Pricing up a specific journey
Whether it's a visit to relatives, a hospital appointment or a weekend away, knowing the fuel cost in advance helps you budget and decide whether driving, the train or a coach makes most sense.
Example journeys at 45 MPG and £1.45 per litre
- 50 miles: about £7.32
- 120 miles: about £17.58
- 200 miles (roughly London to Manchester): about £29.30
- 400 miles (roughly London to Edinburgh): about £58.60
These are approximate distances — use the exact route distance from your sat nav for the best result.
How does a fuel cost calculator work?
The calculator first works out how much fuel your journey needs, then multiplies that by the price you pay per litre:
Fuel cost = fuel required (litres) × fuel price per litre
Fuel required comes from your distance and your car's fuel economy. Because UK fuel economy is quoted in miles per imperial gallon and fuel is sold in litres, we convert using 1 UK gallon = 4.546 litres:
Litres = (miles ÷ MPG) × 4.546
For example, 100 miles in a car averaging 40 MPG uses 2.5 gallons, or about 11.4 litres. At £1.45 a litre that's roughly £16.48.
Sharing fuel costs
If you're giving friends or colleagues a lift, a fair approach is to divide the fuel cost by the number of people in the car. For a much longer drive, the trip fuel cost calculator has tips for road trips.