New refuelling tactic?

therivierakid

I suspect that with the frequency of price rises of petrol and diesel that most of us may well be (slightly) better off refuelling as soon as the tank falls below 75%. Has anyone done any calculations here? Obviously if you're using a tank of fuel in a matter of days this won't make any difference to your fuel bill which will already be astronomical.

My local Morrison's - usually the cheapest - has increased prices at least 3 times in the last ten days (it's now 129.9 for a litre of diesel) and I really regret not filling up when it was 126.9 and previously 124.9. OK, it's not going to be a massive saving but my pound is probably going to buy a lot less tomorrow than it will today.

Furthermore, I wonder now if it is optimal at certain times to buy fuel if you're passing somewhere... and you know it's not quite the cheapest in the area. Let's say you're driving home and you pass Petrol Station A and you know it's usually (but not always) a penny or two more expensive than Petrol Station B. Petrol Station B is not on your way home but you know you will pass it the day after. Given the high probability of a price rise (which could or could not make it more expensive than A is today) is it not best to buy from A?

Just an idea. Any thoughts?

tomstickland

it's not going to be a massive saving but my pound is probably going to buy a lot less tomorrow than it will today.

Not a "lot" less, just a bit.

The cheapest way would be to stockpile now. Filling more regularly would be the next step, but you'd have to calculate the extra cost of having a tank that's on average 87.5% full rather than 50% full. not much difference I'd have thought.
With the two station conundrum you could work out the average rise per day and add that the current price at station B and then compare with the current price at station A.

It's not worth getting involved in that level of effort IMO. You'd be better off driving with economy in mind and saving 10%.

vikingaero

If your tank is half full or more then the savings could be outweighed by the cost of the fuel you use in coming to a stop, restarting the engine, queuing to get back onto the road when you could have just breezed past at a fuel efficient rate.

jaydeeuk1

Plus the extra weight in petrol you are carrying around... If you have a old diesel car, the 'vegetable oil trick' seems to be the best way around the high prices!

scbk

Just fill up when you need to, at the cheapest station available