The price of fuel is on what can only be described as a meteoric rise, and while we do our best to keep you up to date on fuel pricing with a list of the latest fuel price fluctuations for your convenience right here, now is the time do more to watch your fuel consumption. That’s why we’ve launched our fuel rate calculator – to make it all that much easier to work out how much fuel you use (and could use) to drive around and between towns and cities in South Africa.

Before we explain how a fuel calculator works, let’s unpack why you should consider using this kind of tool in the first place.

No matter where you live and what you drive, the costs of driving are huge. There’s no two ways about it, we’re going to have to be much more conscious about how we use our fuel and one of the ways we can do this is by using a fuel rate calculator.

Here are several reasons why you should consider using a tool like this.

1. Save money

You’d be surprised at much you end up spending on fuel without realising it. With the price of petrol and diesel rising at a colossal lick, and your buying power steadily declining due to inflation, it just makes sense to use a fuel calculator so that you can make more informed decisions around where and when to drive – and avoid unnecessary and expensive trips.

You’ll be surprised at how much you save when you make deliberate decisions, instead of hopping into the car for any old reason.

2. Optimise business expenses

We none of us can afford to be cavalier with the little expenses that come with running a business. Not when the economy is in a right state as a result of the pandemic. If your business makes any deliveries or collections, then the use of a fuel rate calculator can help you plan for these expenses. It beats getting a nasty shock at the end of every month, that’s for sure!

3. Save the environment

By using a fuel rate calculator, you can become that much more fuel efficient, and according to reports by the Matter of Trust organisation, fuel-efficient cars can help reduce pollution and smog by at least 50%. It might not seem like a big deal, but this planet is the only one that we’ve got and it makes sense to look after it in any way that we can. No matter how small that way might feel.

4. Accuracy matters

There are calculations you can run on your own to try and work out your fuel consumption, but really, this is usually a very rough estimate that tends to fluctuate. Which is perfectly fine for coming up with a rough number, but it can rather hinder you if you’re trying to improve your fuel consumption. That’s why it’s best to use a reliable calculator that you can trust.

How a fuel rate calculator works

If you were to make these calculations yourself, you’d need to start with a full tank and then zero your trip meter so that you can drive your car as you’d normally do until you reach around 400 km. Then you’ll fill up your tank again (painful though the expense may feel), jot down your distance travelled and litres of fuel used.

Next up is the maths bit, which is a matter of dividing the distance travelled by the litres used so that you can get the km/litre. And then you convert km/litre to L/100 km – which you get by dividing 100 by km/litre.

This is all good and well in theory, and we know that a fair few of you out there are more than capable of getting this right. But in practice, it’s not as easy to come out with an accurate figure. And it’s a painful exercise, no matter how good you are at maths.

Thankfully, AA Inform has a fuel rate calculator that you can rely on and all you have to do is fill in the relevant fields, and hey presto! You’ve got your answer.

Why not play around with the calculator now and see how much your next roadtrip could cost you in fuel?