How FuelFi works

How to report a gas price

1. Open fuelfi.ca and enter your phone number, then tap Send code. Learn more
2. Type the 6-digit code we text you and tap Verify. Learn more
3. Allow your location, or tap Use a city instead. Learn more
4. Tap the station you're at on the map or in the list. Learn more
5. Tap Report a price. Learn more
6. Enter the prices on the sign - any grades you see, leave the rest blank. Add a photo of the sign if you like. Learn more
7. Tap Submit report while you're at the station. Learn more
8. That's it. See what happens to your report. Learn more

Looking for the cheapest fill-up for your vehicle? See Finding the best deal for your vehicle.

The details

1. Your phone number

• Why we ask: your phone number is your account. It means one account per person, which keeps prices honest - nobody can flood the map with fake reports from a pile of throwaway accounts. There's no password to remember or leak.
• What we use it for: signing you in, and nothing else unless you choose otherwise. We never show it publicly, never sell it, and never use it for advertising.
• Who handles it: Twilio, the service that sends the text, receives your number to deliver the code.
• Full details: Privacy Policy.

Back to the steps

2. The code

• A 6-digit code arrives by text message within a few seconds. It works once and expires after 10 minutes.
• No code? Check the number, wait a minute and tap Send code again. Standard text-message rates from your carrier may apply.
• After you verify, you stay signed in on that device for up to 30 days.

Back to the steps

3. Your location

• Why: to show the stations around you, nearest first.
• Don't want to share it? Tap Use a city instead and pick your country, province or state, and city. You can browse prices this way - but to report a price you'll need location on (see step 7).

Back to the steps

4. Picking the station

• Tap it on the map or in the list to open its page: current prices, its star rating and a Follow button (get a notification when its price goes stale).
• Station missing? On the home screen tap Don't see your station? Report it missing and we'll review and add it.

Back to the steps

5. Report a price

• The Report a price button is on the station's page. You need to be signed in (steps 1-2).

Back to the steps

6. The prices (and an optional photo)

• Enter any grades you can see on the sign - regular, mid, premium or diesel. At least one.
• Photo: optional, but it helps us check the price. Tap Take photo or Choose photo.
  • We remove the hidden location data a phone stores in a photo before saving it.
  • Please photograph the sign only - no people or licence plates.
  • Photos stay with the price report, including if you later delete your account; you can ask us to remove a specific photo at privacy@fuelfi.ca. See the Privacy Policy.

Back to the steps

7. Being at the station

• Reports only count if you're within about 300 metres of the station when you tap Submit report. That's what makes FuelFi's prices trustworthy: they come from people actually standing there.
• We check your location when you start the report and again when you tap Submit report. The form shows how far you are from the station. If you're too far, tap Refresh location when you're there - what you've typed stays.
• Your location at those two moments is deleted if you delete your account.

Back to the steps

8. What happens next

• Within about an hour your report is compared with other recent reports for that station.
• Accepted reports earn points and help build your reliability, which gives your future reports more weight. Reports that are far off what others saw aren't accepted.
• If you've opted in to the weekly raffle, your accepted reports count as entries. When the raffle is running you can also redeem points for extra entries in Profile > Redeem points (see the Official Rules). Raffle draws aren't running yet - the Service tells you when they are.
• Your early reports count. Points you earn now stay on your account, so when the raffle is switched on you'll be able to use them. Nothing is guaranteed, and the points program can change or end (see the Terms of Service). We plan to reward early contributors and will announce how; no particular reward is promised.
• Want your name on your reports and the leaderboards? Set a username in Profile > Account > Report attribution. It's off unless you turn it on, and it never shows your phone number.

Back to the steps

Why isn't FuelFi in the app store?

You don't need it to be. FuelFi works right in your browser - nothing to download from a store, no store account, and it's always the latest version. Add it to your home screen and it gets its own icon, like any other app. It's the same FuelFi on iPhone, Android and your computer.

• Android: tap Install when FuelFi offers it, or open your browser's menu and choose Install app or Add to Home screen.
• iPhone: in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Price-alert notifications on iPhone only work once FuelFi is added this way.
• Computer: click the install icon at the right end of the address bar, or use the browser's menu.

Finding the best deal for your vehicle

Once you've saved a vehicle (Profile > Preferences > Your vehicles), the home screen shows two lines above the station list:

• Closest - the nearest station that has a price, with its distance and price.
• Best deal - the station that costs you the least to fill up at in your vehicle, and how much you would save compared with the closest one after paying for the extra drive. When the closest station is also the cheapest way to fill up, it says so.

Tap See more… under them to change the settings.

What "best deal" means

The lowest price on the sign isn't always the cheapest fill-up. Driving farther burns fuel, and crossing the border can mean a toll. FuelFi adds those costs to every priced station near you and ranks them by what a fill-up really costs:

• The fuel itself - the price per litre times the litres you plan to buy (40 L unless you change it).
• The extra drive - only the distance beyond the closest station counts, because you would have to drive to the closest one anyway. FuelFi works out the fuel your vehicle burns on that extra distance, using its combined fuel-economy rating, and prices it at that station's price.
• A border toll - if you've saved a usual crossing in Profile > Preferences > Calculator, it is added for stations on the other side of the border from the closest one.
• Your card's exchange fee - if you've entered one in Profile > Preferences > Calculator, it is added to fuel bought in the other currency. It is 0 unless you set it.

Prices are shown per litre in your own currency setting, so a Windsor station and a Detroit station can be compared directly.

An example

Say regular costs $1.60 per litre at the closest station, and a station 6 km farther away costs $1.50. On a 40 L fill that is $4.00 less at the pump, but getting there and back adds about 12 km of driving:

• A hybrid that uses 5 L per 100 km burns about 0.6 L extra - roughly $0.90. It saves about $3.10, so the farther station is its best deal.
• A large truck that uses 16 L per 100 km burns about 1.9 L extra - roughly $2.88. It saves only about $1.12, so the trip is barely worth it.
• If the gap were just 3¢ per litre ($1.20 on 40 L), the hybrid would save about $0.26 - hardly worth the drive - and the truck would lose about $1.81. For both, the closest station is the best deal.

Same stations, different vehicles, different answers. That is why the comparison needs a saved vehicle.

Crossing the border for gas

FuelFi compares both sides in your own currency. A US price per gallon is converted with the Bank of Canada's daily exchange rate and 3.785 litres to the gallon, so a Detroit station and a Windsor station are compared directly, per litre.

Three things decide whether the trip pays:

• The price gap, after the exchange.
• Your vehicle. Save it in Profile > Preferences > Your vehicles. FuelFi uses its official fuel economy to price the fuel you burn on the extra drive to the other side and back, and ranks a diesel on diesel prices.
• The toll. If you've saved your usual crossing (Profile > Preferences > Calculator), its toll is added to every station across the border: twice for a round trip, once for one way. Some bridges only charge on the way into Canada (see the table below); for those, a round trip pays once and a one-way trip into the US pays nothing. Going across for shopping or work? Turn Include my usual border toll off, or set the trip to one way, since you would be making the trip anyway.
• Your card's exchange fee. Many cards add about 2.5% to purchases in the other currency. Enter your card's fee in Profile > Preferences > Calculator and it is added to the fuel you buy across the border. It is 0 until you set it, for cards with no fee or if you pay in that currency.

An example. Say Detroit is US$3.70 a gallon and the rate is 1.42. That is about $1.39 CAD a litre, against $1.78 in Windsor - 39¢ a litre less. The station is 10 km beyond your closest one, so 20 km extra there and back.

On a fuel-only trip at the Ambassador Bridge's standard rate (US$10 each way, about $28.40 CAD round trip), the hybrid would lose about $10 and the pickup would come out about $2 behind. Same prices, different vehicles and reasons for crossing, different answers - that is why the calculator asks for your vehicle and your crossing. These figures are an example; the calculator uses today's prices.

Not included: the time and fuel spent waiting at the border.

The crossings you can save, and their standard toll for a passenger vehicle (cash or card, not a pre-paid pass). FuelFi uses the price the operator posts in your currency (Profile > Preferences > Units and currency); where it posts only one currency, the other is worked out with the day's exchange rate:

The other crossings FuelFi compares (in British Columbia, the Prairies, Quebec and New Brunswick) have no toll. On the border banner, your saved crossing's toll counts only near that crossing; anywhere else it is "not counted". Today's live comparison is on the Windsor vs. Detroit page.

The border price banner

When you are within 100 km of one of the 18 border crossings FuelFi compares, a banner at the top of the station list tells you which side of the border is cheaper right now, in plain words. Tap it to see each calculation; tap How this was calculated to see the numbers behind them.

What it shows. Near Windsor/Detroit, three calculations:

1. whether to fill up before or after you cross, and how much less (or more) a fill costs at the Ambassador Bridge duty-free stations;
2. how much cheaper gas is per litre at the bridge;
3. how much cheaper gas is per litre on average across all stations within 25 km of the crossing on each side, and what that is on your fill.

Near every other crossing, two: the result on your fill, then the difference per litre, both from the stations within 25 km on each side.

Which prices. For each side, FuelFi takes each station's newest price from the last 3 days - one reported by FuelFi drivers, or a "spotted elsewhere" price - and averages them. Duty-free stations are left out of the averages and used only for the bridge figure. Windsor's duty-free station posts only diesel, so for other grades the bridge figure compares the Detroit duty-free price with the Windsor average.

Canadian or US dollars. The banner works in the currency you choose in Profile > Preferences > Units and currency (for guests, the side of the border you're on): in Canadian dollars per litre with a 40 litre fill, kilometres and L/100 km - or in US dollars per gallon with a 10 gallon fill, miles and mpg. Your own fill size in Profile > Preferences > Calculator replaces the default. Either way, a price on the other side is converted with 3.785 litres to the US gallon and the Bank of Canada's rate for the day, as shown in "How this was calculated".

The switches on the banner.

• Include toll - adds your saved usual crossing's toll (Profile > Preferences > Calculator), at its posted price: once one way, twice for a round trip, once in total for a bridge that only charges into Canada. The bridge figure always uses the Ambassador Bridge toll, since that's the bridge you cross to buy there.
• Gas used - adds the fuel your saved vehicle burns driving to the crossing (and back, for a round trip), priced at the cheaper side's price.
• One way | Round trip - one way unless you choose round trip. It changes the gas for the drive and the toll together, so both describe the same trip.

All three are the same settings as Include the toll, Count the gas to drive to the crossing and Round trip in Profile > Preferences > Calculator: change one in either place and both show it, on every device you sign in on.

Each needs its setting first (a saved crossing, a saved vehicle). Your card's exchange fee (Profile > Preferences > Calculator) is added when you have set one. Calculation settings on the banner opens Profile > Preferences > Calculator, where all of them are.

The steps.

1. Convert the US price. A US price is per US gallon in US dollars. FuelFi divides it by 3.785 (litres in a US gallon) and multiplies by the Bank of Canada's exchange rate for the day, giving Canadian dollars per litre.
2. The difference per litre - the dearer side's price minus the cheaper side's.
3. On your fill - that difference times the litres you buy: your own fill size from the calculator, or a standard 40 litres.
4. Take away the costs of crossing that are switched on: the toll, the gas for the drive, your card fee.
5. The result - if the fill still costs less on the other side after those costs, the banner says Fill up after you cross and how much less it costs; if it costs more, Fill up before you cross and how much more. If you are already on the cheaper side, it says Fill up before you cross and how much less a fill costs where you are. At about the same price it says so, and still gives the amount.

An example. Say Detroit is US$3.785 a gallon at the bridge, the exchange rate is 1.40, and the Windsor average is $1.800 a litre. You buy 40 litres, drive a vehicle that uses 8 L per 100 km, live 8 km from the crossing, make a round trip, have saved the Ambassador Bridge as your crossing and set a 2.5% card fee.

Already going across for shopping or work? Then the toll is not a cost of the fill-up: switch Include toll off and the same fill saves $16.00 − $1.79 − $1.40 = $12.81.

Hide hides the banner until you next open FuelFi; to turn it off for good, switch off Show the border price banner in Profile > Preferences > Border banner.

The "Best for your vehicle" sort

Under the map, Best for your vehicle sorts the whole station list by that same real cost, cheapest first, so you can see the second and third best deals too, not only the top one. Cheapest, by comparison, sorts by the price on the sign alone.

• It ranks on your vehicle's own fuel grade - a diesel vehicle is ranked on diesel prices.
• Stations without a usable price come after the ranked ones, nearest first.
• It matters most near the border and on longer drives. In a city, with stations a few hundred metres apart, the order is close to Cheapest.

The settings under "See more…"

These are your settings in Profile > Preferences > Calculator: a change here changes them there, and on the border banner, too.

• Vehicle - which saved vehicle to use, if you have more than one.
• Round trip - off by default: it counts the drive one way. Turn it on to count there and back. The border banner has its own One way | Round trip, which also decides how many times the toll is counted.
• Include "spotted elsewhere" prices - off by default (see below).
• Change - opens Profile > Calculate my savings with the same settings already filled in, so you can try "what if" questions: different litres, two stations you pick yourself, the toll switched on or off. It's a scratch pad: nothing you change there changes your settings.

The same options are in the calculator on each station's page, which is a scratch pad too.

What "spotted elsewhere" means

A price that did not come from a FuelFi driver's report but from another source. It is always labelled "spotted elsewhere" with how long ago it was seen, and it is never called reported or verified. A spotted price older than 3 days is ignored. When you turn it on, it is used only where a station has no recent price reported by drivers.

Important: these are estimates

The trip and savings figures are estimates to help you decide - not quotes - and your actual cost can differ:

• Distances are straight-line. FuelFi measures the direct distance between you and each station, not the roads. The real route is usually longer, and may include bridges, one-way streets or detours.
• Traffic and driving conditions. Congestion, stop-and-go driving, speed and weather change how much fuel you burn. FuelFi uses your vehicle's official combined fuel-economy rating.
• Prices change. A price reported a few hours ago may not be the price at the pump, and spotted prices are less certain than recent driver reports.
• Tolls. FuelFi uses a standard published rate for your saved crossing. What you actually pay depends on your vehicle type and how you pay, and rates change.
• Your position. Distances are measured from where you were when the screen loaded.

Always confirm the price at the pump before you buy. See section 5 of the Terms of Service.

Open FuelFi