Gas purchasing strategy

Supermarkets in/near larger towns and cities will typically have the cheapest petrol vs. independent stations in more remote areas.
This being said, let's assume you drive 1,000 miles and use 100-120 litres of petrol in the process. A price difference of 20p per litre would only amount to £20 or so, so I would not spend too much time researching. To me, it only really matters when you drive every day.

Out in the highlands I’d make my chief concern WHERE the filling stations are, not so much how much they are charging. It’s not as if you are going to have a ton of choice or opportunities.

I have always been surprised in some very rural parts of Scotland how cheap the petrol is compared to rural parts of England and we wondered if it was government subsidised. It’s better to fill up at supermarket PFSs where possible as they are cheaper. You may find two same brand PFSs a few miles apart will have different prices and it’s not necessarily the biggest place is cheaper.

A PFS near where I live has a higher price at night when the nearby competitor is closed!

A tank full will get you quite a way, so you don’t need to stop everywhere, but if heading somewhere rural with a quarter of a tank, fill up just in case. Morrisons in Fort William has a PFS and they are usually good value. Tesco in Oban has one too. Aldi and Lidl don’t sell petrol.

We use petrolprices.com to check prices.

I don’t worry about the petrol price too much. If I’m going someplace and the vehicle needs fuel, I’ll put some in. Overseas I try not to let the tank go below half full. In some rural places stations are few and far between. I found that out in Ireland a number of years ago when I almost ran out of gas. As already stated, a few pence per liter won’t have much of an impact overall especially after spending a fortune just to rent the vehicle.

For me the tricky bit was having a chip and pin credit card as many of the many of the locations were self serve.

The central belt (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling) is cheaper than the Highlands. The towns in the Highlands are cheaper than the rural and remote areas. Currently fuel is expensive, £1.79 per litre at my local station for diesel.

To paraphrase the great Trigger from ‘Only Fools And Horses’ “it don’t bother me how much petrol is Dave, I only put twenty five quids worth in every time anyway”.

Jennifer, You are right that there is a subsidy. But only for the Scottish Islands, where it is subsidised (I believe) to the tune of 5p per litre. For example petrol is more expensive in Kyle of Lochalsh than it is here on Skye.

Jacqui (Skyegirl)

Should Skye still get this discount now it has the bridge without its tolls? ;-)