How to Find Cheaper Fuel Near You
The cheapest station within a few miles of you is typically 8p to 12p a litre cheaper than the dearest. On a 55-litre fill that is around £5.50, every time. You do not need to drive further to get it - in most towns the cheapest forecourt is one you already pass. The trick is knowing which one before you set off, because you cannot tell from the outside.
What the price gap near you is actually worth
Across the 7,986 forecourts we track, petrol ranges from 132.9p to 239.9p. Most of that range is geography - the Isles of Scilly will never match a Costco. The number that matters to you is the spread within your own area, and that is usually 8p to 12p.
| Tank | Per fill | Fortnightly filler, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 40 litres (small hatchback) | £4.00 | £104 |
| 55 litres (family car) | £5.50 | £143 |
| 70 litres (large estate or SUV) | £7.00 | £182 |
Five things that actually work
1. Check before you leave, not at the pump
Once you are on the forecourt you have already decided. Search your postcode on findpetrol and you will see live prices for every station near you, sorted cheapest first.
2. Know which brands run cheap in your area
Supermarkets average 159.1p against 162.1p for the oil majors - a 3.0p difference nationally. That is real but modest, and it is an average: a well-priced Esso will beat a poorly-priced Asda. Our brand price table shows where each chain currently sits.
3. Avoid filling up on the motorway
Motorway services average 171.4p for petrol against 160.9p everywhere else - a 10.5p premium, or about £5.78 on a 55-litre fill. Coming off at a junction and returning is usually worth it if a cheaper station is within a couple of miles.
4. Fill up properly when you find a good price
If you are near a cheap forecourt with a half-empty tank, fill it. Splitting your fuel across several small top-ups at whatever station is convenient is how the saving gets lost.
5. Do not chase a bargain across town
A car doing 40mpg burns roughly 18p of fuel per mile at current prices. Driving six miles out of your way to save 4p a litre on a 50-litre fill saves £2 and costs you about £1.08 in fuel plus twenty minutes. The saving has to be local to be a saving. Our fuel cost calculator will do the arithmetic for your car.
What the gap is worth where you live
The prize for getting this right is not a rounding error. We measure the gap between the cheapest and dearest petrol in every UK town with four or more priced stations - 526 of them - and the average spread is 10.9p a litre. In the widest tenth of towns it exceeds 25p, and 28 towns currently show a 30p-plus gap.
| Conservatism | Per litre saved | Per year (26 fills of 50L) |
|---|---|---|
| Cautious: beat the town average | 5p | £65.00 |
| Typical: cheapest vs dearest in an average town | 10.9p | £141.70 |
Notice that the cautious line alone - taking the cheap end of the middle of your town's range, twenty-six times a year - is worth more than most fuel-saving gadgets claim. The mechanics behind your town's spread, and why some towns diverge by 30p, are explained in our hyper-local pricing guide.
What does not work
Filling up early in the morning because "fuel is denser when cold" - the temperature difference in an underground tank is negligible and the effect is far smaller than a 1p price difference. Nor is there a reliable "cheapest day of the week"; individual forecourts reprice on their own schedules, not a national one.
Loyalty schemes are worth having but rarely worth a detour. A typical supermarket points scheme returns well under 1p per litre in value.
Frequently asked questions
How much can I realistically save a year?
A fortnightly filler with a 55-litre tank who consistently uses a station 10p cheaper saves about £143 a year. Doing that only sometimes, which is realistic, still puts it comfortably in the tens of pounds.
Is supermarket fuel lower quality?
No. All road fuel sold in the UK must meet the same BS EN 228 standard for petrol and BS EN 590 for diesel. Premium grades contain additional detergent additives, but standard supermarket fuel is not inferior to standard branded fuel.
Should I use premium petrol?
For most cars, no. Super petrol costs meaningfully more per litre and delivers no benefit in an engine not designed for it. A small number of performance engines specify higher octane - check the manual rather than the marketing.
How current are the prices on this site?
They come from the CMA's open fuel price scheme, which requires retailers to publish price changes, and we refresh throughout the day. Individual forecourts update at their own pace, so treat a price as accurate to within a few hours.
Why is the cheapest station not always the nearest?
Because pricing is local, not radial. A station two miles away in a competitive retail park can undercut the one on your corner by several pence, and the average town's spread is 10.9p. Distance is not the variable; what surrounds the station is.
Find the cheapest fuel near you
Compare live petrol and diesel prices at every forecourt in your area.
More fuel guides
See all of our fuel saving guides.