Paying too much for petrol

sparkthatbled

Basically I was wondering why some people go to petrol stations that charge more per litre than other ones within reasonable distance. For example on my commute to work there are 2 garages along a certain road, no more than 5 minutes apart. The road is a commuter route into the dublin area and 99% of it's traffic load is vehicles that travel to/from the city on a daily basis. One of the garages is always 5-8c a litre dearer than the other, yet sometimes when i pass all the pumps are in use and there are other cars waiting. There is no way they don't know about the other garage, so why would they pay that much more? I've also seen similar situations with garages within sight of each other having up to 3c differences.

Personally I hate paying a penny per litre more than I have to. Do the people who pay more just not care, are their fuel bills underwritten by their company, or do they believe the dearer petrol is better quality?

mitosis

sparkthatbled wrote: »

Basically I was wondering why some people go to petrol stations that charge more per litre than other ones within reasonable distance. For example on my commute to work there are 2 garages along a certain road, no more than 5 minutes apart. The road is a commuter route into the dublin area and 99% of it's traffic load is vehicles that travel to/from the city on a daily basis. One of the garages is always 5-8c a litre dearer than the other, yet sometimes when i pass all the pumps are in use and there are other cars waiting. There is no way they don't know about the other garage, so why would they pay that much more? I've also seen similar situations with garages within sight of each other having up to 3c differences.

Personally I hate paying a penny per litre more than I have to. Do the people who pay more just not care, are their fuel bills underwritten by their company, or do they believe the dearer petrol is better quality?

Time has a value also. Two near me: One is 3c less expensive, but always has long queues, whereas the other is drive in fill up and go. I am not sitting in a queue with the engine running for 10-15 minutes for €3

JDxtra

Many reasons I can think of...

Irregular driver on that road not aware of other garage or pricing.

Convenience.

If you don't do enough millage for a few cent difference to matter.

Bad experience of other garage.

Loyalty.

0ph0rce0

You sound like my neighbor, he drives to the other side of the city to save about 2c a liter, yes he saves 2 cents but takes him about a 30mile round trip when the local garage is literally 15-20 seconds away, why like??

Heroditas

mitosis wrote: »

Time has a value also. Two near me: One is 3c less expensive, but always has long queues, whereas the other is drive in fill up and go. I am not sitting in a queue with the engine running for 10-15 minutes for €3

You can always turn the engine off!

Outkast_IRE

Age of equipment and tanks is another thing some people take into consideration.

For example last year near me the petrol station was completely renovated, and new shop/forecourt/ Storage tanks and pumps were fitted.

The new storage tanks and pumps mean a lot to some people as they know there isn't 20 years of silt/****e at the bottom of the tanks.

Its about 1c dearer than the nearest rival, and is quite busy.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

For me I would only go to a reputable garage to fill up the e60. With the carina I fill her up at the cheapest station no matter how dodgy it looks :P

The topaz beside me is regularly 5-6 cpl dearer than anywhere around, I only ever use it to get a €5 worth of fuel if I am really empty and need to get to another station to do the actual filling up.
I have a couple of regular stations that I go to.

ironclaw

I'm going to get utterly flamed for this but for 6 months I was working contract that involved a steady 60km round trip per day. On the first day I happened to get the car serviced and decided I'd do a little fuel experimentation. I'm a pretty consistant driver and have clocked up huge mileage in my time, so most days I can safely say I drove the same way under pretty much the same conditions.

I always filled to the brim and took note of the litre's delivered to the tank. I also drove until the tank was pretty much empty most times (I was working off litres, not the guage in the car)

Branded fuel e.g. Esso, Maxoil etc I'd be topping 380 miles before I'd even get a fuel light.

Unbranded e.g. Tesco, AppleGreen I could be as low as 345 / 360 miles and I'd get a fuel light.

Same amount of fuel in the tank but anything between 10 to 15% of a difference in mileage. Yes, it might be 3c (or whatever) cheaper but you'll be filling up more often. Its cheap fuel for a reason. I used be entirely skeptical about it but I was religious in my measurements for those 6 months and the results we're pretty conclusive.

Thomas D

ironclaw wrote: »

I'm going to get utterly flamed for this but for 6 months I was working contract that involved a steady 60km round trip per day. On the first day I happened to get the car serviced and decided I'd do a little fuel experimentation. I'm a pretty consistant driver and have clocked up huge mileage in my time, so most days I can safely say I drove the same way under pretty much the same conditions.

I always filled to the brim and took note of the litre's delivered to the tank. I also drove until the tank was pretty much empty most times (I was working off litres, not the guage in the car)

Branded fuel e.g. Esso, Maxoil etc I'd be topping 380 miles before I'd even get a fuel light.

Unbranded e.g. Tesco, AppleGreen I could be as low as 345 / 360 miles and I'd get a fuel light.

Same amount of fuel in the tank but anything between 10 to 15% of a difference in mileage. Yes, it might be 3c (or whatever) cheaper but you'll be filling up more often. Its cheap fuel for a reason. I used be entirely skeptical about it but I was religious in my measurements for those 6 months and the results we're pretty conclusive.

Those results are completely unscientific and therefore meaningless.

sparkthatbled

mitosis wrote: »

Time has a value also. Two near me: One is 3c less expensive, but always has long queues, whereas the other is drive in fill up and go. I am not sitting in a queue with the engine running for 10-15 minutes for €3

What I was saying was that I was often seeing queues at the more expensive station and could just roll up to the pump in the cheaper one. Therein lies my confusion.

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

You sound like my neighbor, he drives to the other side of the city to save about 2c a liter, yes he saves 2 cents but takes him about a 30mile round trip when the local garage is literally 15-20 seconds away, why like??

I don't do that, I always go to the cheapest station, taking into account distance and if it's out of my way. The two particular ones i am talking about are directly on my route so there is no time/distance gain either way.

batman88

I usually just go anywhere, spending an extra euro or 2 doesn't bother in me the slightest.

demanufactured

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Age of equipment and tanks is another thing some people take into consideration.

For example last year near me the petrol station was completely renovated, and new shop/forecourt/ Storage tanks and pumps were fitted.

The new storage tanks and pumps mean a lot to some people as they know there isn't 20 years of silt/****e at the bottom of the tanks.

Its about 1c dearer than the nearest rival, and is quite busy.

The fact that the pumps take the fuel from the bottom of the storage tanks makes this null and void, there is no silt/crud ibn the bottom of the tanks

alias no.9

Thomas D wrote: »

Those results are completely unscientific and therefore meaningless.

You're talking a minimum ~2 tanks a month for 6 months, it's perfectly possible to do a worthwhile statistical analysis on that provided you have some clue what you're doing.

Thomas D

alias no.9 wrote: »

You're talking a minimum ~2 tanks a month for 6 months, it's perfectly possible to do a worthwhile statistical analysis on that provided you have some clue what you're doing.

And have repeatable driving conditions? No chance.

AlfaZen

There could me many reasons why people get their fuel at garages with higher prices.

Company fuel cards mean they can only get fuel at certain garages.

Other fuel card schemes mean they may not be paying the advertised price.

Brand loyalty.

Perception that better known brand = better quality fuel.

Time pressure, low fuel, handiest place for them.

2c difference per liter is only a €1 difference on a 50l fill. Not really that big a difference.

alias no.9

Thomas D wrote: »

And have repeatable driving conditions? No chance.

The driving conditions get averaged within the 400 mile tanks.

ironclaw

Thomas D wrote: »

Those results are completely unscientific and therefore meaningless.

Eh, how? If you want to take down a post for being 'unscientific and therefore meaningless' at least bring some intelligence and logic to the debate.

Same road at the same times every day. Log of all fuel quantities taken on board versus mileage done. Granted its not pHD standard logging but those were the results I found.

For the record, I never said there were 100% scientific. It was just a casual observation. But its hard to defend why say an average of 38 litres of fuel gives me ~380 miles from 'premium' brands and ~345 miles from another 'lesser brands', and average that over 6 months to remove the possibility of hard / harsher driving on a particular week. So your average set it is a minimum of 24 fills. Thats more than enough to remove any serious error caused by harder driving etc.

I was skeptical myself but over 6 months, the averages spoke for themselves.

biko

Maybe the other garage has better coffee/ sandwiches/ cute assistant...
Maybe it's magic.

DuckSlice

I get my fuel at the same garage every week, don't know how much it is don't care. I go there purely because the deli and the coffee are top notch. Also you get every 5th coffee free and the staff are nice. If a garage has Tim hortons or not is more important to me than price!

Scortho

Ironclaw you're not the only one to have found the likes of maxol and esso to be better than say apple green when it comes to miles per tank, I've found the alfa to get an extra 40 miles out of a tank when filled in maxol.
The car also seems to run better with it as well.
Obviously there is no scientific evidence that this is the truth, but it's the reason why I buy in esso or maxol over say tesco.

Days 298

Got caught with dirty diesel during the Summer. €60 gone like that. Luckily no permanent damage. I fill up I'm Maxol or Topaz now and use diptaine the odd time.

Funnily enough the dearest station near me has sh*t diesel. It's a texaco.

Generally the less well keep the surrounding of the premises the worse the diesel. That's my rule of thumb anyway.

Don't care about paying 2-3c more. I'm just paying tomorrow's price today for good fuel. Cheap fuel is a false economy. And I'm not losing 60 quid of fuel again :mad:

Bandara

Scortho wrote: »

Ironclad you're not the only one to have found the likes of maxol and esso to be better than say apple green when it comes to m

Lads seriously, how many times is this going to be done here.

All fuel is essentially drawn from the port, for the same gantry regardless of the oil company drawing it. Yes there are additives specific to each company , but the differences are minimal.

This whole concept quoted of 'branded fuel' Maxol, 'unbranded' Applegreen is simply wrong. It's the same truck, same driver, same fuel, out of the same gantry. A small additive mix is all that's different.

As for applegreen being unbranded? They are a huge company, the largest purchaser of car washes in the Uk and Ireland, have opened about 40 garages in past 18 months in UK and are currently opening sites in the states.

Why would any fuel company want to sell fuel that gives a poor performance or return? It's nonsensical, the additive cost is minimal.

The only relevant issue a motorist should be concerned about is the issue of washed or striped fuel, and the standards a forecourt has ie is it clean, modern, best practice in operation. If the place is a dump then you most likely got no maintenance of cleaning of filters, sumps, siphons etc.

All the this brand is better than such and such a brand is bull.

Days 298

^Yah but what are their storage facilities for the fuel like. Not all of them are equal.

Scortho

Bandara wrote: »

Lads seriously, how many times is this going to be done here.

All fuel is essentially drawn from the port, for the same gantry regardless of the oil company drawing it. Yes there are additives specific to each company , but the differences are minimal.

This whole concept quoted of 'branded fuel' Maxol, 'unbranded' Applegreen is simply wrong. It's the same truck, same driver, same fuel, out of the same gantry. A small additive mix is all that's different.

As for applegreen being unbranded? They are a huge company, the largest purchaser of car washes in the Uk and Ireland, have opened about 40 garages in past 18 months in UK and are currently opening sites in the states.

Why would any fuel company want to sell fuel that gives a poor performance or return? It's nonsensical, the additive cost is minimal.

The only relevant issue a motorist should be concerned about is the issue of washed or striped fuel, and the standards a forecourt has ie is it clean, modern, best practice in operation. If the place is a dump then you most likely got no maintenance of cleaning of filters, sumps, siphons etc.

All the this brand is better than such and such a brand is bull.

I'm sorry but if I'm willing to spend a cent or two extra for petrol that I find the car runs better on, then Big deal.
That's my reason for avoiding apple green and tesco because I've found in the past the car runs worse and I get less miles to a tank.

sparkthatbled

I think that's fair enough. I didn't start this thread to say people are wrong to pay more and even if all it gives you is peace of mind, then by all means pay the extra few cents.

I personally don't think petrol quality differs to a noticeable extent from garage to garage, I think you're more likely to see slight differences in pump calibration. That and sometimes the full tank sensor in the pump handle clicks off the flow a little early so you won't have quite as much fuel as usual.

dgt

ironclaw wrote: »

Eh, how? If you want to take down a post for being 'unscientific and therefore meaningless' at least bring some intelligence and logic to the debate.

Same road at the same times every day. Log of all fuel quantities taken on board versus mileage done. Granted its not pHD standard logging but those were the results I found.

For the record, I never said there were 100% scientific. It was just a casual observation. But its hard to defend why say an average of 38 litres of fuel gives me ~380 miles from 'premium' brands and ~345 miles from another 'lesser brands', and average that over 6 months to remove the possibility of hard / harsher driving on a particular week. So your average set it is a minimum of 24 fills. Thats more than enough to remove any serious error caused by harder driving etc.

I was skeptical myself but over 6 months, the averages spoke for themselves.

^^^

I've had similar experiences with a fair few different vehicles, petrol and diesel

Worst was a few years back with that station outside ardee on the N52, I put in 8 litres of petrol and down the road the car didn't want to go atall.

Same with diesel, both the Daily van and 406 were subject to sh*te diesel but it wasn't limited to unknown/ "lesser" brands

Personally, it's where you go rather than the brands

green123

batman88 wrote: »

I usually just go anywhere, spending an extra euro or 2 doesn't bother in me the slightest.

AlfaZen wrote: »

2c difference per liter is only a €1 difference on a 50l fill. Not really that big a difference.

there is the answer to the question.

the reason that some people pay more is that some people have a lot of money and dont care about a few euro.

there are still a lot of people with a lot of money in this country - more money than sense it seems

Heroditas

green123 wrote: »

there is the answer to the question.

the reason that some people pay more is that some people have a lot of money and dont care about a few euro.

there are still a lot of people with a lot of money in this country - more money than sense it seems

Saying people have more money than sense is a flippant statement to make.
It can depend on how much monetary value people put on their time.
For example, if I have a choice of waiting 10mins for petrol or getting it immediately and paying 1 or 2c a litre more, I'd probably go for the latter. 15mins is worth more to me than €1 depending on when it is.
That might not be the case for everyone but to suggest that people don't have any sense because of their discretionary spending is not strictly true. That's how the economy works.