Topic: Buying petrol. Top tips to keep your fuel costs right down – all around Australia.
1) What day of the week should you buy your petrol?
Avoid Thursday or Friday – according to a study carried out by the University of New England, there wasn’t a single town or city in Australia where Thursday or Friday was a cheap day to fill up.
In nearly two-thirds of locations, the cheapest day to buy fuel was Tuesday.
Why Tuesday? Petrol prices change according to the fuel price cycle which is determined by the price of crude oil. This cycle has changed a lot over the past few years and it’s now less predictable than it was, but if you stick to Tuesdays as your buying day, you can’t really lose. If you want to know more about the best days to buy fuel in your state, check out the ACCC website where they give you the prices of unleaded petrol over the past two weeks so you can see the trends.
2) Price check
A site called Compare the Market gives you the prices for different types of fuel when you type in your suburb and postcode. Click on the View Price History tab and you’ll see how the prices have varied over the past month and you’ll see the best time for you to buy petrol.
Another site called MotorMouth compares the prices according to different types of fuel, the brand of fuel, your suburb – even your street!
3) Woolworths versus Coles rewards programs
- You can save 4 cents per litre on your petrol if you spend more than $30 at Woolworths – and this will add up to around $130 per year for an average petrol user. Just hand in your Woolworths receipt when you buy petrol at a Caltex/Woolworths/Safeways petrol station. Ask for a Woolworths Everyday Reward card and you can use this instead of your receipt and if you link your Woolworths Everday Rewards card to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account, you’ll earn points every time you buy petrol. This discount is not valid if using any petrol card.
- You can save 4 cents per litre on your petrol if you shop at Coles as well. Same thing – just hand in your Coles receipt when you buy your petrol at any Coles Express petrol station. This discount is not valid if using a petrol card. You also get 1 point for every $1 you spend at Coles on your flybuys card. Collect all your reward points and you can use them to buy from a whole range of retailers – check out these here.
4) Buying petrol by card
There’s one petrol card which gives you some good savings – and that’s the StarCard Debit card which charges you no fees and gives you some nice discounts. Take a look at these cards:
- StarCard Debit card – can be used at Caltex stations; no fees; save 2 cents per litre on regular petrol & 4 cents on premium.
- StarCard – can be used at Caltex stations; $3.95 monthly fee; save 2 cents per litre off petrol prices.
- Fleet card – can be used at Shell and Coles Express; $1.99 card fee per month.
- motorpass card – can be used at all major brands – 90% of petrol stations; first 6 months free then $5 monthly card fee, 1 cent per litre off petrol prices.
- BP Plus card – can be used at BP stations; $4.95 card fee per month.
- 7-Eleven Fuel card – can be used at 7-Eleven stations; 35 cents charged per use; can save up to 3 cents per litre on petrol prices.
