Petrol prices, fill up in Dover or Calais?

bowlesbargain · 30 March 2011 at 9:31PM

I went to France on Thursday last week for some wine. to my shock diesel was 1.31 euro, petrol was 1.50 euro. In the past i have always taken the tank empty this time i was no better off. hope that helps.

pompeyrich · 30 March 2011 at 11:14PM

cheesecakeface wrote: »

Oh my god. - That's a huge suprise.

While I was growing up my parents and I went camping to France all the time, they would always fill up with fuel before getting on ferry on the way home. I thought that the fuel cost about 1/2 the price over in france because they don't pay as much tax on it (I thought the tax was collected by toll booths instead)..

I've just registered onto this forum specifically to ask about the logistics, legality and feasability of driving to france and on the way home from our campign trip, filling up the tank with fuel and also filling up a 20ltr (or maybe 1-2 5ltr) fuel can.

However - from a quick glance it seems that the fuel is the same sort of price, (possibly more after factoring in exchange rates) and ferries have limits on the amount of fuel you can bring over in a jerry can.

Also, someone above said that you can't 'fill your car to the brim' with fuel. - Are you refering to simply filling the tank to the brim? - surely they can't enforce such a silly rule as that?

Fuel prices have fluctuated due to the exchange rates at various times, i remember going camping with the boys, maybe 15 years ago and petrol was horrendously priced in France, 1.5 times the price here but had no choice but to fill up as had almost run out but it hurt at the time! then it swung in our favour, vastly for diesel and now it seems to be roughly the same.

Not really a "silly rule" as a safety consideration, if 600 cars all filled up to the brim near the port, then encountered a rough crossing, that could lead to an awful lot of fuel slopping around on the car deck, which could lead to a fire hazard and a very slippery surface. I have never seen tem check fuel tank levels but can see why they would rather you didn't top it right up.

pompeyrich · 30 March 2011 at 11:25PM

bowlesbargain wrote: »

I went to France on Thursday last week for some wine. to my shock diesel was 1.31 euro, petrol was 1.50 euro. In the past i have always taken the tank empty this time i was no better off. hope that helps.

As recently as 2007 you could get €1.50/£1 so diesel would have been around 90p and petrol £1 at those rates but with the £ being weak, or the Euro strong whichever it is, those sort of prices are not likely to return for some time, if ever.

sunshinetours · 31 March 2011 at 11:42AM

As someone said above diesel can be where the better saving can be had. I would say 10-15% is a decent saving on a tank of diesel?

Same rules apply as in UK get off the autoroute and out of major cities for best savings

Tarry · 31 March 2011 at 12:02PM

pompeyrich wrote: »

.

Not really a "silly rule" as a safety consideration, if 600 cars all filled up to the brim near the port, then encountered a rough crossing, that could lead to an awful lot of fuel slopping around on the car deck, which could lead to a fire hazard and a very slippery surface. I have never seen tem check fuel tank levels but can see why they would rather you didn't top it right up.

Ah yes, that would make sense really. I've had some rough crossings and see your point (last one was a f9). I've got the what you can/can't leaflet around somewhere, but not sure why I put it

cheesecakeface · 31 March 2011 at 5:26PM

Thanks for all your help - Just to clarify, when I mentioned that it was a silly rule what I meant was that it was silly to try and enforce it.

"Sorry - You can't come on the boat - Pour away 1/2 a tank of fuel into that container over there and we'll let you on"...

Kingsgraphic · 24 May 2012 at 7:22PM

As of May 2012 fuel prices at the Carrefour Cite Europe in Calais are around £1.30 a litre (1.569 Euro) for unleaded against £1.37 in Dover. It pays to use your credit card, even allowing for the 3% transaction fee, rather than pay cash, unless you have got an unusual deal on your currency!:). As I write the Euro is 1.213 to the pound.

scottishperson2 · 24 May 2012 at 7:59PM

http://www.prix-carburants.economie.gouv.fr/

and diesel is 1.337 Euro in Calais compared to £1.41 in Dover.

Bob_the_Saver · 24 May 2012 at 8:27PM

Kingsgraphic wrote: »

As of May 2012 fuel prices at the Carrefour Cite Europe in Calais are around £1.30 a litre (1.569 Euro) for unleaded against £1.37 in Dover. It pays to use your credit card, even allowing for the 3% transaction fee, rather than pay cash, unless you have got an unusual deal on your currency!:). As I write the Euro is 1.213 to the pound.

Or (20.30 BST) a sliver under 1.25 to the £ if you have a Metro Bank card.

Tarry · 24 May 2012 at 10:03PM

Thanks for the update

I may go over next month

Petrol prices, fill up in Dover or Calais?

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