Martin Lewis reveals top tips to find cheap petrol – including a nifty free tool

MONEY saving expert Martin Lewis has revealed the top ways you can find the cheapest petrol – and there’s a useful free tool.

The important tips come amid rocketing fuel prices at the pumps as well as well as soaring gas and electric bills in a cost of living crisis.

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Martin Lewis teamed up with the RAC to detail how huge savings can be made.

Instead of driving around checking out which petrol station is the cheapest for the fuel you need, Mr Lewis advised comparing prices using a handy online free tool.

Prices comparisons can be made via the website PetrolPrices.com.

Once you have registered your details, all you need to do is enter your postcode, how far you are willing to travel to get fuel and what sort of fuel you need.

The site then lists the cheapest filling stations in your area and covers around 8,500 forecourts across the UK in total.

If you want to be able to check prices while on the go, you can also download an app.

Mr Lewis also advises to keep an eye out for any for short-lived fuel discount promos that pop up from time to time.

LOYALTY SCHEMES

He also says take advantage of loyalty schemes, although does also sound a note of caution.

Many petrol stations, including the ones run by supermarkets, operate a loyalty scheme and its worth signing up to the ones you use the most, so you can get a little extra back from time to time.

While the benefits might be small they do add up.

If you fill up your car with, say, £30 of petrol a week, this means over the course of a year, you’ll spend in the region of £1,500.

All those little extra benefits soon add up.

However, Mr Lewis, warned don’t just pick a petrol station just because it has a loyalty scheme, it’s better to go for the one offering the cheapest fuel.

The difference is small compared to petrol price variance.

Other filling up tips include:

• Always fill up at least 50 miles before your tank is dry – this gives you time to look around for the cheapest option
• Only use ‘better fuel’ if your car can cope – ‘high performance’ fuels make little difference to the performance of non-performance cars
• Filling up at night won’t be a big money saver – it’s a slight urban myth as the difference is minuscule – pennies at best.
• Don’t try to put more in after the clunk – don’t keep going after the petrol nozzle ‘clunks’. If you do, you’re overfilling.

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