Save up to £226 a year when you fill up your car

MOTORISTS are being exploited by oil compani e s to t he t une o f £2 billion a year as a result of not receiving in full the benefit of lower wholesale petrol prices. But they can fight back by being eagle-eyed about where they buy their fuel.

Suppliers have failed to pass on almost £8 billion in cheaper petrol and diesel wholesale prices to customers in the past four years, according to action group FairFuelUK.

It calculates this has enabled the oil giants to pocket £208 extra in profit from every car driver since January 2015.

Yet shrewd detective work by motorists – finding the best value petrol station when filling up with fuel – will save them an average of £226 on petrol or £158 on diesel every year.

Supermarkets tend to offer the biggest savings – often hoping to lure motorists into their shops when they see competitive prices on their forecourts.

The biggest rip-offs, meanwhile, are committed at motorway service stations where there is no competition if you need to fill up.

Fortunately, it is not necessary to

drive around – and waste fuel – searching for the cheapest deal. Websites and smartphone apps, provided by fuel comparison services such as Petrol Prices and Simple Motoring, can do the legwork on your behalf.

The average cost of filling up a 55-litre family car with unleaded petrol now stands at £69.74 while for diesel vehicles it is £ 73.10, according to the latest data from the RAC motoring organisation. This is based on petrol priced at £1.267 a litre and diesel at £1.329.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams says: ‘There is no reason why you cannot slice at least 3p a litre off this figure by hunting down a better deal.

‘But in remote areas it may be necessary to accept paying extra for convenience. The cost of driving to a cheaper deal could easily be wiped out if you have to drive miles for any savings.’

For example, Kinlochewe filling station in the Highlands is one of the most remote petrol pumps in Britain, being 50 miles west of Inverness. Last week it was charging £1.339 a litre for petrol and £ 1.369 for diesel – a price that motorists may be willing to pay.

Kitty Bates, of Petrol Prices, says: ‘ Petrol pump prices vary massively. Motorists can easily save themselves £200 a year by finding a better value station near where they live or work. You may be surprised and discover petrol stations you never even knew existed that are close to where you are.’

Despite the greed of oil producers and petrol stations it is the taxman who takes the biggest share of the petrol fuel bill.

Of a litre of petrol priced at £1.267, nearly 46 per cent (57.95p) is accounted for by tax duty while 21.11p (17 per cent) goes on VAT. The cost of t he fuel i s 47.62p, making up 37 per cent of t he total. But the RAC points out that within this ‘ cost’ petrol stations might cream off perhaps 2p to 5p in profits.

Another way motorists can save money on their fuel bill is by being more cautious when they put their foot down on the accelerator. According to vehicle reviewer What Car?, motorists driving at 80mph use up to 25 per cent more fuel than those who are cruising along at 70mph.

Dramatic acceleration and sudden braking also make the car far more thirsty, as does not bothering to change gear until you have revved up the engine.

Air conditioning also adds to fuel costs, putting as much as 10 per cent on to the final bill. Also check that the tyres are fully inflated – this should make the car more fuelefficient and safer to drive.

A roof rack on the vehicle adds resistance to the car while unnecessary weight in the boot will slow down the car.

Tackle these problems and, again, you could find it shaves up to 10 per cent off your car fuel bill.