Which cards save you money, which forecourts accept them, and how to work out whether a discount actually beats a cheaper price down the road.
Almost every fuel group on the island runs some kind of discount, but they work in completely different ways. Some take money off at the pump, some only apply on certain days, and a couple are prize draws rather than a saving at all.
This page lists what is available, then shows the simple sum for deciding whether it is worth driving to a particular forecourt. Prices change most weeks, so check the live price table before you go.
| Scheme | Saving | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Rubis Card | 4p per litre | Rubis forecourts including Cobo Service Station, Vale Garage and Granada Motors |
| CIFL loyalty card | 2p per litre | Doyle Motors, and other CIFL sites that run the scheme |
| ATF discount days | 2p per litre, Wednesdays and Sundays only | ATF Castel (Thompsons) and ATF Barras Retail Centre |
| Local discount cards | Varies by site | Landes du Marché and Perelle Garage |
| Boatworks+ card | 4p per litre, plus bulk rates over 1,000 litres | Marine fuel at Boatworks+ |
| Prize draws | No saving at the pump | Le Mont Saint runs a monthly draw, Whiteway Motors gives draw entries for fuel vouchers |
Schemes change from time to time and not every site in a group runs the same offer. Ask at the kiosk if you are unsure, and let us know if something here is out of date.
This is where people lose money without realising. A 4p card sounds generous, but if that forecourt is already 5p dearer than the cheapest on the island, you are still paying more.
The sum is simple. Take the pump price, subtract your discount, and compare that against the cheapest price on the live table.
Worked example
Say the cheapest unleaded on the island is 168.9, and your nearest Rubis forecourt is showing 172.9 with a 4p card.
172.9 minus 4p is 168.9. Exactly the same. At that point the card has only cancelled out the difference, so you may as well use whichever is closer.
If the Rubis price were 171.9 instead, the card would put you at 167.9, which is a genuine 1p per litre better than the cheapest headline price.
On a 50 litre fill, 1p per litre is 50p. Over a year of weekly fills that is around £26, so it is worth knowing but it is not life changing. The bigger savings come from avoiding the most expensive forecourts entirely, where the spread across the island can be 7p or more per litre.
What the spread is worth
If the cheapest and dearest forecourts are 7p apart, a 50 litre fill costs £3.50 more at the wrong one. Fill up weekly and that is roughly £180 a year, for fuel that came off the same boat.
CIFL sites tend to change prices on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Rubis sites on Fridays. If prices are rising, filling before those days can save you a little. If they are falling, waiting can. Neither is a guarantee, but it explains why the island does not all move at once.
The ATF offer is one of the easier wins because it needs no card at all. If an ATF forecourt is already competitive on the live table, filling on a Wednesday or Sunday takes another 2p per litre off.
Guernsey is small, but fuel spent getting somewhere still counts. A ten minute detour to save 2p on a 50 litre fill saves you a pound. If it is on your way, take it. If it is not, it rarely pays.