How to find the best-priced petrol

25th Oct 2011

Drew Patchell

16 comments

The dramatic rise in fuel prices in the last ten years has caused many Australians to re-examine the way in which they go about purchasing fuel for their car. Drew explains which days are the cheapest and how to find the best-priced petrol in your area.

According to the NRMA and MotorMouth websites, historically, the cheapest day for petrol is Tuesday or Wednesday. While this may have been the case in the past, this is not necessarily true now or into the future. According to the ACCC, there is no one day of the week which is the cheapest. There is a clear price cycle as pictured below in a 30-day graph. As you can see, the price cycle involves a steady decrease over 7-8 days and then a sharp price increase.

Mynrma.com.au
The MyNRMA petrol price search tool allows you to search for the best priced fuel in any area of Australia. You can also choose by brand and fuel type.

Carsguide.com.au
The Carsguide.com.au tool allows you to track fuel prices all over Australia and to search every petrol station within five kilometres of your postcode for the cheapest fuel price.

Motormouth.com.au
Motormouth.com.au allows you to search by your postcode, your street address or your suburb. This mean you can either refine or expand the search parameters to give you a better chance of finding the right price for your petrol finding needs.

The subject of finding petrol has become a bit of a dogfight, with accusations of collusion amongst petrol stations rife, prices consistently climbing at holiday seasons and the ever-present threat that we may in fact run out of this non-renewable resource, driving the price higher. It makes sense that you use any advantage you can to save a few dollars at the pump.

What seems to have flown under the radar and no one seems to be able to adequately explain it apart from motherhood statements, is the sudden and dramatic rise in LPG prices, from just above 60 cents a litre to around a little under 90, a 45% increase over 2 months. Around 10% of cars are LPG powered, and while petrol/diesel users would not have much sympathy due to the lower cost of LPG to their fuel, it does come with lower power and higher fuel consumption along with a reduction in usable boot space which are offsets. When there were similar increases in petrol prices due to wars which were quite explainable, there were almost riots on the streets from petrol/diesel users.
I've complained to the ACCC as has the RACV, but the inaction and excuses there makes one think there's some hand in glove.
Something really smells rotten.

pate
13th Apr 2012
5:09pm

I feel sorry for Col as I know what Port Macquarie prices are like & they seem to always be dearer than up the road a bit like Kempsey or Macksville. I do my shopping at Woolies and always present my card there to get a discount off my petrol If I happen to go to Coffs Harbour I find iot is often cheaper there because Cole4s discounts are there too.

jarraby
13th Apr 2012
5:51pm

The Carsguide website isn't showing the Motormouth prices any more, so your article is out of date. Both Motormouth and NRMA only do capital cities, so no use to me at my postcode. Was disappointed to have wasted my time.

grahami2006
14th Apr 2012
7:39am

Also none of the sites make mention of regional Australia. Maybe someone needs to understand that there are people who live in other places other than metro areas.

Davey
14th Apr 2012
7:01am

I use my Coles Mastercard for everything that I buy and pay it off each fortnight.
Discount at Shell is 8c but still much cheaper than Caltex which is always overpriced.
Look on the bright side....the more that fuel goes up the less busy the roads and all the unlicenced riff raff stay home.

debera
14th Apr 2012
8:05am

Hi Drew
Both NRMA and Motormouth didn't have any data on my work and home postcodes on the NSW Central Coast, and Carsguide no longer does petrol comparisons - fyi

Min
14th Apr 2012
10:48am

I have noticed petrol is always dearer on highways eg: to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts than at my local station off the highway. IGA will also give you 10c per litre off your groceries one day a the week. You have to show your litres docket from the Service Station after purchase. There should be a law preventing them to put it up on School and Public Holidays. I have been told price of oil per barrel has not changed in 3 years.

Bluebell
15th Apr 2012
5:39pm

Bundygil, you are right. LPG vehicles are not as cheap to run as some would believe. They don't go as far as a car on petrol. It also takes awhile to recoup the cost of have a LPG system installed too. I know somebody who put one in and it was not cheap. He is a motor mechanic and went to a course and got accreditation to install and service vehicles at his place of employment. Here comes the but !!! If he fitted it to his own car himself it invalidated part of the warranty. Not happy Jan !!!! He now runs his own Motor vehicle transport business. His gripe is that often diesel is more expensive than petrol yet less refined. They get a small Govt. rebate which was increased but then the Govt. put the other charges up more than the rebate increase they gave them, so the transport companies actually got less - very hard on a 1 or 2 truck family owned business. In fact they are selling one truck as it just isn't viable. We are paying more for groceries and other items to cover the cost of freight. We discovered a few years ago that some of the small country service stations in Vic. were cheaper than some of the large ones in SA. We also discovered that a small one in Tailem Bend which is south of Murray Bridge in the Murraylands area of SA was cheaper than the big ones. What is more the small one still had driveway service - and gave good advice that we needed. At the moment there is no set "cheap" day in Adelaide, and it is jumping up to 15c a litre in one go.

Bluebell
15th Apr 2012
5:47pm

I know this isn't petrol, but a good tip for travellers on holidays who stop for meals in country towns. The transport drivers know where good meals are available. if you see a few trucks there, it is worth the short wait to have a good meal. If the food isn't good the trucks won't go there - not in any numbers anyway. If the quality drops word soon gets around. I know of a service station in a SA Murraylands town that had a good reputation and even built a really large truck park at the back of it. Food quality dropped and it is very rare that a truckie ever uses it. Some owned or franchised by a large Supermarket chain are involved. I can't name them for legal reasons. Unfortunately people will have to work it out for themselves.

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Tags: Petrol, Fuel, Diesel, Unleaded, Best-priced, cheapest, inexpensive, stations, Australia, save money, search

How to find the best-priced petrol

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