Keeping up with fuel prices (and getting the best deal)

Number of children (I have plenty by the way) isn’t the only factor that could make a decision one of practicality/suitability over lifestyle. I could imagine that physical disability might be a factor for some people for example - towing capacity another, which could blur the lines of lifestyle choice for some depending on what was being towed. For me it’s the suitability of my vehicle for travelling on outback roads - tarmac or (often) not. There are certainly more efficient rides than my nearly 20 year old diesel Landcruiser - but it cost me 12k and servicing is a breeze - with the latest base model nudging 100k my fuel expenses are just fine with me …

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I should have hedged my statement with some weasel words like ‘most’. Easy to find an exception to an unequivocal statement. My error.

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If you’re interested in using an app to find the cheapest fuel in your area, you’ll be pleased to hear that we are currently revisiting our test of apps. I’ll be heading interstate next week to compare the prices shown by apps at a selection of servos in realtime.

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I stil use fuel check, its accurate and speedy to update so am happy with it.

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I assume you’re in NSW, Sue, but Tasmania now has their own Fuel Check, which appears to be a licensed clone of the NSW app.

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And it is great (the Tasmanian one). Fuel price reporting is mandated and we have found the app pricing to be exactly the same at the servo. It also highlights the cheapest petrol on the viewed map screen which is useful. It would be great if it could accept discounts on offer (such as 6c/L at United for RACT members and the supermarket vouchers). This could easily be included with a discount list selection within the apps and would enable one to personalise their own cheapest fuel location.

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I’m glad to hear that. The NSW one certainly works very well, but our testing budget won’t stretch as far as me travelling to Tassie.

I’m interested in your comment about offered discounts. 4c/litre or 5c/litre seem the common offers in NSW, from supermarkets and the NRMA. I have always found a cheaper overall option within a km or two of the discounted offerings though, and these days I just ignore them. e.g. our local Ampol offers the 5c discount for NRMA members, but their undiscounted price is 6c higher than the nearby 7-Eleven.

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In Tassie, United or Tas Petroleum generally have the cheapest fuels, as many of their service stations are unattended types (they are 24 hours per day) and don’t have the cost of a console operator or servo shop to maintain. Some of these are in remote locations or industrial/commercial areas.

RACT and United have a agreement for offering 6c/L off fuels. This often makes the discounted United cheaper than other nearby (or on route) offerings. Woolworths is also 6c/L off in Tassie because of the RACT/United deal (4c/L on the rewards card and an additional 2c/L on the shopping docket). As we don’t shop regularly at Coles, I am not sure if they also offer up to 6c/L off as well (I assume they do).

These discounts complicate using the app to find the cheapest fuels as United could be a few cents more expensive than its competitors, but becomes a few cents cheaper with the discount (likewise the supermarket offerings).

It would be great if the apps allowed standard member discounts to be included as an option - this would be extremely valuable in Tassie where the discounted fuels (often RACT/United) are cheaper than other offerings.

A bit of a shame as it would be a nice junket to get…I can do testing here if required.

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Please check locations as well as prices.
One app had me looking for a servo on an empty site about six blocks from where the servo actually was.

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Thanks for that suggestion. We don’t have the budget to test in every state and territory, and it is useful for us to hear from the experiences of everyday users of the apps. Looking at the data collected in the first test and the data from the second ( which is now being verified ), I have made 146 visits to petrol outlets ( or supposed outlets ).

There were no occurences of empty sites, but I do know of a couple of local sites ( within a few km of Marrickville ) where service stations have been removed since the first test, and these did not show up in the apps this time around.

I imagine that this issue is more likely to occur in states and territories that do not have a government price database, but these are now in the minority, and apps should not rely on crowd-sourced data if a government database is available.

I did encounter one app in Brisbane that reported an incorrect address for an outlet, but this was obvious as the outlet was close by to the reported address.

We hope to have the latest review online in the coming weeks.

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I noticed driving back just tonight i don’t use premium unleaded but one station was, selling it for 2.33 and others 1.89. Is that a rort or what such, a huge difference I know tje premium is expensive. Has anyone else noticed this.

I think so.

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If you are in Sydney, the difference is due to some stations being quicker than others to stop selling at “discounted” prices. The below map indicates difference of up to a 52 cents per litre in the price of unleaded 91 at various places.

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It happens all the time in Sydney. I regularly see differences of around 40 to 50c / litre for P98.

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Is it not considered price gauging. I remember stories where the, accc were putting the fuel retailers on warning unless itwas, regarding another issue. Unless it was when 4c fuel reduced via Coles or woolworths.

Another one to watch out for are servos no longer providing U91. The low cost choice is E10, with a significant increase to the next cheapest option U95. Per PetrolSpy 13cpl in this example.

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I have found that be it petrol spy, eg group (Ampol), or others they do not always reflect what a particular servo offers. For example my local Woolies EG Group Ampol supposedly does not have 98 but they have 98.

As for U91 vs E10 the US long replaced ‘91’ with E10 long ago. On that side it was pushed by the corn lobby. Do we even have a corn lobby? Probably within the overall food lobby? Since E10 is ‘sold’ to us as being more environmentally friendly it would not surprise if we endure a similar fate where U91 is phased out over time similarly to how leaded went.

I have seen numerous servos, mostly but not exclusively regional, that have one of 95 or 98, not both, and one that only offered diesel and 91. E10 is slowly becoming more common around here.

Bottom line is it can be worthwhile to check rather than accept whatever is on the web, that might be 100% on, or not, not that @mark_m hasn’t done that.

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I don’t believe so. We’ve been travelling the far north, of QLD of course. Home to endless fields of sugar cane. E10 was for obvious reasons more prominent in some localities.

I’d not be sharing too much to say we know the pumps in person. Up north there were several different brands with E10 and no U91.

Also in the mix:
As for BP fuels an alternate product description. :roll_eyes:

https://www.bp.com/en_au/australia/home/products-services/fuels/regular-fuels/unleaded-with-e10.html

Not E10 but?

bp Unleaded 91 with up to 10% renewable ethanol (‘E10’) is a blend of our Regular Unleaded 91 and between 9% and 10% ethanol. Blending the ethanol at this ratio increases the RON from 91 to 94.

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Reads like they are spinning it in the sense of being an extra value beneficial additive rather than being ‘ethanoling’ petrol down unless one reads the complete page.This last bit s precious.

At bp service stations offering this product, it’s sold as bp Unleaded 91 with up to 10 per cent renewable ethanol, and usually replaces our Regular Unleaded 91 grade. If your petrol vehicle cannot use E10 or if you are in any doubt and there is no Regular Unleaded 91 available, you should choose Premium Unleaded 95 or bp Ultimate Unleaded. For those customers, ka-ching!

Or put another way, not adding another bowser or diverting one to e10 no matter what…

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To put things in perspective I tend to compare to the year when petrol (leaded petrol) price went above Au$1.00 per imperial gallon - which happened in 1978 in Qld.

1 gallon = 4.54609 litres
$1.00 1978 equivalent to $5.81 in 2022 (using RBA’s inflation calculator web page)

… so equivalent price today would be $1.28 per litre

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