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18 July, 2019 - Updated Last updated on
10 February, 2022

Posted by Spaceships Crew

If you are like most people and want to save on fuel, there are a few courses of action that you can take to get a discount on petrol and save money when it is time to fill up your campervan. Every station where you fill up with petrol in New Zealand has its own type of discount that it offers to people who know about it which could potentially heaps of dollars that you save on petrol during your road trip in New Zealand.

Our 5 best tips to get a discount on petrol

Filling up your Spaceships campervan in New Zealand might be different from what you're used to in your home country. No worries, it's pretty easy. All Spaceships run on 91-octane unleaded petrol, which is the green handle at the pump (yes, the green handle is for petrol in New Zealand). Petrol prices vary a lot in New Zealand, but there are many ways to get a discount on petrol. Below are our best tips to make sure you are getting every discount on petrol possible and saving money when you fill up. It's always nice to get a discount and save money on your road trip.

Spaceships petrol discount

Use our tips and get a discount on petrol every time you fill up your campervan's fuel tank

1. Save by using a fuel discount card

An AA Smartfuel card is a free card that will help you stack up on savings every time you use it to shop or buy gas at participating retail stores and gas stations across New Zealand. Every time you swipe the card you can use the discount straightaway to get several to tens of cents discount on the fuel price per litre OR you can save the discount as credit and use it at a later time. Basically, you can decide to get a discount on petrol now or to use it to get a free tank of petrol later.

All you have to do is swipe the Smartfuel card at participating BP and GAS petrol stations to redeem the discount OR to save it and to see your balance on the card go up and up. The savings you have put away will be applied to your bill and knock off the final price of our gas bill once you are finished filling up. Until 1 August 2019 Caltex is still a participant in the SmartFuel programme, but after 1 August 2019 GAS will join the programme. And they will be offering a discount of at least 6 cents per litre every day when you spend $40 or more on fuel.

This means that there will be more than 300 petrol stations (BP and GAS together) throughout New Zealand to get a discount on fuel with your AA SmartFuel Card. A big advantage is that GAS has a strong presence in regional and rural New Zealand. Now you can get discounted fuel almost everywhere, even if you're driving in the wop-wops (Kiwi slang for a road or area away from civilisation).

The Mobile Smiles card is a similar fuel discount card, but it can only be used at Mobile petrol stations. You can get this card for free as well and it works in the same way as the AA Smart Fuel Card. To save the most on fuel in New Zealand, it's best to get both fuel discount cards so you'll always get a discount and don't need to be on the look-out for one particular brand of petrol stations.

2. Save by using coupons from supermarkets like Pak ‘n Save and New World

You can get a discount on petrol when you shop at the discount supermarket chain Pak 'n Save. Most of these grocery stores have petrol pumps on location. Shopping here gets you savings by attaching a voucher at the very end of every receipt that you get when you shop there. This voucher will give you an amount of money which is how much you get in savings for every litre of fuel that you buy. After getting this voucher, you simply take it to the pumps that are at the same location and enter the code found on the voucher into the pump and your savings will instantly show up on your bill. Simple, quick, and easy to do!

The same goes for lots of New World supermarkets, where you will get a discount code to be used at participating petrol stations nearby. Supermarket chain Countdown is part of the AA Smartfuel programme so you can earn grocery and petrol discounts when shopping there.

Shopping in NZ to get discount on petrol

Shopping at specific supermarkets can get you an extra discount on petrol in New Zealand

3. Save through the Gull Effect

New Zealand's Automobile Association came up with the term, Gull Effect back in 2013 in a response to a trend in petrol prices dropping in locations where Gull's discount petrol stations popped up. This trend showed that when a Gull station was introduced to an area, other petrol stations were forced to drop their prices of petrol down as well in order to remain competitive.

The Gull effect is lowering the price of petrol by being a tough competitor and prompting other stations to react so that they stay in business. Everyone benefits when a Gull Station opens up, even if they don't buy fuel from that location. It is the type of competition that allows everyone to save money and win!

4. Shop around for the best prices

The price of gas throughout New Zealand varies a lot, even in a few kilometres radius. And even if you drive a fuel-efficient campervan and drive in an economical fashion, like driving across flat roads at a consistent speed (more tips about how to drive in a fuel-efficient way), there will still be a moment where you need to fill up on petrol. Instead of pulling into the first petrol station you see, drive around for a mile or so and find the station that offers the lowest prices. Prices vary so much from station to station in New Zealand that it doesn't take long to find the one that will get you the most fuel for your buck.

When roadtripping in New Zealand, it is important to fill up on fuel on time and not to wait until you're almost out of fuel. There are areas in New Zealand where it takes a while to get to the next petrol station. Also, travel plans can change due to weather or road conditions so even if you think you still have enough petrol to barely get to the next petrol station, circumstances can through a spanner in the works. We recommend filling up every morning before starting your road trip that day, especially if you're still in or near a town or city.

5. Utilize free apps & tools to compare fuel prices

GASPY and PriceWatch are two apps/websites that gather data about fuel prices throughout New Zealand. GASPY relies on data send through by their fans while PriceWatch uses data coming from fuel purchase transactions that are purchased with a card and upload them in real time. This data is then used to determine the least expensive, most expensive, and the average cost of fuel in a certain area. The data on these platforms are updated every night at midnight which means you are getting the most current price out there and getting the lowest priced fuel in your area every time you fill up.

Saving money on petrol in New Zealand is easy

As you can see, it is super easy to get a discount on petrol in New Zealand. Save a little every time you fill up and you'll have saved heaps at the end of your road trip. It's so easy to save on fuel in New Zealand, why wouldn't you want to do it? If you use our tips you can use that money to see & do more of New Zealand and all the amazing sceneries and activities the country has to offer.

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