week is a lot of fuel, I doubt that's average driver uses.

There is one garage near us that sells petrol £1.12 per litre, rarely does business on a main road, local supermarket is £1.05, average is around £1.06 though, so only 1p saving at cheapest compared with non supermarket forecourts

You also have to take into account the driving, fine if you live close to cheapest garage, not so good if its 3-4 miles away

PetrolSavingExpert

Poppycat wrote: »

I missed the program and have to agree with you that its more likely to be around 2p or less per litre, 40 litre per week is a lot of fuel, I doubt that's average driver uses.

There is one garage near us that sells petrol £1.12 per litre, rarely does business on a main road, local supermarket is £1.05, average is around £1.06 though, so only 1p saving at cheapest compared with non supermarket forecourts

You also have to take into account the driving, fine if you live close to cheapest garage, not so good if its 3-4 miles away

Lol, 40 litres is just an example just to prove my point.

MSE_Martin

Actually I said save £120 a year on a £1,200 a year fuel bill. By looking at the cost of petrol they were buying compared to the cheapest petrol station in their area (see petrolprices.com) and driving changes this is easily possible see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheaper-fuel

The £2,400 was all my cursory combined pain-free savings

maritn

Poppycat

I realise that. Still based on your figures and when I live you seem correct, so be interested to hear how they come up with them figures assuming it was on program as I never watched it, and channel 5 dont seem to support series link on my pvr (humax 9200) so I tend to forget recording it

Poppycat

Oh I see, I agree if you can drive carefully, read the road, not accelerate etc, then yes you could save a tidy packet. I do all these things anyhow but always looking at ways to save more money ie the mse way of course

I see that article says "when the average price within a 5 mile radius was 100.9p" is that recent article. I dont as thats a big difference to where I live, £1.05 being cheapest average is £1.06, most is £1.12

I normally use Sainsburys so I use the Nectar card

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Actually I said save £120 a year on a £1,200 a year fuel bill. By looking at the cost of petrol they were buying compared to the cheapest petrol station in their area (see petrolprices.com) and driving changes this is easily possible see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheaper-fuel

The £2,400 was all my cursory combined pain-free savings

maritn

MSE_Martin

Never sniff at even just a 5p discount; of course if you need to drive 20 miles for it then its not going to help - but if its in the course of your daily travel then 5% - lets effectively call it 5% makes a difference

For someone filling up a £50 tank weekly. It is a £2,500 annual spend of which 5% saves £125 over the year.

Martin

(we're going to do petrol in detail later in the series - today I was just running though - at speed savings this family can make)

Poppycat

Also keep car maintained regularly, correct tyre pressure etc helps fuel economy. It all helps and also a big safety aspect to that.

PetrolSavingExpert

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Actually I said save £120 a year on a £1,200 a year fuel bill. By looking at the cost of petrol they were buying compared to the cheapest petrol station in their area (see petrolprices.com) and driving changes this is easily possible see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheaper-fuel

The £2,400 was all my cursory combined pain-free savings

maritn

Thanks for making that clear Maritn, I just wanted to make the point that going to the cheap petrol station isn’t really worth it most of the time.

I hate the cheap supermarket petrol stations, why because:
1. Cheap diluted petrol, which damages cars oxygen sensors – that’s why I am lead to believe they are so cheap.
2. I hate that fact that the supermarkets are trying to gain more and more power so they can dominate and then charge what they want.