Fair Fuel Price site shows drivers where to find cheapest fuel

TIRED of waiting for the Government and the ACCC to keep petrol companies honest, a major motoring group has developed a potentially revolutionary tool.

Fair Fuel Price tells drivers where they can buy the most affordable petrol in their local area.

TIRED of waiting for the government and the ACCC to keep petrol companies honest, a major motoring group has developed a potentially revolutionary tool to help drivers find the cheapest fuel.

The tool is called Fair Fuel Price and tells drivers where they can buy the most affordable petrol in their local area and, importantly, when - thereby exploiting lows in the "price cycle".

The service estimates a "fair price" in a given location using "the cheapest 25th percentile of petrol stations" in that postcode. It then recommends for or against buying, based on whether prices are near the bottom or top of the price cycle. For those who need fuel right away, a list of the five cheapest prices in the area is also provided.

Fair Fuel Price has been rushed into the market by the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland in response to the recent rapid increase in the cost of fuel due to the sharp drop in the Australian dollar. Another factor in the RACQ's decision to fast-track its plans has been what it says is the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's failure to stop shopper dockets damaging competition. The ACCC has been investigating supermarket fuel discounts for more than a year.

The Fair Fuel Price website was formally unveiled to the nation's other motoring clubs at a conference in Victoria on Monday by the RACQ's Executive General Manager for Advocacy Paul Turner.

RACQ now wants to work with interested clubs to help them introduce a similar free service.

The RACV is keen.

"The concept is good and potentially we'll also do it," said the RACV's Manager of Vehicle Engineering Michael Case. "We see it as particularly useful for motorists looking to buy fuel at the cheapest price and save as much money as possible."

The NRMA is watching closely.

"Any information that can help motorists save money at the pump is crucial - particularly when petrol prices are hovering around the 150c/L mark," said NRMA President Wendy Machin. "This is why the NRMA welcome's the RACQ's Fair Fuel Price service and will seek feedback from the RACQ over the next month to ascertain what the public thinks."

The RACT said Fair Fuel Price couldn't be used in Tasmania because there is no price cycle or price data.

"RACQ's Fair Fuel Price service is based on important member advocacy principles which RACT shares," said General Manager Communication &Advocacy Vince Taskunas, but "relies on two fundamental factors for its operation that are not present in the Tasmanian fuel market".

Still, RACT will "examine the RACQ system ... to see if we could adapt some part of it to help our members".

The RAA of SA is not interested.

"We believe our systems are far more adequate for our market," an RAA spokeswoman said. "Our recent regional fuel star rating doesn't set a hypothetical price, rather we use the industry's behaviour against itself so retailers cannot claim we are forcing the industry to offer motorists unsustainably low prices."

The RACQ believes that its tool will reward stations that offer the best prices. By increasing those stations' sales volumes they will be able to "stay lower for longer", Mr Turner told News Corp Australia.

At the moment the service covers Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast - which are all subject to significant price cycles - as well as 30 regional Queensland locations which are not. The RACQ will soon release the service as a smartphone app. It also wants to add "crowd-sourcing" - that is, information from the general public.

Fair Fuel Price is arguably the best news for motorists since Kevin Rudd promised a national FuelWatch scheme in 2007. Mr Rudd and his now Treasurer Chris Bowen dumped the plan in 2008. Mr Bowen was the Consumer Affairs Minister at the time.

The RACQ's Mr Turner said Fair Fuel Price showed the government was no longer necessarily the source of the solution to the petrol problem.

The fuel prices powering the RACQ service come from MotorMouth, which describes itself as a "consumer awareness initiative of the Informed Sources Group".

Informed Sources - under investigation by the ACCC for 15 months over its role in the sharing of information between retailers - last month released a MotorMouth app. For a one-off payment of $2.99, phone users can get up-to-the-minute advice on when to buy. But not where.

Nonetheless, since hitting the market the MotorMouth app has been among the most popular paid transport apps in the Google Play store and one of the top paid navigation apps in the Apple iTunes store.

Informed Sources won't say how many people have purchased the app. Commercial director Tim Rankin said it was focusing on when to buy because "there is a greater saving to be had" than by advising where.

A comparison between Fair Fuel Price and MotorMouth yesterday (Friday) showed MotorMouth recommending "buy below" 159.9c/L in three different suburbs while Fair Fuel Price revealed stations in those suburbs that were 16c to 19c/L cheaper.