Trip Fuel Cost Calculator
Work out what a South African road trip will cost in petrol or diesel, with return trip and per person splits.
Planning a road trip and want to know what it will cost in fuel before you go? This free calculator does the sums for you. Pick a common South African route or enter your own distance, choose your vehicle type or your real consumption, and pick petrol or diesel. It uses the current South African fuel price, updated weekly, to show the total cost, the litres you will burn, the cost per kilometre, and what it works out to per person when you split it with passengers.
Trip Fuel Cost Calculator
Work out what a road trip will cost in petrol or diesel, using current South African fuel prices.
Step 1
How far is the trip?
Pick a common route for a quick estimate, or enter your own distance. For a custom trip, open it in Google Maps to read off the kilometres, then type them in below.
Step 2
What does your vehicle use?
Choose the closest match, or set your own figure if you know your real consumption.
Step 3
Which fuel, and where do you fill up?
Inland is the Gauteng price, the coast is a few cents cheaper.
Step 4
Trip details
Total fuel cost
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How to work out the fuel cost of a road trip
Fuel is usually the biggest cost of a road trip, and it is easy to work out once you know three things, how far you are driving, how much your car drinks, and the current fuel price. Take the distance, divide by 100 and multiply by your consumption in litres per 100km to get the litres you will use, then multiply by the price per litre. The calculator above does all of this with the latest South African pump price, and adds the return trip, the split between passengers and repeat trips for a regular commute.
A few things push the real cost up. Town driving, a loaded car, a roof box, air conditioning and high speeds all raise consumption above the figure on the brochure, so if you have your own average from the trip computer it is worth using. Diesel and petrol 93 are usually a little cheaper than petrol 95, and the coastal price is a few cents below the inland one, all of which you can set above.
Weighing up driving against other options? See our Car vs Uber calculator to compare the true cost of driving with ride hailing, or trim other monthly bills with our bank fees comparison and prepaid data price comparison, or browse all our free South African tools and calculators.
Frequently asked questions
How is the fuel cost for a trip calculated?
The formula is simple. Fuel used in litres equals the distance in kilometres divided by 100, multiplied by your vehicle's consumption in litres per 100km. Multiply that by the fuel price per litre and you have the cost. For example, a 567km trip in a car using 7.5 L/100km burns about 42.5 litres, so at roughly R25 a litre it costs around R1 060 one way. The calculator does this for you and adds the return leg, passengers and repeat trips.
What fuel price does the calculator use?
It uses the latest South African pump price, refreshed automatically every week from the Automobile Association. You can choose petrol 95, petrol 93 or diesel, and switch between the inland price, which applies in Gauteng and most of the interior, and the slightly cheaper coastal price. The price and the month it applies to are shown under the result.
What consumption figure should I use?
If you know your own average, from your car's trip computer or by tracking your fill ups, enter that for the most accurate answer. If not, pick the closest vehicle type and the calculator uses a typical real-world figure, from about 6 litres per 100km for a small hatchback up to 11 or 12 for a large SUV or bakkie. Real consumption is usually a little higher than the maker's claim, especially in town.
Does it work out the cost per person?
Yes. Set how many people are in the car and it splits the total between everyone, which is handy for sharing fuel costs on a lift or a group road trip. It also shows the cost per kilometre, useful for claiming travel or comparing the running cost of different cars.
How do I get the distance for my own route?
Pick one of the common intercity routes for a quick estimate, or open the route in Google Maps using the link, read the distance off the map and type it into the distance box. Google Maps lets you add stops and avoid highways or tolls, so you can match the exact route you plan to drive.
Are the route distances exact?
They are approximate fastest-route distances between city centres, good enough for a fuel estimate. Your real distance will vary with your start and end points, detours and traffic, so treat the total as a close guide rather than a to-the-rand figure.