[Ann1975]

To be honest, I've just come here for a rant.

The cost of petrol is insane!

£1.46.9 is daylight robbery. It's unsustainable for the average driver, and yes, I understand that there are much more important things going on in the world that pushed the prices up.

[Beelzebub]

According to data on the RAC website, the average price has been over £1.40 since October 2021, i.e. almost three year ago.

There have been no reports of large numbers of "average" drivers giving up there cars in that time, which suggests that it is indeed sustainable.

[Ann1975]

How dare you bust my argument with logic and reason. 😉

I just feel like the price of things keep going up and the value isn't keeping pace. Rant over.

[Drivingforfun]

I don't know why, but loads of people don't realise that the cost is mostly down to the government

Taking away the taxes, the price of the actual petrol is about £0.60 on a £1.40 litre

Oil price and manufacturing costs play a part (as a percentage) somewhere like America, where the cost of fuel can double or triple (and the opposite) quite quickly, but then when you don't pay much in the first place, doubling a small number still leaves you with a relatively small number 😊

[Ann1975]

Well, don’t get me started on them 😂

[Rolebama]

In the grand scheme of things, petrol isn't really that expensive. I have always worked on the basis of: How many x could I buy in 1970 and 1980 with the money I put in my pocket on payday? How much would I need in my pocket today to buy the same amount of x? Generally, this works about £900 to 1250 per week, petrol, works out at about £750.
I do strongly agree, however, that retailers in general are taking us for a ride. Particularly in view of how when fuel prices go up, there is an immediate increase at the pumps, yet when prices go down it's: "We bought this at the higher price, so it won't be going down until we buy at the new price."

[bobbybrown111]

The cost of petrol is outrageous right now, and it's tough for the average driver. It’s hard to keep up with such prices

[Mark07]

The extracts below were taken from here.

Fuel prices fell for the second consecutive month but not by as much as they should have [...]

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “This month’s Fuel Watch report also reveals just how expensive fuel is when bought at forecourts owned and run by oil giants Shell and BP. We remain baffled how the very same fuel can be sold for such vastly different prices by the biggest retailers, whether they’re run by supermarkets or the world’s largest oil companies."

[Drivingforfun]

I monitor the commodity markets daily and I actually notice petrol stations leaving the price for a good fortnight before adjusting them to follow raw material prices - in either direction. One thing I do notice though is all the stations in a local area seem to change all at once, it's as if they all agree to hold out together, although I know that's illegal

I think it's a bit off when the government accuse petrol stations of inflating the price, which they may well be doing, but by what, 5p a litre, when the government add about 70-80 pence to the price of a litre

[Mark07]

Some useful articles on the changing costs of fuel...

The RAC has called on retailers to reduce fuel costs by 6p per litre to reflect lower wholesale costs - see article here.

We also expect that fuel duty will increase, from its current level, by 5p in the October budget - see article here.

[NMNeil]

Human nature.
Here it's 59 pence per liter, and we still bitch and moan about the cost.

[Mdb51]

Can I ask please please if any members still use the old E5 petrol.

My car ( 2012 Vauxhall Corsa D ) runs better with the older E5 stuff and about 2 weeks ago, I was near the shell garage at the Glegg Arms roundabout near Heswall, I went in as my car needed a fillup, wished I had gone elsewhere as it cost me £1.76 a litre ( my apologies, I don't bother with the .9 nonsense, it does my head in ), the fillup ( from 1/4 of a tank ) cost me £62.50 for around 30 - 35 litres of fuel.

I went to a Sainsbury's garage last night, paid £1.49 a litre and got roughly 32 litres of E5 petrol for £47.50 again from 1/4 of a tank to full.

Tesco seems to be 1 of the lowest at the moment as they are charging £1.35 a litre for the E10 fuel which I absolutely can't stand. The fuel economy with E10 fuel doesn't justify ( in my mind ) the cost of potentially filling up every 3 - 5 days.

I tried it for a few weeks after it was introduced and the amount of mileage availability I was losing was ridiculous. In my 1st week, I lost over 100 miles within 3 days. My availability was showing 420 miles from full, by day 3 it was down to 316 miles.

My brother had the same issue, he drives a 53 reg ford focus and he too also noticed a serious loss of available mileage, I think he said he lost around 135 miles in his 1st week but as he has a bigger fuel tank for his car's 1.6 litre engine, he had a starting available mileage of around 460 miles.

I don't know what other members think and I would be interested to read your comments but I think the E10 fuel was a bad mistake.

[Mark07]

You may have already noticed, but fuel prices across the UK have been falling quickly.

Personally, I saw petrol at 131.7 and even 129.9 yesterday 😲

[Rolebama]

According to the two websites I occasionally visit, it is around £1.34 here. Neither of them seem to list supermarket prices. Strangely, for the past twenty years or so, the busiest petrol station around here is also the most expensive, (between 6 and 10p a litre more than others). I don't understand it.

[Mark07]

I saw £131.7 at an Asda petrol station, £129.9 was at a small independent.

I also saw £136.9 at a BP, but that was a station next to the motorway slip road - it's consistently the most expensive in the area.

[onestitchloose]

We're on to 128.99 locally at the moment. Hope it continues to fall. I'm sure it did this about a year ago though and lasted a few weeks then shot back up again :(

[Mark07]

Diesel prices have also hit a 3-year low, prices should be around £135 at the moment 🎉

The RAC have also seen reports of unleaded petrol hitting as low as £126.

According to an RAC statement, this is due to combination of lower wholesale costs and the £ performing well. There is even the possibility that prices could go down a touch further, but we'll need to wait and see if that happens (and how long this lasts).

[NMNeil]

Something i can't understand is that I live on the edge of the Permian Basin, one of the biggest oil fields in the US, and here in Roswell I paid $2.89 a gallon a few days ago.
But I drove to Artesia yesterday, which is about 40 miles away, and it costs $3.20 a gallon.
Now my confusion is that the petrol station is on the main road opposite the Navajo Oil Refinery, where they are loading up the tankers to take the refined petrol to Roswell. ??

[Mark07]

There's a town nearby me, it has multiple petrol stations (inc supermarkets, who are usually the cheapest) and the whole town is consistently 3-5p more expensive per litre (12-20p per gallon).

I have no idea why they're charging more than everyone else.

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by NMNeil

Something i can't understand is that I live on the edge of the Permian Basin, one of the biggest oil fields in the US, and here in Roswell I paid $2.89 a gallon a few days ago.
But I drove to Artesia yesterday, which is about 40 miles away, and it costs $3.20 a gallon.
Now my confusion is that the petrol station is on the main road opposite the Navajo Oil Refinery, where they are loading up the tankers to take the refined petrol to Roswell. ??

Your confusion is due to expecting there to be a direct relationship between cost and price. If the customers in Artesia are willing to pay $3.20, it would be foolish to charge less.

[NMNeil]

@Beelzebub True, that's why we always see the big RV's and trucks filling up in Roswell, but not in Artesia 🤣