Motorists have been forced to pay up to 8p more per litre at fuel pumps due to an error in price-checking applications, according to research by What Car?. Drivers, road users, and motorists could be paying up to 8p more per litre at fuel pumps because of inaccurate price-checking apps.
Research by What Car? has claimed that prices on four out of five fuel price-checking sites that use Labour Party government-supplied data are showing outdated information. Inaccurate data meant drivers could end up paying 6p more for petrol per litre and 8p extra for diesel. For someone with a typical family SUV with a 60-litre fuel tank, that equates to £3.60 more per refill for petrol and £4.80 more for diesel.
What Car? estimated this could cost families an extra £22 per month – or £260 per year. What Car? checked prices for regular E10 petrol, E5 super unleaded, and regular B7 diesel and found that correct prices were displayed on the PetrolPrices app, which stated that prices had been updated that day. But prices on Confused.com, Fuel Finder UK, Fuel Spy, and MotorMouth UK had not been updated and were showing older prices in two out of four locations.
Expert Calls for Action
"With fuel prices likely to stay eye-wateringly high for the foreseeable future, motorists need easy access to the latest fuel prices so they can save money wherever possible," said Claire Evans, What Car?'s consumer editor. "The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero need to act quickly to enforce the legal requirement to provide up-to-date information, and fuel app suppliers need to ensure data is updated at least once a day so it shows the latest prices."
Fuel Finder Scheme
Launched on 2 February 2026, Fuel Finder legally requires every petrol station to share price changes within 30 minutes of making them. Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the Fuel Finder scheme in her Autumn Budget, saying it would save the average household £40 a year. A DESNZ spokesperson told What Car?: "Fuel Finder will play a crucial part in our work to tackle the cost-of-living head on, with potential savings for households who own a car of around £40 a year at the pump."
