I tried the government's new fuel finder service. It was a long night.

It was an interesting time to try out one of the new fuel finder websites; reports at the time of writing state that petrol and diesel costs have increased by 25p and 49p respectively since the war in Iran began on February 28th. Prices have actually fallen in the last few days, however, there’s still a huge amount of fluctuation at the forecourt. Nevertheless, on the way back from an exercise class one evening, I ventured out to see if the government’s fuel finder data could save me a few pennies. 

The system works as follows; from Monday 2nd February 2026, all petrol stations were now legally required to upload the cost of their petrol and diesel using the government website. They must also update this data within 30 minutes of a change. This data is then used by third party comparison sites, which motorists can use to compare the prices of the petrol to ensure that they’re getting the best deal. Whilst this system existed previously, uploading your petrol and diesel costs was voluntary; now, it’s mandatory. 

I opted to use the third party website Fuel Finder UK. There are a bunch of alternatives out there that should all be using the same data, including Confused’s Petrol Prices and Go Compare Petrol Prices. Both of these have a far better design, if you’re bothered by that kind of thing. But Fuel Finder UK was the first link in my search results, and it had a map, which was good enough for me. 

The lowest price I could find in my area was at a Sainsburys, and it was the lowest by a fair margin. Fuel Finder UK also gave me the time at which this information was updated, which was 19 hours ago. It was a little out of my way, but armed with my superior knowledge I confidently drove past two petrol stations and those who were filling up their cars. If only they knew what I knew. 

I arrived at Sainsburys. They were sold out of unleaded.

According to the government regulations, this information should have been updated in the last 30 minutes. There is an option for motorists to report an error in fuel prices on the government website (you can even do it anonymously if you’re worried about Mr. Sainsburys finding out). I decided to let them off on this occasion, because the process of reporting an error looked quite laborious and it was nearly 10pm. 

I hopped back on the website and found the next lowest price, which was Asda. These prices had been updated 2 hours ago. Going to Asda added another 10 minutes to my journey, but at this point I was locked in. On the way, I tried to do the mental arithmetic to work out how much money I’d be saving at the pump, compared to the additional driving I’d done. Was this still worth it?

I arrived at Asda. The petrol station was closed. 

You shouldn’t count your petrol savings before they’ve hatched. Whilst Fuel Finder UK does list Asda’s opening hours, the opening hours of the petrol station were clearly different. I sat in a dark car park, scrolling through my list of options to figure out where to go next. Even with my poor mathematical knowledge, I knew my losses now outweighed any possible gains. 

To Fuel Finder UK’s credit, the prices that they listed were accurate, in that they matched the prices of petrol and diesel on the board. However, it was now 22:15 and I’d been unable to buy petrol at either of these locations, so this wasn’t much comfort. I decided to only consider petrol stations that were on my route home (which is probably what I should have done in the first place) and headed to my third petrol station of the evening.

To get there, I had to drive past a BP garage that had fuel. At this point, I questioned my life choices. 

My blind faith was rewarded when I arrived at the Shell garage Fuel Finder UK had directed me to. Unleaded was 1p cheaper than the garage that I had driven past, and even better, the petrol station was open and it wasn’t sold out. My car could make it home, and I could make it to bed. This didn’t feel like a victory.

Reflecting on this experience, I did appreciate having the information so I could make an informed choice. But the evening felt a little like booking an Uber home after a night out. Checking the prices compulsively, trying to calculate if leaving now is worth the extra fiver, or hedging my bets and staying out another thirty minutes in the hope that costs come down. In both situations, the best thing for me to do was to stop overthinking it. It’s late, just go home.

Would I recommend using Fuel Finder UK? Yes. Would I recommend driving across the city at night in the hopes of saving 20p? No. But I don’t think you needed someone to tell you that.