Dukey

We will be using a rental car in the UK next month for six days. We will be traveling from Heathrow to Woodstock and Broadway and eventually on through Ely to Norwich where we will drop the car.

Will also be using a GPS with excellent maps (purchased on a previous trip) as a back-up.

Ordinarily I would plan to pay using a credit card but since ours is an American one I assume that could be a problem at petrol stations (or would it be?) If it is, I would plan to have plenty of local currency on hand.

I am already resolved to the high price of fuel and don't particularly want to spend a lot of time driving around to find the lowest prices if that is going to eat up valuable sightseeing/meandering/getting wonderfully lost time.

However, any recommendations as to the TYPE of outlets where petrol might be ordinarily cheaper are welcome.

I assume it is best to fill up during the day as opposed to waiting until after nightfall when finding an open outlet might be(?) more difficult.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

A_Traveller

I can't help you with any specific petrol outlets but if I were you I wouldn't worry too much about the price you pay. Since you already resigned yourself to paying a higher price for fuel than you do back home and you "don't want to spend a lot of time driving around to find the lowest price" I doubt trying to implement any pre-conceived strategy would save any meaningful amount of money during the course of a 6 day trip to make it worth the effort. I'd venture to guess that you are talking about something like + or - $15US or $20US which when taken as a part of your overall budget for the entire trip is probably a drop in the bucket.

Others may feel differently so perhaps they will post their thoughts.

Gavin

I had no problem using my Canadian credit card (no chip & pin either) for petrol (or anything else) in England and Wales in April. Don't fret about the cost of fuel too much. When you figure out what the rest of the trip costs it is not a big item.

flanneruk

The general strategy on low-cost fuel is:
- DON'T fill up at motorway service stations. This one is really important

- DO fill up at those supermarkets that have petrol stations (though in Britain, petrol stations very near those supermarkets are normally subsidised down by their oil co to more or less match the supermarket). Go to the websites of Sainsbury, Asda, Tesco and Morrison's to find their petrol station network. Note that some Tesco Metros are on non-discounting petrol sites.

In some cases (like the Asda at the A404 turnoff from the M40 between LHR and Woodstock) they're easy fo a visitor to find: in others (the Sainsbury at the Kidlington turnoff from the A44 after you've come out of Oxford towards Woodstock) they're easy if you've downloaded the map, or kept a record of the store's postcode to programme into your SatNav

- If possible, do all your filling up in South Wales, Teeside, or Merseyside/Deeside. This doesn't apply to you

In deep countryside, petrol stations often close by 2100. On major roads,this really isn't an issue.

But your distances are short, and our cars get good mileage. I can't see you filling up more than twice. Don't underestimate the time involved in quite short distances, though. Broadway to Norwich is what's technically known in our dialect as an absolute bugger, even though in parts of America the distance would be a normal grocery shopping trip.

Dukey

Thanks for the responses. No, I am not in the least bit concerned about the prices although if I KNEW there was a type of place close by I would probably look (a little) for it.

As we usually do, this will be an upper budget (for many) type of trip given the exchange rates.

I particularly appreciate hearing that using a non-chip/pin card was doable.

Dukey

Flanner, was hoping you woudl respond and this is just what I was trying to find out.

Yes, I gather the trip Broadway-Ely-Norwich is going to be an ADVENTURE so we plan to leave Broadway EARLY.

_jinx_

You will have no problem using your USA credit card (assuming it is a major card). The price of petrol in the UK is around $7.00 per gallon FYI. Have a good trip.

Cheers,

Jinx Hoover

Dukey

Thanks, Jinx...yes, when I was there in April the prices seemed hovering at 99 pence per litre which I suspect has increased since then.

wombat7

My experience is that UK prices seem to be more stable than where I live - i.e. prices do not fluctuate by 15 % up and down within a short period of time. One particular UK visitor was always commenting on how the price of 'petrol" had changed by a couple of cents overnight

highledge

check on which side of the car the tank is before you start driving. VERY simplistc advice, but every little bit helps.
Many of the stations don;t have "pay at the pump" and you won;t have the chip and pin issues as you might in france. It's usually pump and then go in and pay.

AR

Agree with others with regard to plastic and Flanneruk has given you excellent response which I would advice you to follow.

Just one small point - The only difficult US card is American Express which is rapidly becoming nigh on impossible to use in Europe, especially in UK petrol stations!