Some UK forecourts are changing fuel prices multiple times a day
By Anthony Sharkey, Chief Operating Officer, New Reg Limited
Official UK government fuel price data shows a small number of forecourts adjusting their unleaded prices as many as seven times in a 72-hour window.
A small number of UK petrol stations are resetting their pump prices several times a day, meaning the price you pay can depend almost entirely on when you pull in. While the vast majority of forecourts set a single price each morning and leave it there, official UK government fuel price data recorded six stations moving their unleaded price three or more times in the 72 hours to 12:15pm on 6 August 2025.
Four of those stations each changed their price seven times across that period. A BP station in Hull (HU9 3UA) and a second BP in the same city (HU9 3LA) both cycled between 166.9p and 169.9p per litre, a swing of 3p or roughly 13p per gallon. A Shell in Goole (DN14 8JS) moved between 157.9p and 160.9p per litre, while a Valero in Nuneaton (CV10 0AD) ranged from 161.9p to 164.9p. In each case the adjustments spanned the overnight hours as well as early morning slots, so a driver filling a 50-litre tank at the wrong moment could pay around £1.50 more than a driver who arrived a few hours earlier or later at the same pump.
For most motorists this pattern will come as a surprise, because the received wisdom is that fuel prices move slowly and predictably. These stations appear to be responding to wholesale cost movements or local competition in something closer to real time, which is more common in countries such as Australia but remains rare in the UK. The practical consequence is that checking a price before you leave home is worth less than checking it immediately before you fill up, particularly at stations that have shown a history of intra-day changes.
If you are buying or recently sold a car and want to understand its current value, Car.co.uk offers a free instant valuation alongside a free MOT history check, car tax calculator and car finance calculator, and will buy your car directly with free collection and payment by bank transfer. For fuel costs specifically, knowing your car's real-world consumption matters as much as the pence-per-litre figure on the forecourt sign, and having an accurate picture of your vehicle's value can help when weighing up whether a high-mileage car is worth keeping on the road.
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