Fuel Price Fixing In Castlebar

Patsy fyre

Has anyone else noticed this ?
It has only recently become obvious to me. 2 weeks ago I drove around town looking for the cheapest garage to get diesel in. To my surprise they were all the same price. Passed 5 different garages on the east side of the town.

Today I done the exact same and passed all the same garages,amazingly the have all increased in price and are all exactly the same for diesel.

This is completely illegal and price fixing of fuel should not be tolerated.

Thinking if this becomes public knowledge they will be forced to stop.!

gpjordanf1

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed this ?
It has only recently become obvious to me. 2 weeks ago I drove around town looking for the cheapest garage to get diesel in. To my surprise they were all the same price. Passed 5 different garages on the east side of the town.

Today I done the exact same and passed all the same garages,amazingly the have all increased in price and are all exactly the same for diesel.

This is completely illegal and price fixing of fuel should not be tolerated.

Thinking if this becomes public knowledge they will be forced to stop.!

Same in every town I would suspect, also most of the forecourts are Topaz? Correct?

Patsy fyre

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

Same in every town I would suspect, also most of the forecourts are Topaz? Correct?

Yeah theres a few of them topaz. Its not as obvious in most towns. Theres obviously no price competition which forces me to drive to ballindine for the cheap fuel.
Ive decided I am not going to be robbed by these price fixing whoores :mad:

gpjordanf1

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Yeah theres a few of them topaz. Its not as obvious in most towns. Theres obviously no price competition which forces me to drive to ballindine for the cheap fuel.
Ive decided I am not going to be robbed by these price fixing whoores :mad:

Nice one vote with your feet & wallet! Hope you tell them too!

smokin ace

there is 3 petrol stations in the village i live in and they are all the same price for petrol/diesel and when ever one change there prices the other 2 change within 1 hour or less but i am full sure this goes on in nearly every town in ireland but nobody can prove price fixing is going on but it dose

jimmycrackcorm

@ Op, what evidence do you have that there is price fixing going on? Price fixing is not about everyone having the dame price, it's where the station operators agree to set a common price.

It's probably more likely to be the opposite because there is almost no profit in fuel that the stations are simply keeping up with the lowest operator.

RMDrive

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

@ Op, what evidence do you have that there is price fixing going on? Price fixing is not about everyone having the dame price, it's where the station operators agree to set a common price.

It's probably more likely to be the opposite because there is almost no profit in fuel that the stations are simply keeping up with the lowest operator.

Aye, you can tell by the way the prices keep going down.

oscarBravo

Margins are extremely tight on fuel. Most of the operators tend to have the same or similar prices because they are operating from the same wholesale costs and similar margins.

And even then, some are consistently lower - Cosgraves on the Westport road is a good example.

RMDrive

oscarBravo wrote: »

Margins are extremely tight on fuel. Most of the operators tend to have the same or similar prices because they are operating from the same wholesale costs and similar margins.

And even then, some are consistently lower - Cosgraves on the Westport road is a good example.

I agree that margins are tight and the typical modern forecourt makes its money from the shop rather than from fuel, however how can the vast differences from town to town and county to county be explained?
IMO the price is set as high as possible by each retailer and every excuse is taken to hike the price (5c tax increase leads to 7-8c increase at the pump; price of crude oil breaks $100, price at the pump goes up even though the wholesale cost wouldn't have changed).

irishgeo

the wholesale price of diesel and petrol is around the 50c - 60c mark, it was in one of the papers.

its the all the tax ad duties and profit margin that push it up over 1.50.

ScumLord

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

Nice one vote with your feet & wallet! Hope you tell them too!

He can't if the price is the same everywhere.

It does seem to be the case they all charge as much as the next guy, maybe it's the lowest cost it's possible to sell at or they're fixing their price up to their neighbour and relying on the shop to make the difference.

There isn't much wiggle room with fuel though. Even buying in bulk won't get you much if any of a discount.

I'd wonder if there really can be much competition in petrol stations, there is only one or two fuel providers and shop franchises and they only sell through one type of outlet.

gpjordanf1

ScumLord wrote: »

He can't if the price is the same everywhere.

Thats why he said he was going to Ballindine to buy his fuel, its cheaper! So I agreed with him?

Patsy fyre

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

Thats why he said he was going to Ballindine to buy his fuel, its cheaper! So I agreed with him?

Yeah exactly.
How is it that the fuel in Ballindine is cheaper! Every time im passing through its atleast 3 cents a litre cheaper than Castlebar.

If one garage brings its price down it will force the rest of the garages to do the same unless they want empty shops.

irishgeo

claremorris is usually cheaper than castlebar

gizmo555

irishgeo wrote: »

claremorris is usually cheaper than castlebar

That's because of the Tesco filling station in Claremorris, although funnily enough I noticed in December they were dearer than Ballindine. Maybe they took the view that once you have the reputation of being the cheapest, you don't actually have to be the cheapest . . .

themadchef

I stopped at Cosgraves to fill up today. €1.39.9 for Unleaded. Cheapest by far as most of the other ones i passed were around the €1.45 mark.

Had to queue up it was that busy! Price of fuel is only going one way, and places like this will hopefully remain cheaper because people fill up and not just throw €20 in to keep it ticking over. At least i hope they will...........

galwegians

fecking rip off ireland,

what do you expect

fecking moan moan moan

but nobody does fecking nothing,:P

Patsy fyre

galwegians wrote: »

fecking rip off ireland,

what do you expect

fecking moan moan moan

but nobody does fecking nothing,:P

Well I have voted with my feat and usually get my fuel in Ballindine, although I must trip over and check out the price at cosgraves.

RMDrive

galwegians wrote: »

fecking rip off ireland,

what do you expect

fecking moan moan moan

but nobody does fecking nothing,:P

Excuse me, but I have vented my frustration anonymously on an internet site. I think my work is done.

paddysaab

I usually go to the small place across from the old cinema (is it Robinsons?). Pretty close to Cosgraves, usually within 1c but I think its worth that 1c to have someone put the petrol in esp.on a bad day.

HarryPotter41

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed this ?
It has only recently become obvious to me. 2 weeks ago I drove around town looking for the cheapest garage to get diesel in. To my surprise they were all the same price. Passed 5 different garages on the east side of the town.

Today I done the exact same and passed all the same garages,amazingly the have all increased in price and are all exactly the same for diesel.

This is completely illegal and price fixing of fuel should not be tolerated.

Thinking if this becomes public knowledge they will be forced to stop.!

Duffys are consistently 2c per litre cheaper with petrol than the other garages, not sure on diesel

Kristopherus

Cosgrave' Duffy's & Robinson's are consistantly cheaper than the rest of the fuel stations around Castlebar. Patsy, if you are prepared to drive to Ballindine to pay 139.9, go ahead by all means. But it is false economy unless you drive that road as part of your normal journey.

ciaran67

galwegians wrote: »

fecking rip off ireland,

what do you expect

fecking moan moan moan

but nobody does fecking nothing,:P

Shocked at the apathy in Ireland.

december83

hi
does anyone know of a comparison website for car fuel from forecourts??
ie where to find the cheapest petrol in kildare for example?

ps. if anyone knows the answer to this question SHARE please....:)

kippy

While the prices seem to be high and the same in most forecourts around the same place and I do have major issues with the amount and increasing taxation on fuel, I have to ask, on a purely personal level, would one actually SAVE any money on a round trip for a refill to Ballindine for fuel?
I would think not off hand, but I do get the point of going elsewhere to spend your money.

december83

just found a site
pumps.ie

Patsy fyre

Diesel in Castlebar this morning 1.37.9 Diesel in Ballindine 1.33.9!

detoxkid

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Diesel in Castlebar this morning 1.37.9 Diesel in Ballindine 1.33.9!

Where did you get petrol for 137.9 in Castlebar do you mind me asking?

mentalhead

I think that there is price fixing going on too but I always shop arround for my fuel and fill up where it is cheaper. There is always "the exception to the rule"

RMDrive

detoxkid wrote: »

Where did you get petrol for 137.9 in Castlebar do you mind me asking?

He's talking about diesel.

Patsy fyre

detoxkid wrote: »

Where did you get petrol for 137.9 in Castlebar do you mind me asking?

Yeah was talking about Diesel

James2693

Charlestown Yesterday.
Garage 1- 150.9
Garage 2- 150.9
Garage 3- 151.9

Charlestown Today.
All 3 garages- 153.9

Overnight! Wow what a coincidence!:/

irishgeo

James2693 wrote: »

Charlestown Yesterday.
Garage 1- 150.9
Garage 2- 150.9
Garage 3- 151.9

Charlestown Today.
All 3 garages- 153.9

Overnight! Wow what a coincidence!:/

what fuel companies are they?

James2693

irishgeo wrote: »

what fuel companies are they?

One is topaz, the other 2 are just independent ones

mayo.mick

Check out this website,
www.pumps.ie

Patsy fyre

Tesco in Claremorris seem to be the cheapest 1.42 for diesel was 1.39 last week which seemed to be the cheapest in the country.

Pays to shop around these days, could easily be paying 10 cent a litre more in some places!

Patsy fyre

mayo.mick wrote: »

Check out this website,
www.pumps.ie

As far as I know all those topaz garages in castlebar are owned by the same guy. Not surprising then to see the prices for both petrol and diesel are identical. Some competition would be nice.

irishgeo

Patsy fyre wrote: »

As far as I know all those topaz garages in castlebar are owned by the same guy. Not surprising then to see the prices for both petrol and diesel are identical. Some competition would be nice.

we need to keep the prices in mayo updated.

i go claremorris to castlebar everyday so i can do the corrib oil, and cathal duffys and topaz on claremorris rd, as well as tesco claremorris and a few more around the town.

so who can cover the other ones in castlebar?

oscarBravo

Patsy fyre wrote: »

As far as I know all those topaz garages in castlebar are owned by the same guy.

I'm pretty certain you're wrong.

YouTookMyName

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Tesco in Claremorris seem to be the cheapest 1.42 for diesel was 1.39 last week which seemed to be the cheapest in the country.

Pays to shop around these days, could easily be paying 10 cent a litre more in some places!

Tesco Fuel is pish.

kippy

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Tesco Fuel is pish.

?
What do you base that claim on?

YouTookMyName

kippy wrote: »

?
What do you base that claim on?

BBC Article From a few years back.

It's inferior grade to Topaz,Maxol,Esso. I wouldn't put it in my car.

Patsy fyre

YouTookMyName wrote: »

BBC Article From a few years back.

It's inferior grade to Topaz,Maxol,Esso. I wouldn't put it in my car.

Meh thats simply nonsense made up by the huge oil controlling companies who want to make huge profits on fuel and dont want a retail company taking market share from them.

Tommi78

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Meh thats simply nonsense made up by the huge oil controlling companies who want to make huge profits on fuel and dont want a retail company taking market share from them.

Sorry have too agree with "youtookmyname" my brother worked in a refinery in england a couple of years ago.... the top grade fuel goes to topaz texaco etc the lower grade or as he called it the dreggs went to the likes of tesco morrisons etc...

doggystyle

the filling station at cathal duffys garage is fairly cheap! 2c cheaper than robinsons!
i think they plan to extend the forecourt and keep the price low, going on quantity of sales.