South Africa’s fuel price fluctuates on an almost monthly basis as the fuel price is affected by global economic factors such as the oil price and the rand/dollar exchange rate. These fluctuations can be a couple of cents or a rand at a time, which might not seem like much when viewed in isolation but quickly add up over the period of a year’s worth of fuel spend.

How much do fuel price changes actually affect your fuel spend? Let’s crunch some numbers.
An average sized hatchback or compact SUV has a 45-litre tank and will be able to travel around 600km on that tank.

This means that if the fuel price drops by R1 per litre you will save R45 per full tank of fuel. At an average fuel consumption of 7,5 litres per 100km, that equates to a R7,50 saving for every 100 kilometres driven.

The average South African drives around R20 000km per year and based on the previous calculations a R1 per litre drop in fuel would equate to a R1500 saving per year.
While R1 per litre or R45 per tank might not seem like much given what things cost these days, what this boils down to is that with every R1 per litre that fuel increases or decreases equates to a R1500 difference over an entire year.

Over the last year the fuel prices in South Africa have fortunately been on a decreasing trajectory, recovering from all-time hights in the wake of COVID-19, the Russia Ukraine situation and other geopolitical factors. The result is that the petrol price has decreased by R4,60 between October 2023 and September 2024. While the price of diesel has decreased by around R6,50.
R4,60 is a significant number and using the same arithmetic as before equates to a saving of R207 per tank, R34,50 per 100 kilometres and a massive R6900 over the entire year for drivers of an average sized, petrol-powered car.

These calculations are based on an average vehicle and of course the more fuel your vehicle uses the bigger the saving.

Owners of diesel vehicles are saving even more, thanks to a R6,50 reduction over the last year. A double cab bakkie averages around R10 litres per 100km which equates to a R65 saving per tank and a total saving of R13000 per year.

The saving for trucks, which are South Africa’s main transporter and users of diesel is massive. At a fuel consumption of around 33 litres per 100km this reduction equates to a saving of over R43 290 for every 20 000km driven and most long-haul trucks do much more than that in a year. Imagine the total savings for a fleet of trucks.

Of course the maths remains valid if the fuel price increases, and it is easy to see why every R1 increase in the fuel price has a massive effect on South Africa’s economy.