Supermarket Fuel Saves Drivers 3p a Litre on Unleaded

Supermarket forecourts are currently the cheapest place to fill up on unleaded petrol in the UK, with official fuel price data showing their sites averaging 155.5p a litre compared with the national average of 158.6p across nearly 7,800 forecourts.

That 3.1p difference might not sound dramatic at a glance, but for a typical family car with a 50-litre tank it works out at roughly £1.55 saved every time you fill up. Over a full year of weekly fill-ups, a driver who consistently chooses a supermarket forecourt over an average roadside station could save in the region of £80, simply by being a little more deliberate about where they stop.

The figures, drawn from official UK fuel price data covering 1,487 supermarket sites, put the supermarket average at £7.07 a gallon against a national average of £7.21 a gallon for E10 unleaded. Diesel remains notably more expensive across the board, with the national average sitting at 176.8p a litre, a gap that continues to weigh on drivers of older vehicles and those running vans or light commercial vehicles.

For most drivers, the practical takeaway is straightforward: if a supermarket forecourt is on or near your regular route, it is worth stopping there rather than at a branded or independent roadside station. The savings are modest on any single visit, but they are real and consistent across nearly 1,500 sites. Drivers comparing running costs across different vehicles, or weighing up whether to switch fuel type, will find tools and guidance at Car.co.uk useful when working through those decisions.