Ive designed a website to help calculate the cheapest fuel.
Ive designed a website to help calculate the cheapest fuel.
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Discussion

martinkgray

Original Poster:

14 posts

204 months

I've been working on a little side project called Fuel Nearby and thought I'd share it here to see what people think.

The idea is pretty simple: find the cheapest petrol or diesel near you and see potential savings based on your car's MPG and how much you normally fill up. It also works out the cost of getting to the that petrol station.

It's still a work in progress, and I'd really like to get some people using it and see how useful it actually is.
If anyone has five minutes to give it a try, I'd appreciate any feedback. https://fuelnearby.uk

Thanks

Martin

jeremyc

28,311 posts

315 months

The distances shown appear to be as the crow flies: the real distance that needs to be travelled by road to get there is significantly longer (and hence will impact the net savings). This is confirmed by the distances shown in Google Maps after clicking "Directions".

The "Directions" on Google Maps also don't start at the location/postcode entered into your site.

JonnyWhitters

878 posts

113 months

Hi Martin, nice idea but I struggled with the site. It seemed to ignore the petrol station in the town, plus the four others within 10 mins drive. It also didn't display any around in the next biggest town up the road (4 or 5 there). The recommended one is an 18 mile drive (36 mile round trip) and compared it to a station over 10 miles from the postcode entered. All filters were selected, so I'd have expected to see all local stations and their prices.

Echo the point around the postcode not locking into the page and the distance on the site underestimating travel.

Just changed postcode and noticed that the cheapest place is displaying "estimated £4.37 more" underneath the unleaded price. Worth referencing why there's a figure showing a relatively higher cost if it's the cheapest around.

Just my two pennies.


grudas

1,414 posts

199 months

so by the calculations here.. in an 18mpg car.

It recommends me to drive 24 mile round trip, to save 3p on fuel? the maths is not mathing.

spitfire-ian

4,254 posts

259 months

JonnyWhitters said:
Hi Martin, nice idea but I struggled with the site. It seemed to ignore the petrol station in the town, plus the four others within 10 mins drive. It also didn't display any around in the next biggest town up the road (4 or 5 there). The recommended one is an 18 mile drive (36 mile round trip) and compared it to a station over 10 miles from the postcode entered. All filters were selected, so I'd have expected to see all local stations and their prices.

Echo the point around the postcode not locking into the page and the distance on the site underestimating travel.

Just changed postcode and noticed that the cheapest place is displaying "estimated £4.37 more" underneath the unleaded price. Worth referencing why there's a figure showing a relatively higher cost if it's the cheapest around.

Just my two pennies.
Same here. The two petrol stations nearest to me don't appear on the map. Not even if you enter a postcode right next door to one. Surely they should at least appear on the list.

BugLebowski

1,040 posts

147 months

I was going to snarky about the amount of vibe coded apps that do the exact same thing popping up, but this is a nice implementation. I'd suggest adding up a 'date/time last updated' as some of the results near me seem to be suspiciously cheap.

PomBstard

7,923 posts

273 months

Here’s something I use a lot in Australia - not sure if anything like this exists covering UK…

https://petrolspy.com.au/map/latlng/-33.8419389389...

No idea how it works in terms of data collection and presentation, but it’s usually fairly accurate and it’s simple to use, which is the key

Terminator X

20,940 posts

235 months

I like it but when I move the map it keeps changing petrol station? Not sure why?

Also it's not showing my local Tesco which I know is cheaper than some of the options suggested by the web page. I filled up today so I know the cost per litre.

I note that Shell seems to be missing albeit I assume because it is so expensive!

TX.

Edited by Terminator X on Friday 6th November 19:45

mcpoot

1,683 posts

138 months

jeremyc said:
The distances shown appear to be as the crow flies: the real distance that needs to be travelled by road to get there is significantly longer (and hence will impact the net savings). This is confirmed by the distances shown in Google Maps after clicking "Directions".

The "Directions" on Google Maps also don't start at the location/postcode entered into your site.
Definitely using as the crow files. I tried it using a postcode in Clevedon in the South West and all the petrol stations it found were across the Severn in South Wales.

Moving the map did eventually waken it up to the idea of looking this side of the water but that aspect is a bit flakey.

Edited by mcpoot on Friday 6th November 19:52

Henz

227 posts

133 months

I like the design but agree that it excludes at least 3 closer stations. If the site shows the top x cheapest that would explain the omission but I'd still like to see them so that I can make a call on time Vs cost etc

Twolane

233 posts

51 months

It should rank the garages 1-8 in order of your best choice calculating fuel price and travel cost not just fuel price. In my case, home town of Rugby, cheapest garage in no1 is Daventry which is a 20mile round trip to save 2p per litre over the garage ranked no 3 which is 1.5 miles away.
There should be a filter for search radius, set currently at 25miles? which is too big. Some of the garages on my search are in Coventry ( 25mile round trip) for unleaded at 166p, when I can get it for 167p within 2 miles.