Choosing a petrol station can be practical and habitual. Drivers may stop where the route is convenient, where loyalty points matter, or where fuel prices feel most competitive.
YouGov BrandIndex data identifies which brands UK adults who visit petrol stations at least monthly would consider, which brands have had the largest shifts in consideration year-on-year, and how petrol station brands compare on net Value and net Quality scores.
In this article, we cover:
Top 10 petrol station brands by Consideration
Tesco Petrol ranks first in consideration, with 50.3% of UK adults who visit petrol stations at least monthly saying they would consider the brand the next time they are in the market to fill up their tank.
Sainsbury’s Petrol follows in second place at 41.3%, leaving a 9.0-point gap between the top two brands. Asda Petrol ranks third at 32.2%, while Morrison’s Petrol places fourth at 29.3%.
BP ranks fifth at 28.2%. Shell (26.9%), Esso (24.6%), Texaco (15.6%), Jet (10.1%), and Gulf (6.8%) round out the top 10.
The top four positions all go to supermarket petrol brands. Supermarket brands often have loyalty schemes that might be more attractive to the end consumer, which means they can save money in the long run across their food and petrol costs combined.
Top 10 year-on-year movement in petrol station Consideration
The year-on-year movements highlight only modest changes in consideration sets among consumers.
Tesco Petrol records the largest positive movement, rising by 1.5 points from 48.8% to 50.3%, further cementing its place at the top of the petrol station rankings. Asda Petrol is effectively unchanged at 32.2%, while Morrison’s Petrol is also flat after rounding, moving from 29.4% to 29.3%.
Among the remaining displayed brands, the largest decline is for Texaco, down 1.0 points. Jet falls 0.9 points, Esso falls, while Gulf and Murco saw a decline in consideration of less than half a point.
The overall picture is one of limited change year-on-year rather than sharp reshuffling.
How petrol station brands compare on Value and Quality
Consideration shows which petrol station brands people would put on the shortlist when they need to fill their tank next. Value and Quality provide a different view of how these brands are perceived.
Supermarket petrol brands lead the Value ranking. Tesco Petrol records the highest net Value score at 24.7, followed by Sainsbury’s Petrol (19.9), Asda Petrol (16.8), and Morrison’s Petrol (13.7).
The Quality ranking looks different. Shell records the highest net Quality score at 24.6, followed by BP at 23.0% and Esso at 17.7%. Tesco Petrol follows closely with the fourth highest Quality score at 17.2, and Sainsbury’s Petrol completes the top five with a net score of 15.1.
The split shows different patterns across the measures. Supermarket petrol brands lead the Consideration and Value results, while oil-brand forecourt networks record stronger Quality scores - this could be due to their fuel ranges or in-store retail experience.
M&S Food at BP operates as a long-standing convenience store partnership across Great Britain. Not all petrol stations in the UK sell higher-performance, high-octane options like Shell V-Power or BP Ultimate, so the fuel types offered may also have an impact.
How Consideration differs by region
The regional data reinforces the strength of the national leader. Tesco Petrol ranks first in each of the seven regions in this analysis, although the competitive picture beneath it changes by region.
Tesco Petrol has the highest regional Consideration in Wales at 58.7%, followed by the East of England at 57.2% and the South of England at 52.2%. Its lowest displayed regional score is in the North of England at 45.0%, but even there it remains the leading brand in the region’s consideration set.
London is the closest regional race. Tesco Petrol leads at 45.5%, but Shell stands at 40.1%, BP at 39.7%, and Sainsbury’s Petrol at 39.5%. That is a much tighter group than in Wales, where Tesco Petrol leads by more than 20 points over the next highest brand.
Outside London, supermarket petrol brands are especially prominent. In Wales, the top four consideration scores belong to Tesco Petrol (58.7%), Morrison’s Petrol (37.3%), Asda Petrol (37.1%), and Sainsbury’s Petrol (31.9%). In Scotland, Tesco Petrol leads at (51.3%), followed by Asda Petrol (39.6%) and Morrison’s Petrol (36.5%).
The regional results should not be treated as explanations for consumer behaviour, but they show where national brand strength is broad-based and where local competitive context looks more crowded. The significant regional difference here is that Shell and BP stand in the top 3 amongst petrol stations in London only.
Methodology
This article draws on YouGov BrandIndex data collected among UK adults from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026, with year-on-year comparisons made against 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025.
The analysis focuses on UK adults who visit petrol stations one or more times a month. For the 2025-26 period, the national analysis is based on n>8,390 UK adults who visit petrol stations one or more times a month. Year-on-year comparisons use the same audience in the 2024-25 comparison period, with n>7,550.
Rankings are based on the following petrol stations that are tracked in BrandIndex: Tesco Petrol, Sainsbury’s Petrol, Asda Petrol, Morrison’s Petrol, BP, Shell, Esso, Texaco, Jet, Gulf, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, and Murco. Figures are rounded to one decimal place.
Consideration is the percentage of respondents who selected the individual brands in response to this question: “When you are in the market next to purchase from an auto and gasoline brand, from which of the following would you consider purchasing?”
Value and Quality are reported as net scores. The Value question is: “Which of the following auto and gasoline brands do you think represents good or poor value for money?” The Quality question is: “Which of the following auto and gasoline brands do you think represents good or poor quality?” Net scores show positive responses minus negative responses.
Regions in this analysis are: East of England, London, Midlands, North of England, Scotland, South of England, and Wales. Regional sample sizes for UK adults who visit petrol stations one or more times a month are: East n>740; London n>750; Midlands n>1,270; North n>1,810; Scotland n>650; South n>1,800; and Wales n>390.
Disclosure: The data analysis in this article was conducted by YouGov with the assistance of AI tools.
About YouGov BrandIndex
YouGov BrandIndex is an always-on brand tracking solution that measures consumer perceptions of thousands of brands every day. It helps marketers monitor brand health over time, benchmark performance against competitors, identify audience-specific strengths and weaknesses, and understand how consumer perceptions change.
How to explore deeper petrol station brand data and competitor benchmarks
This ranking is one view of the broader petrol station and forecourt data available in YouGov BrandIndex. Additional analysis can include competitor benchmarks, regional comparisons, audience cuts, year-over-year movement, and other relevant brand-health measures.
Request a BrandIndex briefing to explore how petrol station brands perform across the competitors, audiences and metrics that matter most.