A couple of years back I used to monitor petrol stations near me to get cheaper petrol price. This has changed significantly since I learnt the art of finding the lowest prices and paying on a discount.
Read through till the end of the post. I guarantee that you will save anywhere between 9 to 30% on the price of petrol each time you fill the tank.
I got the right fuel price app to find cheapest petrol prices near me.
There are a couple of apps that I could use to find the cheapest petrol price near me. I found that petrol spy is the best of all of them. As it is used by most people and the data is most accurate.
They provide both ios and Andriod app, they also have a web version that shows a map with all the prices in your city.
The way the app works is that people who visit the petrol station, update the prices in the app. This information is used to show you the cheapest petrol price around you. This also implies that few people using the app means less frequently the prices are updated.
It is a free app, there is no membership or subscription cost associated with this app. The developers get their income from the advertisement below.
I am currently using this app for the past 2 years and have no issues. I think there are a lot of people who are using this app making it more reliable.
Finding the cheapest petrol price on a road trip
So when I was doing a road trip with my family, this app has saved me a lot of money.
The advantage of using this petrol app on a road trip or even on your regular gas fills is that you can plan as to where you want to fill the petrol or even skip filling petrol for a while.
One interesting fact that I want to share is that while travelling on the freeway, the prices of petrol on either side of the road are jacked up. I learnt not to fill my tank using petrol stations side of the road. But rather take the service road into the little towns for a cheaper price.
Update the prices as you move.
I have yet to income to a situation where the petrol price at the station doesn’t match the price in the app.
But if you come across this situation I would ask you to pass back the favour to other motorists by updating the new price.
Get a minimum 4% or even better 25% cheaper fuel price
I want to show you the power of using this app and how much you will save on your monthly gas bill.
While writing this blog post I have taken the screenshot from petrol spy.
As you can see there are a couple of petrol station around the highlighted area with cost per litre at $107.4.
This is 20 % cheaper than the expensive price in the area.
If I were not to have this app I wouldn’t be knowing my best price options in this area.
Even on the conservative calculations, I would say that you can save at least 4% of the price of petrol.
What I wouldn’t recommend is to go out of your way to chase the price. It might not be worth the time and the additional fuel cost.
Its guaranteed 9% less price if you…
Apart from finding the cheaper petrol price, you can also save further 5% based on the way you chose to pay the money.
I have learnt to harvest the benefit of using Gift cards to save money.
First I also filter down the petrol stations based on the gift card I want to use. I never pay to my fuel with cash or credit card, and use smart spending app to buy my Woolworths or coles express gift cards, these come at a 5% discounted rate.
I personally haven’t used cashrewards.com.au but their website is also offering a similar deal.
If you have 2 cars and filling the tank twice that a guaranteed saving of $50 per month.
If you are in a location like a price map I showed above or planning your travel effectively, then your savings on petrol itself will be $120 per month.
That is a whopping $1440 per year.
Further Cheaper prices for nerds
If you are prepared to be nerdy and want to get an even cheaper price then read further.
What you have seen till now is finding cheaper price and paying it at a discount.
Petrol prices go through cycles of ups and downs. I will show you to predict price movements and plan your fills at the low end of the price cycle.
Fuel prices are made up of…
Australia has the fourth-lowest petrol price among developed OECD members. So if you look at the composition of the retail petrol price in Australia. It is, the International price (50%) + Taxes (38%) + Other costs and margins (12%).
There is nothing any of us can do with Taxes and Margins. The only lever you have is the international price movement.
Most of our petrol is not produced, it is imported. The largest trading centre in our region is Singapore. So petrol prices in Australia are linked to Singapore Morgan 95 price. Inturn Morgan 95 price is dependent on international crude oil.
Other factors influence the price as well, like the crude Brent or Tapis and our Australian dollar rate etc. For the purpose of this article, they are irrelevant.
If you are interested to know more about the factors influencing the petrol price, then you can check ACCC’s publication on this.
You need to have the ability to be able to read charts, to understand this. So, go to tradingview.com and search for SINGAPORE MORGAN 95 UNLEADED. This will show you a list of all the futures that are available for a specific month.
Usually, you have 10 days lead time before international prices are reflected back in Australia. You might have seen that prices tend to go up sharply and then ease back for the next few days. If you follow these local prices with international future trends, you will get a hang of this eventually.
Closing Thoughts
I know this is a very technical talk and most of you might not follow, but even if you just follow the two sections of finding cheap petrol price and paying it using a gift card, it will save you a significant amount.
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