How to Save Petrol When Prices Are Rising in Australia

There's a particular kind of frustration that comes with watching the numbers tick upward on the bowser as you fill up. You can see exactly how much the same tank is costing compared to six months ago, and there's not much you can do in that moment except watch it happen.

But here's the thing , while you can't control the global oil price, the Australian dollar, or what OPEC decides to do, you do have genuine control over how much fuel you use. And the strategies for reducing consumption aren't complicated or expensive. Most of them cost nothing at all and pay back within days.

This guide covers everything from how you drive, to how you maintain your car, to when and where you fill up. Taken together, these changes can realistically reduce your annual fuel spend by 15–25% , and in a high-price environment, that's several hundred dollars back in your pocket.

Buy Smarter at the Bowser

Before you worry about how you drive, there are easy wins available just in how and when you buy. These require minimal effort and cost nothing.

Use the Weekly Price Cycle

If you live in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, or Adelaide, petrol prices follow a predictable weekly cycle. Prices drop sharply to their cheapest point on a particular day of the week , typically Tuesday or Wednesday in most capital cities , then gradually rise over the following days back to their peak by the weekend.

The swing between the bottom and top of the cycle can be 20–30 cents per litre in high-volatility weeks. If your car takes 55 litres, filling up on the cheapest day versus the most expensive day is a saving of $11–$16.50 per tank. Do that every fill-up and you're saving $150–$250+ per year purely by timing.

Check the ACCC's weekly fuel monitoring reports, or use an app to find the current low day in your city.

Use a Petrol-Tracking App

Apps like MotorMouth and GasBuddy show you current prices at servos near you in real time. The price difference between the cheapest and most expensive servo within a 2–3 km radius of any Australian suburb can easily be 15–20 cents per litre. There's no reason to pay the peak price when the cheapest option is two turns away.

•       MotorMouth , widely used in Australia; shows the current lowest prices in your area and tracks the weekly cycle pattern by city

•       GasBuddy , crowd-sourced price data; useful for real-time comparisons

•       FuelWatch , Western Australia only; a government-run scheme that publishes tomorrow's prices 24 hours in advance, making it extremely easy to plan your fill-up

•       Google Maps and Apple Maps , both now show live petrol prices at nearby stations in major Australian cities

Don't Wait Until the Tank Is Empty

Filling up when you're close to empty means you have no flexibility , you have to stop at whatever servo is nearest regardless of its price. Keeping a quarter-tank buffer means you can always wait for the right day of the cycle or drive past to a cheaper servo.

Use Supermarket Fuel Discounts

Coles and Woolworths both operate fuel discount programmes that reward grocery spending with petrol discounts. A 4-cent-per-litre discount is common, and promotions regularly offer larger discounts. On a 55-litre fill, a 4-cent discount saves $2.20. Keep the voucher until you need to fill up rather than rushing to use it immediately.

Drive More Efficiently

How you operate the car is the single biggest variable in fuel consumption that's within your control. An identical car, driven differently, can return fuel economy that varies by 20–30%. Here's where the meaningful changes happen.

Accelerate Smoothly and Gradually

Aggressive acceleration is the largest single cause of excess fuel consumption in passenger vehicles. When you floor the accelerator from a standstill or from low speed, the engine demands maximum fuel injection to generate the power. Smooth, progressive acceleration uses a fraction of that.

The practical change: when pulling away from lights or a stop sign, imagine there's a cup of coffee on the dashboard. Accelerate at the rate that wouldn't spill it. You'll reach highway speed 5–10 seconds later than aggressive driving, but your fuel consumption will drop by a meaningful amount.

Anticipate Traffic and Coast Early

Every time you brake hard, you're converting kinetic energy , which you paid for with fuel , into heat through the brake pads. That energy is wasted. The goal is to use that kinetic energy to carry you as far as possible before the stop.

When you see a red light ahead or traffic slowing down, lift off the throttle early and let the car coast in gear. Modern fuel-injected cars use virtually zero fuel on overrun , when the engine is being driven by the wheels rather than driving the wheels , so coasting to a slow stop is almost free.

Keep Highway Speeds Reasonable

Aerodynamic drag increases with the square of velocity. At 100 km/h, drag is already significant. At 120 km/h, drag increases by 44% compared to 100 km/h. At 130 km/h, it nearly doubles. This is why fuel economy on the highway degrades sharply as speed increases.

The practical impact for Australian drivers:

•       Driving at 100 km/h instead of 110 km/h on a long highway run can improve fuel economy by 8–12%

•       Driving at 110 km/h instead of 130 km/h can improve economy by 20–25%

•       On a 500 km trip at 13L/100km (130 km/h) versus 10L/100km (100 km/h), the saving is 15 litres , roughly $28–$35 at current prices

You arrive 30–45 minutes later on a long drive. Whether that tradeoff is worth it is a personal decision, but the fuel saving is real.

Use Cruise Control on Highways

Maintaining a constant speed on the highway is significantly more efficient than the natural tendency to drift speed up and down. Cruise control removes the small, frequent speed variations that come from human throttle inputs and keeps the car at the exact set speed with minimal fuel variation. On long highway drives, cruise control can improve economy by 5–10%.

Reduce Air Conditioning Use Where Practical

Air conditioning can increase fuel consumption by 5–15% depending on the ambient temperature, the car's AC system, and how the AC is used. At city driving speeds and in extreme heat, the impact is at the higher end.

Practical tips:

•       At speeds below 60 km/h in moderate temperature, open windows are often more efficient than AC

•       At highway speeds, windows create enough aerodynamic drag that AC is generally more efficient , the drag cost of open windows at 100 km/h exceeds the AC fuel cost

•       Pre-cool the car by opening windows briefly before starting the AC, rather than blasting maximum cold from the moment you get in

•       Use the recirculation mode once the cabin has cooled , the AC works less hard to cool already-cooled air

Keep Your Car in Good Shape

A poorly maintained vehicle uses significantly more fuel than the same vehicle properly maintained. These aren't optional extras , they're directly affecting your running costs right now.

Check and Maintain Tyre Pressure

Under-inflated tyres increase rolling resistance , the friction between the tyre and the road. More rolling resistance means the engine has to work harder to maintain speed, which means more fuel.

Research consistently shows that driving on tyres 10% below their recommended pressure increases fuel consumption by approximately 3%. Tyres 20% below recommended pressure (which is not uncommon on neglected vehicles) increase consumption by 5–7%.

•       Check tyre pressure monthly , takes about three minutes with a portable gauge

•       Check when tyres are cold , tyres that have been driven heat up and pressure readings become inaccurate. Check first thing in the morning or before driving

•       Find the correct pressure on the tyre placard , usually on the inside of the driver's door frame, not on the tyre sidewall (which shows the maximum, not the recommended pressure)

•       Consider inflating to the higher end of the manufacturer's range if you carry regular loads or passengers , this is legal, maintains better economy, and can extend tyre life

Keep Up With Engine Servicing

A dirty air filter restricts airflow into the engine, forcing it to work harder and use more fuel. A clogged air filter can increase fuel consumption by 6–10%. Air filter replacement is one of the cheapest service items , typically $20–$40 in parts alone , and is worth checking at every service.

Engine oil condition also affects fuel economy. Degraded oil with increased viscosity from contamination makes the engine work harder. A fresh oil change with the correct grade for your vehicle restores optimal internal friction characteristics and can improve economy by 1–2%.

•       Have the air filter inspected at every service , replace it when dirty, not just when the calendar says so

•       Keep the engine oil changed on schedule , overdue oil hurts both engine life and fuel economy

•       Keep spark plugs in good condition , misfiring or worn spark plugs cause incomplete combustion, wasting fuel

Remove Unnecessary Weight

Every extra 45 kg of weight increases fuel consumption by approximately 1–2%. Look in your boot. Many Australian drivers are hauling around tools, sporting equipment, kids' gear, and general junk that hasn't moved in months.

•       Clear out the boot of anything you don't regularly use

•       Remove roof racks and cargo carriers when not in use , even an empty roof rack increases aerodynamic drag by 5–10% at highway speeds

•       A full roof rack with a cargo box can increase fuel consumption by 20–25% at highway speeds

Plan Your Driving More Intelligently

You can't always avoid driving, but you can often drive fewer kilometres to achieve the same outcomes.

Combine Errands Into Single Trips

Cold starts are the most fuel-intensive part of any journey. The engine runs rich and uses significantly more fuel for the first few kilometres until it reaches operating temperature. Making four separate trips of 2 km each uses substantially more fuel than making one 8 km round trip that combines all four stops.

In practical terms: plan your weekly errands in advance. Do the supermarket, chemist, and hardware run in one trip rather than four separate trips across the week. The fuel saving is meaningful , particularly in city driving where the cold-start penalty represents a large proportion of short trips.

Avoid Peak Traffic Where Possible

Stop-start traffic is the worst possible condition for fuel economy. When a car is moving at 5–20 km/h in dense traffic , braking, idling, accelerating to follow , fuel economy can drop to as little as 40–50% of what the same car would achieve on a free-flowing road.

Strategies:

•       Shift your commute by 30 minutes either side of peak hour , traffic flow improves dramatically, and so does your economy

•       Use navigation apps with real-time traffic data , Google Maps and Waze both route around congestion and can reduce both travel time and fuel consumption

•       Consider working from home on one or two days per week if your employer allows it , eliminating two commutes per week reduces annual fuel consumption by 20% without changing how you drive at all

Idle as Little as Possible

A car idling at a standstill uses zero km/h worth of progress but consumes fuel continuously. Modern fuel-injected engines use approximately 0.5–1.0 litres per hour at idle. The old advice to avoid switching off the engine for stops under a minute was based on older carburettor engines , modern engines have negligible additional wear from frequent start-stop cycling.

•       If you're waiting for more than 60 seconds , picking someone up, waiting at a railway crossing, long red lights on a hot day , switching off the engine saves fuel

•       Don't warm up a modern engine by idling , it warms up faster by driving gently than sitting still

•       Some newer vehicles have stop-start technology that automatically cuts the engine at intersections , if yours has this, let it work rather than disabling it

Use the Right Grade , No More, No Less

Using a higher octane grade than your vehicle requires does not improve fuel economy or engine performance , it just costs more per litre. For the majority of Australian passenger vehicles that specify 91 RON, paying the premium for 95 or 98 is pure waste.

Conversely, using a lower octane grade than specified in a turbocharged or high-compression engine causes the engine's management system to retard ignition timing as a protective response, which reduces power output and fuel economy , often enough to make the cheaper grade more expensive per kilometre than the correct grade.

The rule: use exactly the grade your owner's manual specifies. Not a grade higher (waste of money). Not a grade lower (reduced economy and power in engines that require higher octane).

Check the fuel filler flap. It's almost always printed right there , '91 MINIMUM RON' or '95 RON REQUIRED'. Follow it.

Your Realistic Fuel Savings: What Each Strategy Is Worth

Here's an honest estimate of the annual saving from each strategy for a typical driver covering 15,000 km per year in a vehicle returning 9L/100km on 91 unleaded at $2.00/litre (total annual spend: approximately $2,700):

Strategy	Estimated Economy Improvement	Approx. Annual Saving
Buying on cheapest day of cycle	N/A , price saving	$150–$250
Using price comparison app	N/A , price saving	$100–$200
Smooth acceleration/coasting	8–12% improvement	$200–$300
Reducing highway speed (120 to 100)	10–15% improvement	$270–$400
Using cruise control on highways	5–8% improvement	$135–$215
Correct tyre pressure	2–5% improvement	$55–$135
Removing roof rack when not in use	5–10% on highway trips	$80–$150 if used frequently
Reducing AC use in city	5–10% improvement in city	$70–$140
Air filter replacement (if dirty)	5–8% improvement	$135–$215 until next service
Combining short trips / fewer cold starts	3–6% improvement	$80–$160
Using the correct octane grade	Varies	$60–$150 (if previously using wrong grade)

Realistic combined saving: adopting a handful of these strategies consistently , not all of them perfectly , can realistically reduce annual fuel spending by $400–$700 for the typical driver. At $2.00/litre, that's 200–350 litres of petrol saved per year.

Tips Specific to Australian Driving Conditions

Remote and Rural Driving

If you regularly drive long distances in regional or remote Australia, the strategies above carry more weight because fuel is typically more expensive and less available. Additional tips:

•       Plan your refuelling at major regional centres where prices are lower , smaller towns with single servos often have significantly higher prices

•       Carry a jerry can with 10–20 litres of petrol when driving remote tracks , the peace of mind is worth it, and it means you're never forced to buy at an isolated stop at a premium price

•       Reduce cruise control speed on long remote runs , the difference between 100 and 110 km/h on a 1,000 km outback run can be 7–10 litres of petrol saved

•       On dirt tracks, slow down , corrugated roads and rough surfaces increase rolling resistance and fuel consumption dramatically

City Driving in Australian Traffic

Australian capital city traffic has its own characteristics:

•       The morning and evening peaks are extreme by international standards in Sydney and Melbourne , avoid them if at all possible

•       Use the westbound side of roads in afternoon peak where possible in Melbourne and Sydney , slightly lower congestion in some corridors

•       Park-and-ride where available , combining a short drive to a train station with public transport for the peak-hour portion eliminates the worst fuel economy conditions

•       Consider running the air conditioning slightly warmer rather than at maximum cooling , each degree above minimum setting slightly reduces the AC load and therefore fuel use

The Bottom Line

You can't control what happens to crude oil on international markets, and you can't control the Australian government's fuel excise policy. But you can control a surprising amount about how much of it you use , and how much you pay per litre.

The strategies in this guide aren't theory. They're based on documented fuel economy data and the real-world experience of drivers who've applied them. Smooth driving and sensible highway speeds alone can cut your consumption by 10–20%. Add in buying on the right day of the weekly cycle using a price app, keeping your tyres properly inflated, and eliminating unnecessary weight and roof racks, and you're genuinely looking at a 20–30% reduction in your annual fuel spend.

At $2.00 a litre on a typical annual fuel spend of $2,500–$3,000, that's $500–$900 back in your pocket per year. The only investment required is changing a few habits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does driving at lower highway speeds really make a significant difference to fuel use?

Yes , and the difference is larger than most drivers expect. The physics of aerodynamic drag mean that fuel consumption increases disproportionately with speed: drag force increases with the square of velocity. Reducing highway cruise speed from 120 km/h to 100 km/h improves fuel economy by approximately 15–20% for most vehicles. On a 500 km highway trip, a typical mid-size car might use 58 litres at 120 km/h versus 48 litres at 100 km/h , a saving of 10 litres, worth $18–$22 at current prices. The time cost is approximately 25–30 extra minutes over that distance. Whether that trade is worth making is a personal choice, but the fuel saving is measurable and significant.

How much does tyre pressure actually affect fuel economy?

More than most drivers realise. Studies by tyre manufacturers and independent automotive engineers consistently show that tyres inflated 10–15% below their recommended pressure increase rolling resistance by approximately 3–4%, translating directly to a 2–4% increase in fuel consumption. On a $2,700 annual fuel spend, that's $55–$110 per year wasted from under-inflated tyres alone. The fix is free , a tyre gauge costs $10–$15 and a check takes three minutes. Most servos in Australia also have air facilities, usually free of charge, meaning there's no cost at all to maintaining correct pressure. Check your pressures monthly, particularly after significant temperature changes, which affect tyre pressure.

Do fuel additives or treatments actually help save petrol?

Generally no , not in any meaningful way that justifies their cost. The fuel additive market in Australia includes a wide range of products claiming to improve combustion efficiency, clean injectors, reduce friction, and save fuel. The honest assessment from independent testing and automotive engineering bodies is that for well-maintained modern vehicles, these products deliver no measurable fuel economy improvement. Quality branded petrol from major retailers (Ampol, BP, Shell, Caltex) already contains detergent additive packages that keep injectors and combustion chambers clean. If your car has known injector deposits from poor maintenance, a specific injector cleaner product might provide a minor improvement, but it doesn't substitute for proper maintenance. The best 'additive' for fuel economy is fresh engine oil of the correct grade, a clean air filter, and properly inflated tyres , all of which cost far less than the additive products claiming to replicate their benefits.