As the oil prices marches towards USD$70 a barrel, it is now costing around AUD$1.30 per litre for the regular unlead here in NSW. What can I do to cut my fuel cost?

Discount Dockets

Ever since the petrol price per litre approaches the 1 dollar mark, petrol stations and major chain supermarkets have teamed up together to provide fuel discount for their loyal customers. Woolies and Caltex came up with this discount idea first. Spend AUD$30 or more in either Woolies or Big W would grant you a docket that can save 4 cents per litre at the participating Woolworths or Caltex petrol stations (terms and conditions here). $30 is not difficult to achieve, if you are like me who only shopped for grocery once a week. However, finding a participating Caltex can be a challenge, as not every Caltex offers this discount. Around the area I live, only the Randwick one has the Woolies’ banner. Caltex’s Station Locator might be useful in this case.

Soon after Woolies/Caltex’s cooperation, Coles and Shell also came up with a similar promotion (terms and conditions here). There are relatively more places where you can spend your money, as ColesMyer simply has more retail chains, and there is also one Shell/Coles Express 200 metres down the road from my place.

And the promotion works. We started to shop more at Coles to get our fuel discount vouchers.

Then the credit card companies decided to join venture as well. ColesMyer’s Source Mastercard came up with this promotion — 8 cents per litre discount — if you are a new Source card holder and spent $30 or more at Coles with your Mastercard. However, there are catches if you read the terms and conditions.

• Only applies to new Source card applicants. We had our Source card for nearly 2 years so 8 cents/litre discount does not apply to us.
• Limited time only — maximum 8 vouchers in the first 3 months.
• Fuel Saver voucher will be mailed to you. So I cannot spend $30 in Coles in the morning, and claim 8 cents/litre discount in Shell/Coles Express later that afternoon.

Nevertheless, they will still send you those 2 cents/litre discount Fuel Savers voucher after the honeymoon period, which gives you a total 6 cents/litre — if you shop with their Source Mastercard. Not too bad I guess.

Then this week, Visa announced this week about their limited-time 8 cents/litre fuel discount promotion. Quoting the PR:

Participation is simple. There’s no filling out forms, applying for cards or waiting for vouchers. Currently when shoppers spend $30 or more at participating Woolworths or BIG W stores, they receive a fuel discount docket that entitles them to 4 cents off per litre at a Caltex Woolworths fuel outlet.

Basically you just need to present your usual 4 cents per litre discount voucher at the Caltex-Woolworths petrol station, AND pay with your Visa card — yes any Visa card — you will get a further 4 cents per litre off. However, this offer will only last until 25^th of September, but I won’t be surprised if Visa extends this offer.

That represents roughly 6.15% discount, if you are buying RON92 Unlead at $1.30 per litre! Moreover, if your Visa attracts other rewards, like NAB’s Visa Mini that I intended to get which offers a further 1% cash-back, a 60 litre tank, which would cost AUD$78.00 to fill up, now costs $74.47 instead.

Verdict? Use your credit card, and do not go to a petrol station without a discount voucher (unless it’s all the way to Empty :).

Update 18 September 2005: Coles/Shell now has a save 8 cents per litre promotion that does not require a Source Mastercard. However, you need to spend $100 in the supermarket, limited to NSW only, and only last until 25 September 2005.

Price Watch

The truth is — not all petrol stations have the same price, and fuel price goes up and down throughout the week in an orderly pattern.

Website like MotorMouth and NRMA Petrol Watch gives you a rough idea where you can hunt down cheap fuel around your area, and by browsing around you can also figure out which suburbs have the cheapest fuel. For example, I will always try to pump up the petrol if I am getting onto Parramatta Road, instead of pumping up when I return to the Eastern suburbs, as the saving can be quite substantial.

I also found that in the Sydney Eastern suburbs at least, Tuesday afternoon usually has the cheapest fuel price, and the difference between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning can be as much as 10 cents per litre from the same petrol station! There are many theories behind it, but I won’t go deep into that.

Conclusion? Timing and location — they matter.

Alternatives

I guess the alternative way of saving petrol is by driving less or buying a more fuel efficient car. Taking public transport over long distance might not always be feasible, and quite often “economical”, to everyone. However, there are places that your two feet or push-bike can easily take you to.

And I still don’t understand why Aussies love their 1,600+kg thirsty V8’s, when a much more economical 4 cylinder can also take them from A to B.. Probably because I don’t have the size, and I am doing mostly city driving. There are alternatives like turbo diesel or hybrid, which drinks much less fuel but at greater premium. They are however worth investigation if you spend a lot of time driving on the road.