How can petrol prices legally be rounded up

pj9999

Bought a single litre of petrol today- clearly advertised at €1.61.9.

By what legal principle were they able to charge me €1.62?

Valetta

I would have thought that if the pump was calibrated correctly, then if the reading said €1.62 you would have received shightly more than one litre.

power101

The legal principal that there is no .9 cent....

Also that its standard practice to round up when above.5 and round down if its below

Kosseegan

Who says you got exactly 1 litre. If you buy meat you pay a price per kilogramme. It would be most unusual to get exactly a kilogram. The meat cut is weighed and charged at the rate quoted and the eventual price is rounded.
The law does not concern itself with trifles which is what you are complaining about. That is the ultimate legal principle. Common sense and reasonableness must prevail.
If you had bought 10 litres of petrol and the was an attempt to charge you €16.20 you might have some grounds for complaint.

vandriver

I'd have a bigger complaint about the 1.62 than the .1c!

pj9999

Valetta wrote: »

I would have thought that if the pump was calibrated correctly, then if the reading said €1.62 you would have received shightly more than one litre.

Who knows. The receipt said 1.00 litres, but granted it could have been a fraction more (I didn't ask for a fraction more of course).

Kosseegan wrote: »

Who says you got exactly 1 litre. If you buy meat you pay a price per kilogramme. It would be most unusual to get exactly a kilogram. The meat cut is weighed and charged at the rate quoted and the eventual price is rounded.
The law does not concern itself with trifles which is what you are complaining about. That is the ultimate legal principle. Common sense and reasonableness must prevail.
If you had bought 10 litres of petrol and the was an attempt to charge you €16.20 you might have some grounds for complaint.

You mention how common sense must prevail- I'm not the one advertising something for 1.619 knowing that I am going to in fact charge more (it's irrelevant that it's a trivial amount). Why would the vendor not be obliged to sell at 1.61 rather than 1.62 as he is the one who incapable of selling his goods at the actual listed price?

vandriver wrote: »

I'd have a bigger complaint about the 1.62 than the .1c!

As I'm not a van driver, motor fuel costs themselves aren't a major concern for me.

coylemj

At €1.619 per litre, €1.62 will buy you 1.000619 litres. That amount will only display as greater than 1 litre if the display shows three or more decimal places and as you quoted the receipt as saying '1.00' litres, it was correct.

The difference is 0.62 ml (millilitres/cubic centimetres), it probably could sit as a drop on your thumbnail.

vandriver

pj9999 wrote: »

Who knows. The receipt said 1.00 litres, but granted it could have been a fraction more (I didn't ask for a fraction more of course).


You mention how common sense must prevail- I'm not the one advertising something for 1.619 knowing that I am going to in fact charge more (it's irrelevant that it's a trivial amount). Why would the vendor not be obliged to sell at 1.61 rather than 1.62 as he is the one who incapable of selling his goods at the actual listed price?


As I'm not a van driver, motor fuel costs themselves aren't a major concern for me.

But 0.1c is??????

pj9999

vandriver wrote: »

But 0.1c is??????

It's only the principle of it that bothers me.
Advertising a good for a certain price- Charging more.

Valetta

But how do you know they charged more?

Also, why did you not pay the correct amount according to you i.e. €1.619?

vandriver

This is more of a OP doesn't understand basic maths thread than a legal one

slimjimmc

How did you get 1 litre in the first place, don't most stations require you to buy at least 2 litres?
As for the price, would invitation to treat apply here?

Don't forget the pumps, like all machines, have a permitted tolerance. I don't know what that is but I suspect it could go in your favour , so for that €1.62 you might have got 1.005 litre. Win-win.

Del2005

slimjimmc wrote: »

How did you get 1 litre in the first place, don't most stations require you to buy at least 2 litres?

They say that but they'll still dispense less and charge you for the amount you've pumped.

pj9999 wrote: »

Bought a single litre of petrol today- clearly advertised at €1.61.9.

By what legal principle were they able to charge me €1.62?

When you went to pay did the person say €1.61.9 or €1.62?

endacl

You should go back to the forecourt OP. Rattle the and of each pump until a dribble of petrol drips into the teeny tiny bottle you should bring with you. Then run away laughing, knowing you've struck a blow for the ordinary man against the mighty petrochemical industry!

Or you could think about a time you went to put a tenner in the tank, overshot to E10:01, and weren't charged the 1c.

You win either way. Well done!

locum-motion

pj9999 wrote: »

Bought a single litre of petrol today- clearly advertised at €1.61.9.

By what legal principle were they able to charge me €1.62?

Apart from the other posters suggestions about "Did you get exactly a litre?" (which are valid, BTW), the actual answer to your question is:

The legal principle is that of "invitation to treat". (as suggested by slimjimmc)

Basically, an advertised price is an invitation to the buyer; the seller is inviting you to offer €1.619. The seller doesn't have to accept your offer.

No contract has been entered into until an amount of money has been offered and accepted.

In other words, you could quite easily have said "No, I'll give you €1.619", but then of course you and the teller would have had loads of fun trying to decide how you were going to measure 0.9 of a cent.

Del2005

locum-motion wrote: »

Apart from the other posters suggestions about "Did you get exactly a litre?" (which are valid, BTW), the actual answer to your question is:

The legal principle is that of "invitation to treat". (as suggested by slimjimmc)

Basically, an advertised price is an invitation to the buyer; the seller is inviting you to offer €1.619. The seller doesn't have to accept your offer.

No contract has been entered into until an amount of money has been offered and accepted.

In other words, you could quite easily have said "No, I'll give you €1.619", but then of course you and the teller would have had loads of fun trying to decide how you were going to measure 0.9 of a cent.

The person owes a debt as they have the petrol already so there is a contract, all that's left to sort out is how much they owe.

234

Del2005 wrote: »

The person owes a debt as they have the petrol already so there is a contract, all that's left to sort out is how much they owe.

Not necessarily, the contract might only occurr at the till but if you ran off with the petrol there would be a restitutionary claim rather than a contract claim.

ted1

pj9999 wrote: »

Bought a single litre of petrol today- clearly advertised at €1.61.9.

By what legal principle were they able to charge me €1.62?

The contract you entered with them was that minimum delivery is 2 litres. (this is clearly stated on each pump)
you were lucky that they did not charge you €3.64, they would have been well within there right.

what kind of container did you use?

Kosseegan

De Minimis no curat lex.

That is the legal principle.

NoQuarter

pj9999 wrote: »

It's only the principle of it that bothers me.
Advertising a good for a certain price- Charging more.

Drive an aeroplane into the garage and fill that up. Then I'm sure you will only be charged the 1.619.

Its not the garages fault that you only fill up your car a minimal amount. They cant drop the price to 1.610 because they could lose millions of euro elsewhere. The price is what the price is: 1.619. Next time throw in a thousand litres and you'll be able to hang on to your euro!