"Cheap fuel"

[theeggman]

We had a reason to go into Tavistock today and found that Morrisons have a deal on. If you spend £60.00 you get a voucher for 15p/litre off of fuel.
We saved £8.14. It may not be nationwide but worth a phone call!
We visited the fish counter + drinks isle and made up the required level of purchases.
The base price of diesel was £140.9 which was cheaper than any local filling station - 15p = WHOOPEE!!

Sometimes we get it right!!

Tim

 

[region2]

It's nationwide - great deal as long as you have a Morrisons nearby...


R2

 

[VEG]

so you spent £60 to save yourself £8.14 ?

 

[The Cumbrian]

so you spent £60 to save yourself £8.14 ?

I assume that the £60 is money you would have spent (perhaps not in Morrison's) any way. So it isn't a case of spending £60 to save £8.18 Its doing your shopping in a particular place and saving £8.14

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I just shop locally and save the money I would have spent on fuel travelling further afield

 

[The Cumbrian]

I just shop locally and save the money I would have spent on fuel travelling further afield

To be admired and the way to go if possible. However for some of us getting to the shops puts us in a town with 6 supermarkets one being Morrisons so it is worth knowing.

 

[VEG]

I assume that the £60 is money you would have spent (perhaps not in Morrison's) any way. So it isn't a case of spending £60 to save £8.18 Its doing your shopping in a particular place and saving £8.14

I know but if you look at the post they went to the fish + drink counter to make up their purchases to £60. Its how the supermarkets work they make out you are getting a bargain but end up spending more.

 

[alanf]

As for all offers, ask yourself if you've actually gained. With fuel, the costs are extra travelling and if you would buy the goods anyway. What's your mental arithmetic like?

A while back it amazed me that work colleagues went to the same petrol pumps week after week without checking prices. On several possible routes that didn't increase the distance much I could pass 11 petrol stations. There was a difference of 5p per litre or more most trips, and although some were consistently at the cheaper or more expensive end, which one was cheapest varied day to day. Noting prices passed the time in traffi; what other entertainment is there?

At least it's not as bad as Australia. Although they do have cheaper prices overall due to lower taxes there are many suburban areas where the prices varied weekly. That is prices were lowest until midweek, raised Thursday or Friday when people were filling for a weekend trip, the back down on Sunday.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

?

A while back it amazed me that work colleagues went to the same petrol pumps week after week without checking prices.

I've signed up to:

http://PetrolPrices.com/

Get a report every week on the cheapest fuel near me.

Takes the anxiety out of thinking I've been ripped off by paying more than I need.

Mind you, my basic premise is that the world is full of conniving b*stards trying to separate me from as much of my hard-earned cash as they can. And supermarkets & banks are the worst. B*stards.

D

 

[The Cumbrian]

I've signed up to:

http://PetrolPrices.com/

Get a report every week on the cheapest fuel near me.

Takes the anxiety out of thinking I've been ripped off by paying more than I need.

Mind you, my basic premise is that the world is full of conniving b*stards trying to separate me from as much of my hard-earned cash as they can. And supermarkets & banks are the worst. B*stards.

D

In interesting idea but I am a little worried about its accuracy.

I just entered my post code and was told there were 2 stations within 5 miles.

The snag is one has been closed for at least 5 years. There is a house on the site now!

 

[AnotherNewBee]

I've signed up to:

http://************/

Thanks. Useful link.

Two garages near me, both charging the same price so no worries there (unless they're price-fixing).

 

[drstitson]

all well and good checking prices BUT only if you're going to do a decent sized fill and you don't have to go out of your way to get to the filling station.

by all means find which of your equally local stations is consistently the cheapest and stick with that.

remember a 10 mile round trip will soon negate a few p a litre saving for most vehicles with average sized tanks and average fuel consumption.

remember - the media driven frenzy for chasing the best savings rate (even going to trouble moving accounts for the sake of a 0.25% pa or less difference) which will have had very little actual benefit for average small savers led directly to the icelandic banking crisis of a few years back.

everything must be considered in the round.

 

[region2]

As a percentage one or two pence a litre makes little difference. The real way to make a saving is to buy a frugal car and drive efficiently. I get 45mpg from my diesel Golf (and it's a GT Sport) but that's easily beaten by less sporty models.

Back in 1971 petrol was 33p a gallon whereas a Mars Bar or a Daily Mail was 2p and a weekly wage was less than £20. And a Mk1 Escort achieved about 25mpg. 41 years later petrol represents good value when you compare it with those yardsticks!

R2

 

[AnotherNewBee]

all well and good checking prices BUT only if you're going to do a decent sized fill and you don't have to go out of your way to get to the filling station.

by all means find which of your equally local stations is consistently the cheapest and stick with that.

remember a 10 mile round trip will soon negate a few p a litre saving for most vehicles with average sized tanks and average fuel consumption.

My nearest Tesco (always a little cheaper than the two local garages) is 10 miles away. I don't often go there, so only fill up there when I do.

It's the same with food shopping. Some local people go to Tesco to buy a few bits and pieces a few pence cheaper than they could have bought them in the village shop. Wasted time, wasted money and wasted fuel. When the village shop is out of business, they'll be the people complaining that there is no shop in the village.

 

[theeggman]

A few points in response to the posts on this thread.
We had to either go Tavistock (approx 25 miles round trip) or Exeter (65 miles) for a specific item therefore not a special trip for fuel.
We only buy what we need and wherever it's makes economic sense, all of the purchases for the £60 were regular storecupboard items and most were also cheaper than we could get them in Oke.
Our car is a Fiat doblo and average m.p.g. on the trip was 58.9.

In Oke. we have 3 'supermarkets' none do fuel. Co-op, Waitsose + Lidl, a great choice!!
There are 4 garages near (all about 5-7 miles) and the price varies only by
1p. between them so it's not worth doing a special trip to any.

Tim

 

[AnotherNewBee]

No worries. I think we'd just descended into generalising. I really do know people near where I live who will spend a fiver to save a few pence. If only they'd realise what they're doing!

 

[For want of a better word]

In interesting idea but I am a little worried about its accuracy.

I just entered my post code and was told there were 2 stations within 5 miles.

The snag is one has been closed for at least 5 years. There is a house on the site now!

Which are closing down faster?
in last 5 years in a 3 x bee foraging area
Petrol stations 5
Pubs 11
Small corner shops.....?
and the high streets are looking somewhat empty..... BUT we do have a new TESCO !

 

[oliver90owner]

Mk1 Escort achieved about 25mpg.

Rubbish. My Mk I Escort returned over 30 mpg. Townies using it only to do the two mile round trip to the shops, or school, would get less.

Small diesels can double that figure (I get/got plus or minus sixty from my Saxo and from the late 205). The Fiat panda (two wheel drive) returns well over 60 in the hands of my daughter-in-law, who does not exactly have a 'light right foot'.

Your weekly wage was more than five years out of date, too, as I recall.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

My nearest Tesco (always a little cheaper than the two local garages) is 10 miles away. I don't often go there, so only fill up there when I do.

Our Tesco is four miles away - the local garage, slap bang in the middle of the village and Mr Hussein is always at least a penny a litre cheaper but people still drive past and go to Tesco. I don't know whether it's a blinkered fixation with 'the great god Tesco' or something else - there's always service with a smile at Saeed's and he is the only garage in the area that does business accounts so he gets my custom we fill the hunt vehicles there and we get red diesel for the kennel generator.

 

[alanf]

A few calculations. In round numbers I buy about 1000 litres of unleaded a year. Which is around 20 fills of 50 litres. If I save a penny a litre, that's ten quid in a year. But that's only going to take me 60 miles so at current prices my break even is around 3 miles per penny difference in price. If I pass the garage anyway, I gain but driving 3 miles for a penny or 6 miles for two and I'm not even covering the petrol, let alone tyres, brakes and other costs.

Similarly, if I double the fuel efficiency I save 650 quid. That's feasible but would need a smallish newish diesel. At list price that's going to cost me 18000 up front. And I will have take more care with hives and garden waste in the back, but that's just for my convenience. With fuel price difference for diesel I get my money back in over 30 years; two expected car lifetimes and way below any discounting for tying up the cash. Buying a replacement new car to get even a substantial fuel saving makes no economic sense for me at all.

The advertising for new cars stresses fuel efficiency and lower carbon. Only valid if the alternatives are all new and the price premium saves you money in the time you own the car. Otherwise, the real green and money efficient way to run a car is to extend the lifetime of the cars we are running now together with using them less. All the carbon invested in the iron, aluminium and plastics to build them has already been spent, make it last and use it only when there is no viable alternative. Any 'scrappage deal' and 'cash for clunkers' policy is about subsidising the car industry, thousands of cars were scrapped that had ten or more useful years in them, don't let anybody persuade you that the intentions were green.