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UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

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Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#81

Post by alexfoo »

notahacker wrote: post #62
maffyoo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

totally agree, technology could make this much more cost effective (or time effective). what's the best use of my time versus the cheaper option.. It's interesting running the numbers though. e.g. if it only take 10 minutes to get cheaper fuel, how much cheaper does it need to be for your time to be worth more than the UK minimum wage (£12.21 for adults over 21) based on my maths (from above calculations) it needs to…

mostly such tools are useful when you go very close to a few petrol stations on your regular routes anyway. I can pretty much time topups for when the cheapest station locally is en-route to my destination A 7p per litre difference does sound like the difference between local station and motorway prices though, and they probably will have factored in that opportunity cost of time...

> A 7p per litre difference does sound like the difference between local station and motorway prices though, and they probably will have factored in that opportunity cost of time...

Only 7p?

Motorway services have shocking price markups, way more than 7p. Most people don't realise this or are just too lazy to find something that isn't quite as convenient.

According to the live feed at https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/fuel-watch/ I see:

    Unleaded is 131.80p (UK wide) and 156.80p (Motorway Service Area).
That's nearly a 20% markup.

Last time I drove into a motorway services and saw prices ~20p/litre higher I just drove through the petrol station and found a local garage to fill up at.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#82

Post by urbandw311er »

lazzurs wrote: post #75

This is exactly the sort of thing a government should be doing in a free market. Fair access to pricing information is essential to the operation of a free market. Now do this for all EV charging stations.

Ha! If you look into that you’ll find they tried and then the “free service” was somehow insidiously overtaken by private companies with vested interests in listing their own charge points.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#83

Post by jansper39 »

embedding-shape wrote: post #23
oniony wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also wondered about whether to fully fill my tank or drive on a small amount so that I'm not using fuel to carry fuel. Do you know of any metrics on that?

I haven't made any calculations, and it's more a hunch, but considering you usually need to remove hundreds of KG in order to make an impact on how much fuel is being spent, 40-50L of gas (~40KG difference between full and empty maybe?) would have an marginal effect on how much fuel is spent to carry a full tank vs 10% filled tank. Besides, with a smaller tank, you'll make more trips to tank it, and also have less ch…

> Never investigated myself, but some car-knower once told me that running the tank on low always isn't good for the fuel pump, or something like that.

The main issue is that it risks pulling detritus from the very bottom of the fuel tank, usually a bigger issue in diesels and I suspect less of a problem these days.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#84

Post by moomin »

alexfoo wrote: post #81
notahacker wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mostly such tools are useful when you go very close to a few petrol stations on your regular routes anyway. I can pretty much time topups for when the cheapest station locally is en-route to my destination A 7p per litre difference does sound like the difference between local station and motorway prices though, and they probably will have factored in that opportunity cost of time...

> A 7p per litre difference does sound like the difference between local station and motorway prices though, and they probably will have factored in that opportunity cost of time... Only 7p? Motorway services have shocking price markups, way more than 7p. Most people don't realise this or are just too lazy to find something that isn't quite as convenient. According to the live feed at https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advi…

It’s not a matter of “quite as convenient”, it’s a matter of figuring where you are, find a nearby town, finding a petrol station in it and getting back to the motorway. This can take well over half an hour. Time that you really need to be spending getting to your destination because there’s a good chance your trip is going to take most of the day.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#85

Post by pixelesque »

londons_explore wrote: post #39

There is an app called 'PetrolPrices' which seems to have a pretty complete price database. It's much better than this government API so far.

That's often out of date, and the UI is pretty buggy (at least on iOS).

There's also 'Gaspy' which is really a NZ app that was very popular in NZ (I used to live there) where people submit and confirm prices, but in the UK there aren't that many users (hasn't got critical mass), so there are often no prices or things are very out-of-date.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#86

Post by alexfoo »

Decisions about fuel purchases are often irrational, much like many food purchases or generic medicines.

I know someone who avoids their local petrol station that is 10p/litre cheaper than most others nearby (within a mile or so) as they think the cheaper fuel must be lower quality. There are weird status things going on with purchases like this.

Only the other day my father refused to buy some branded paracetamol because it was ~5 times more expensive than the local pharmacy brand that was out of stock. (£2.25 vs £0.49 for 16 500mg tablets.) I'd usually agree with him but he was out of paracetamol and has been advised by his doctor to take 2x500mg a day and there was no viable nearby alternative.

A digression but for that generation (those born in 1940s/50s) that grew up with rationing I think it is hardwired into their brain to try and minimise the cost of so many things, but with lots of random exceptions. Later on that day he ordered an extra drink but decided he was too full once it had arrived so he left it. So he was worried about spending an extra £1.76 on paracetamol but not about spending £7 on a pint he didn't drink.

Many people decide what petrol station to use based on simply how close it is, what kind of shop is attached to it (and the bits of British snobbery around that), whether it also sells whatever else they want (bread, milk, beer, etc), or even whether it is easy to drive in and out of.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#87

Post by thebruce87m »

blibble wrote: post #52
drcongo wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to give up Waze over xmas because it refused to give me the 1 hour, straight down the motorway route, and instead tried to send me a bizarre route that would take 2.5 hours. Switched to Apple Maps and haven't gone back, though I do miss the fact that Waze shows you your current speed.

> though I do miss the fact that Waze shows you your current speed. this is the only reason I use waze!

I feel like I’m missing something here - presumably your vehicle has a speedometer? What does the Waze speed dial give you over this?

Unless you mean that it has the speed limit too, if so I agree that it’s a must have, along with the speed camera alerts.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#88

Post by ggm »

ifwinterco wrote: post #64
tene80i wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gov.uk services are generally pretty high quality, at least from the citizen’s POV.

Yes one thing the UK state genuinely does well in general

And, the website feedback hooks are read by the coding team. I got a meaningful response to a UX issue inside 48h.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#89

Post by ElevenLathe »

maffyoo wrote: post #34
entuno wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I almost never go out of my way for fuel, because as you say, it's rarely worth it once you factor in your time (never mind the fuel spent). But it's still useful to know about price variation so that you can plan ahead. I regularly drive past several different petrol stations, and if I know that one of them is usually cheaper or usually more expensive then I choose to use or avoid it, or to decide that I'll fill up…

totally agree, technology could make this much more cost effective (or time effective). what's the best use of my time versus the cheaper option.. It's interesting running the numbers though. e.g. if it only take 10 minutes to get cheaper fuel, how much cheaper does it need to be for your time to be worth more than the UK minimum wage (£12.21 for adults over 21) based on my maths (from above calculations) it needs to…

I once had the idea to do something like this, though the intention was to pitch it to gas station operators as a way to keep their prices competitive (i.e. alert them when the station down the street drops their prices so that they can too and not lose business to casual price shoppers or, alternatively, when the station down the street raises their prices, so that you can too and not lose revenue needlessly) and learned that there are a couple entities, at least in the US, that have national data here. I couldn't even figure out how to contact one, and when I called the other I was essentially laughed off the phone by someone with a VERY New York accent -- it seems from context that their data is VERY expensive and used by Wall St. types, so the idea of some nobody from flyover country essentially reselling it to mom & pop gas station operators was funny, and out of the question.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#90

Post by aucisson_masque »

alexfoo wrote: post #86

Decisions about fuel purchases are often irrational, much like many food purchases or generic medicines. I know someone who avoids their local petrol station that is 10p/litre cheaper than most others nearby (within a mile or so) as they think the cheaper fuel must be lower quality. There are weird status things going on with purchases like this. Only the other day my father refused to buy some branded paracetamol be…

In France we had such api available for decades, many apps are using it and there are a lot of people using them.

I don't know if your experience is from British people but it looks like they just didn't have the mean to effectively compare fuel prices.

Once they do, there is a significant part of the British drivers that will most likely be using it.

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