Petrol price variance

[harvey4banger]

The price of petrol and how much it can vary from station to station, has started to bug the sh*t out of me.

Dropped the daughter back at Uni in Reading Sunday night, local Shell garage £1.29 a litre, my local Shell in Windsor £1.35 a litre.

Now how the hell can the be a variance of 6p a litre, 10 miles down the road. I could understand if I'd just drove down to Devon or Scotland, but Reading it's in the same County as Windsor.

:angry:

 

[brendy]

Local competitive prices and transport costs of the fuel will influence the pricing.
Even if they dropped 50p off the price of a litre its still too damn expensive. Sod the housing market, its fuel prices that have ruined the UK/Europe. Almost every sector is influenced by fuel costs be it heating, transport etc.

 

[Imurg]

It gets my Goat too......

Transport costs are going to be the same or virtually the same within a 20 mile radius so that's a non-starter. Aylesbury has just about the highest prices around.
MK, Watford, Wycombe - all 3-5p cheaper.
Why?

It's thievery nothing more.

 

[TXL]

To help me combat the practice you are seeing, I subscribed to the following website PetrolPrices.com

Sends out a weekly e-mail showing the 5 cheapest in your area. Hope this helps.

 

[Imurg]

Thanks Anthony - good call.

Tried it and all the stations within 5 miles of me are the same price.
I need to go 15 miles or more to see a reduction and then it's not worth it.
I could build filling up into lesson-time but then I have to co-ordinate the right pupil at the right time to get to these places.

Pain in the proverbial rear!

 

[G1BB0]

locally was 134p a litre for unleaded petrol, Asda then opened a petrol station and priced at 130p, suddenly the others followed suit so asda dropped to 129p, now asda is (was last time I checked) 128p, seems like a bit of local price fixing until asda blew them out of the water!!!

 

[GB72]

It does seem to help to have a supermarket petrol station to keep up the competition. In Grantham it is £1.28 in town and all of the petrol stations have to keep up with that to get any custom. People seem to be alert to it as well as the queues can be massive if one drops the price ahead of the others.

 

[chrisd]

I buy fuel in Sainsburys on a company fuel card and the ladies who work there said that they have to drive round to other petrol stations to check their prices and then Sainsbury set their accordingly. So, if they all want to they can hike the price at any time as one only seems to react to local market conditions


Chris

 

[RobCowan]

There was a bit of an outcry up here a few months ago when Tesco was found to have cheaper prices in Elgin than in Inverness. Ordinarily, not an issue apart from the fact that:

a) All of the fuel for the area comes in to Inverness Harbour on a bulk tanker
b) Funnily enough, Elgin has an ASDA as well as a Tesco, while Inverness just has a Tesco.

When the Inverness Courier pointed this out to them, they grumped but then promised to match Elgin's prices.

Just shows that the big supermarkets can pretty much please themselves on pricing!

 

[CliveW]

Thanks Anthony - good call.

Tried it and all the stations within 5 miles of me are the same price.
I need to go 15 miles or more to see a reduction and then it's not worth it.

Think yourself lucky that you can do that. In rural Perthshire we don't have the option of shopping around as the only alternatives are over 15 miles away.

 

[wull]

amazingly it's not so dear now in callander but up here in killin the difference can be as much as 6p but i was driving through to paisley today and in the back of nowhere they were charging over £1.40 for unleaded.....robbing barstewards!!!!!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The price of petrol and how much it can vary from station to station, has started to bug the sh*t out of me.

Dropped the daughter back at Uni in Reading Sunday night, local Shell garage £1.29 a litre, my local Shell in Windsor £1.35 a litre.

Now how the hell can the be a variance of 6p a litre, 10 miles down the road. I could understand if I'd just drove down to Devon or Scotland, but Reading it's in the same County as Windsor.

:angry:

The Murco on London Road opposite the Royal Berks is £1.27 at the moment. How can that be when Tesco is 10p a litre more and with supposedly bigger buying power so get it cheaper.

 

[USER1999]

I have no idea about petrol prices, as for the last ten years I have been driving ottos infernal invention.

However, in the great metrollops of Watford, the dome roundabout always has the cheapest fuel prices going. On the one roundabout there is a sainsburys, an asda, and a shell, so they drive the price as low as they can go.

The big problem is tax. Not fuel prices.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

To combat rising fuel costs, simply fill up your tank half way.

Oh, and do fewer journeys.

Or, fill up your tank and then drive off the forecourt as fast as your car will allow.

I can't do this as I drive a Zafira. :angry:

 

[AMcC]

In Irvine Tesco currently has it all its own way, 140.9 for diesel, drive a few miles to Kilmarnock with Morrison, Asda and Tesco and the price is 137.9 !!! it will be interesting this week when Sainsbury open both their store and petrol station in town. Watch how quickly Tesco drop their fuel prices. When spending £70 a week on diesel I always try and keep an eye on prices but too many people are too bl**dy lazy to go past their local station. Drives me mad as the only way they may drop prices is if people voted with their feet - rant over lol

locally was 134p a litre for unleaded petrol, Asda then opened a petrol station and priced at 130p, suddenly the others followed suit so asda dropped to 129p, now asda is (was last time I checked) 128p, seems like a bit of local price fixing until asda blew them out of the water!!!

 

[USER1999]

@aw, I love the thinking. Diesel prices don't affect me, as I only ever put £50 in.

 

[harvey4banger]

We have 4 petrol stations in Windsor

Shell £1.35
Texaco £1.36
Murco £1.34
BP £1.36

Now me personally, I will never fill up at a BP, because they are always 2 or 3p a litre more expensive than anywhere else. BP in Old Windsor £1.37, only petrol station there, so I suppose they have a captive audience, but still a rip off.

If we are talking about transport costs putting up the prices, Esso Southern perimeter road Heathrow £1.34 a litre, but it's linked by underground pipelines to the Esso fuel storage depot half a mile away, go figure

 

[CallawayKid]

BP get most of their money from fleet cars and trucks using their fuel card so the ad-hoc fuellers who pay cash are just the icing on the cake. Shell used to be very much like that but are getting better.

I went to our local Tesco (Only fuel station in our town) and asked the manager why the fuel prices were around 5-7 ppl more expensive than the Tesco 10 miles down the road. He started to try and confuse me with tales of transport costs for bringing that fuel the extra 10 miles...right up to the point where I asked why beans were the same price though... Cue one unhappy manager!

Tax is a large issue in fuel that can be cured by spreading the taxing. Did you know that if you fuel a private jet or a chartered private jet in the UK that you do not have to pay VAT on that fuel? Now, I would say that is a luxury and the fuel used to heat my old Gran's house is a necessity! So why is it taxed the other way? I'll let you decide that one...

It's something very close to my heart as it is the industry I work in and see different countries working in different ways. UK Petrol and Diesel - One of the most expensive in Europe, UK Jet fuel - One of the cheapest in Europe.

I shall now get off of my soap box!

CK

 

[Crazyface]

locally was 134p a litre for unleaded petrol, Asda then opened a petrol station and priced at 130p, suddenly the others followed suit so asda dropped to 129p, now asda is (was last time I checked) 128p, seems like a bit of local price fixing until asda blew them out of the water!!!

They don't all follow. Our local Tesco has joined in the cartel and they all keep prices high. I buy mine when I go to play golf over in Leek and get it 5p cheaper. F'k 'em !

 

[harvey4banger]

BP get most of their money from fleet cars and trucks using their fuel card so the ad-hoc fuellers who pay cash are just the icing on the cake. Shell used to be very much like that but are getting better.

I went to our local Tesco (Only fuel station in our town) and asked the manager why the fuel prices were around 5-7 ppl more expensive than the Tesco 10 miles down the road. He started to try and confuse me with tales of transport costs for bringing that fuel the extra 10 miles...right up to the point where I asked why beans were the same price though... Cue one unhappy manager!

Tax is a large issue in fuel that can be cured by spreading the taxing. Did you know that if you fuel a private jet or a chartered private jet in the UK that you do not have to pay VAT on that fuel? Now, I would say that is a luxury and the fuel used to heat my old Gran's house is a necessity! So why is it taxed the other way? I'll let you decide that one...

It's something very close to my heart as it is the industry I work in and see different countries working in different ways. UK Petrol and Diesel - One of the most expensive in Europe, UK Jet fuel - One of the cheapest in Europe.

I shall now get off of my soap box!

CK

Quick question then if youre in the industry, why is diesel more expensive than petrol, when the costs of making diesel must be far less petrol, as it's less refined?