Petrol Prices: Where do you shop?

[Martin]

Being relatively new to car expenses, where do you go to fill up? Where is cheaper? Does anyone use these 'special' unleaded brand fuels that are always that bit more expensive?

I keep meaning to start checking forecourt prices but I alwats forget. The only place I avoid is the local Esso after having the piss ripped out of me for coming in for £10.01p of petrol - "you need a bit more self control mate"

[cwathen]

Being relatively new to car expenses, where do you go to fill up? Where is cheaper? Does anyone use these 'special' unleaded brand fuels that are always that bit more expensive?

Usually supermarket forecourts are amongst the cheapest in the areas that I frequent, but this may not be the case everywhere. Usually you'll find that most garages in a particular area are all within 1 or 2 pence of each other, so unless you're buying a particularly large amount of fuel there isn't much to be saved in finding the absolute cheapest garage there is - it's more important to identify (and avoid) the high-priced garages rather than worry about finding the cheapest ones. As a general rule of thumb though, the supermarkets and the more common branded forecourts (Esso, Shell, BP, Texaco, Jet) will be the most reasonably priced.

Always avoid attended service garages (there are still a few around) - they always charge a fortune. These tend to be identifiable by carrying a more obscure brand, like BWOC or UK Petroleum.

Should you buy super unleaded? It depends very much on your car. If you've got a high performance car, then the higher octane fuel can make a difference. If on the other hand you've just got a little runabout with a small engine, then there is no point in buying it.

I keep meaning to start checking forecourt prices but I alwats forget. The only place I avoid is the local Esso after having the piss ripped out of me for coming in for £10.01p of petrol - "you need a bit more self control mate"

To be fair, it is getting harder and harder to achieve the skill of being able to round off your fuel purchase to the nearest pound - as prices rise, so does the speed at which the numbers go up, thus making it harder to put in an exact amount of fuel.

[fusionlad]

Tesco seem to be the cheapest in Plymouth at the moment, by more than 3p a litre.

[russnet]

The thing I hate about living in Milton Keynes is the secret cartel that is apparent among the different traders. Once one station puts their price up, suddenly the same time, all the different retailers also do the same thing.

On one road, we have a BP on one side and a Texaco parraell on the other side and since the big drop in prices to around 76.9p last week. Texaco put their price up a penny. BP stayed at 76.9 and then went up a penny which automatically within hours made Texaco go up a penny to 78.9. Today, BP went up a further penny (you still here, lol) to 78.9 and just as I go around that area, Texaco have done the same and their price is 79.9p

Is it what the market dictates or is it what the local shop deciding what their price is because surely that looks a bit suss what I put in the second paragraph. Surely price rises can't be as silly as that.

[nwtv2003]

I'm insured on my sister's car at the moment, as I can't yet afford to insure myself, but when I do use it I usually go to Morrisons, only because it is the nearest to my house, in South Warrington it is very hard to find a Petrol station, the nearest after Morrisons is Esso! There used to be a cheap station near Morrisons, but due to Morrisons they closed down and was subseqeuently knocked down and replaced with Apartments called "Stockton View"

I am never too arsed about the price, in fact I never notice it, I usually fill it up to about £10.00, but I have gone over to £10.01 which is embarrasing! But I'm getting better.

Though I have seen some prices sky high, such as a petrol station called Power on the A57 in Eccles past Makro, which is in the middle of nowhere, charges sky high prices and no-one is ever there!

[Nick Harvey]

Tesco seem to be the cheapest in Plymouth at the moment, by more than 3p a litre.

3.7p per litre cheaper if you've got a Clubcard, as you get the extra 1%.

[russnet]

Ahh remembers the time when Safeway offered as much as 20p per litre off on fuel. Mind you to get you had to spend £150 on a single transaction in the main shop.

[russnet]

Bad Mr Morrison Badddd!

[cwathen]

Tesco seem to be the cheapest in Plymouth at the moment, by more than 3p a litre.

Which one? ISTR that the Woolwell Tescos was usually cheaper than anywhere else (I remember the time - only 3 years ago, when their fuel plummeted to 68.9 for a few weeks), but I hardly ever go there because for me it involves a long journey up a particularly conjested road. The other Tescos at Lee Mill always seemed to be priced at 'Plymouth average' prices, although since the old store which time forgot was finally replaced, I've never been up there.

The thing I hate about living in Milton Keynes is the secret cartel that is apparent among the different traders. Once one station puts their price up, suddenly the same time, all the different retailers also do the same thing.

Now this is what I don't understand with fuel prices. With every other consumer product, there is a lot of competition amongst the biggest providers to offer their product cheaper than anywhere else, so that more people buy it, so that the store can then buy in greater bulk for cheaper prices, thus benefitting the consumer and the company. Large supermarkets even take this concept to the extreme of selling things at a loss in order to get the punters in - because they will easily be able to recoup that cost with the higher volumes of product they will buy in next time.

Surely, with the price of petrol being a constant complaint, it would seem obvious for Tesco/Sainsburys/Safeways/whatever to start undercutting everyone else for fuel, not as part of a loyalty scheme, not by some paltry 1 or 2 pence figure, but by a meaningful amount, like 10p per litre, or more. If everyone else is flogging fuel for 80p but Tescos are pricing theirs at 65, then everyone will go to Tescos, who would then be able to negotiate a better deal on their fuel and end up making a bigger profit on it than anyone else.

But for some reason, no one seems to want to compete when it comes to petrol prices.

[Nick Harvey]

And an extra 5p cheaper if you spend £50 instore!

Except if you spend the £50 in their store through internet shopping. They seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that if you let them deliver your groceries you don't need cheap petrol.

[fusionlad]

Tesco seem to be the cheapest in Plymouth at the moment, by more than 3p a litre.

Which one?

The new one at Lee Mill. It's a superperb store too.