AA Fuel Cost Calculator
Estimate fuel required, total journey cost, and cost per person before you travel.
What is an AA fuel calculator?
An AA fuel calculator helps you estimate how much fuel your trip will use and how much that fuel will cost. It is especially useful when planning road trips, budgeting weekly commuting expenses, or splitting travel costs with friends, family, or colleagues.
The version on this page follows the same practical idea: give it your distance, your car's fuel economy, and current fuel price per litre, and it returns a clear estimate in seconds.
Why this tool matters for drivers
Fuel is one of the biggest variable costs of owning a car. Small differences in price, driving style, and vehicle efficiency add up quickly over time. A quick check before driving can help you:
- Set a realistic travel budget before a trip.
- Compare whether one route is cheaper than another.
- Decide if car-sharing is worth it for group travel.
- Track and reduce monthly transport spending.
- Estimate your journey's carbon footprint.
How to use the calculator
1) Enter your trip distance
Add the one-way distance in miles or kilometres. If you are planning to return the same way, tick the round-trip checkbox to double the distance automatically.
2) Add your vehicle's fuel economy
You can use MPG (UK), MPG (US), or L/100km. Use whatever your dashboard, manual, or trip computer gives you. The calculator converts values behind the scenes to keep the result accurate.
3) Enter fuel price per litre
Type the current pump price you expect to pay. You can also switch display currency to GBP, EUR, or USD for easier reading.
4) Set passengers and fuel type
Passengers lets you split trip cost per person. Fuel type is used to estimate CO₂ emissions (a rough planning value, not a lab-certified number).
What the results tell you
After calculation, you get a useful breakdown:
- Total distance: adjusted for one-way or round-trip travel.
- Fuel needed: litres required for the full journey.
- Total fuel cost: your estimated spend based on price entered.
- Cost per mile/km: unit-level travel cost for comparisons.
- Cost per person: fair split amount for shared trips.
- Estimated CO₂: a practical sustainability reference.
Quick example
Suppose your trip is 150 miles, your car returns 50 MPG (UK), and fuel is £1.60 per litre. The calculator converts gallons to litres and estimates both fuel use and total spend. If you are traveling with three other people, the per-person figure makes cost-sharing straightforward and transparent.
Tips to reduce fuel spend
- Drive smoothly: avoid hard acceleration and late braking.
- Maintain tyre pressure: underinflated tyres increase fuel use.
- Remove excess weight from the boot when possible.
- Use cruise control on longer steady-speed roads.
- Plan routes to avoid congestion and unnecessary detours.
- Combine errands into one trip instead of several short starts.
Important notes
All fuel calculations are estimates. Real-world mileage changes with weather, traffic, speed, gradient, tyre type, load, and engine condition. For best budgeting accuracy, use recent real consumption data from your own car rather than brochure values.
If you drive an electric or hybrid vehicle, this fuel-only model may not represent your full energy costs. In that case, use dedicated EV charging and mixed-mode calculators in addition to this one.