Branded v. Supermarket petrol / diesel

mickeypops

forgotmyname wrote: »

Down to the fuel, Unlikely. Down to the fact i put the average MPG reading on the trip & stare at it more than the road.
If the mpg drops i take my foot off the accelerator. Dont stop at traffic lights its very bad for your economy. Turning right at the island? Its sometimes better to go right and not around it.

And isn't that the problem with making sense of this debate? The benefits or otherwise of branded v. supermarket fuels, or indeed "ultimate" products v. standard fuel, if it exists, is small enough to be influenced by other factors. I believe that it is true that if a driver is looking for better ecenomy because he's trying a different fuel, he or she will probably get it, just by his subconscious behaviour altering driving behaviour slightly.

What we really need is Top Gear or What Car? or similar running a scientifically controlled test to give us the facts!

DCFC79

Inactive wrote: »

See the links that I posted at post number 10.;)

yes i see your links but like isa di ive not had an issue with supermarket fuel(asda, sainsburys, tesco, morrisons, waitrose), used a mixture of the supermarket stuff for 11 years and not had a single problem

Altarf wrote: »

You are wrong.

Tesco are supplied by Greenergy (Tesco own 25% of Greenenergy).

Asda and Morrisons are supplied by Harvest Energy.

Sainsbury's used to be supplied by BP, but in 2009 changed to Greenenergy.

In the south-east all the fuel for Greenergy and Harvest Energy comes through Vopak, which is why Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all suffered from the fuel contamination problems in 2007 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6414905.stm).

like i said i did say maybe i was wrong, tesco express stores are filled by total as the express store by me is a total PS

A._Badger

It's worth adding that during 'the great Tesco petrol debacle' it wasn't only supermarkets that were affected. At least one major branded supplier in my area suffered too.

I find arguments based on shelf stackers managing the storage of fuel wholly unconvincing. Most filling stations employ low cost labour to run their tills, too. Like the supermarkets, they also employ trained managers.

On the issue of the quality of the basic petrol itself, clearly, there is no difference. The major companies (and the supermarkets) regularly fill one another's tanks from the same sources (read about the Buncefield disaster if you want an insight into who supplies whom).

The question of additives is more complicated. It may be that Shell, Esso and the like use better additives than are used in Tesco, Morrisons et al, but we have no evidence for this.

Some people claim they can detect a difference, others say there is none. I'm in the latter camp, but accept that is just one badger's opinion.

'Premium' fuels have such a psychological component (their buyers tend to be suggestible to marketing messages anyway - which is why they by the product) that it is impossible to say whether these fuels are worth the price. It seems unlikely that they do offer a tangible benefit, I would have said, otherwise the companies who sell them would offer us some firm evidence that could be tested and refuted.

As for price, the supermarkets arrived in the market promising cheap petrol. Clearly, if it was ever true, it isn't now and a side effect of their presence is that they have helped drive the number of filling stations down. It is hard to see what benefit, if any, that they have brought to the motorist.

rev_henry

mickeypops wrote: »

Dear Rev

I did search - went back to the beginning of the year on this forum and found nothing.

No-one's forcing you to read the thread! Anyway, haven't you got tomorrow's sermon to prepare?:)

Sorry wasn't meaning that to be rude. Hmm, I'll see if I can find it. I'm sure there was a long one going.

Haha Broadwood. I didn't notice the Universal Life Church being embroiled in such a scandal?

neilmcl

A._Badger wrote: »

As for price, the supermarkets arrived in the market promising cheap petrol. Clearly, if it was ever true, it isn't now and a side effect of their presence is that they have helped drive the number of filling stations down. It is hard to see what benefit, if any, that they have brought to the motorist.

In a way they do, relatively speaking. They keep the market honest, without the supermarkets around I'd think you'd find more of the big boys charging as much as they could get away with. They are forced to be more competitive thanks to the supermarkets pricing.

rev_henry

Couple here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2374003&highlight=petrol
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1882729&highlight=petrol

Not sure if you've seen those or not.

I've heard a lot of people say that the difference with the expensive fuels is not so much an mpg improvement but a performance improvement. The engine 'sounds smoother' and gives better performance when you put your foot down. I don't think there's an answer to this debate which fits all cars. Some cars can get a tangible benefit from expensive fuels, others can't.

mickeypops

Still no hard facts then. Some people say that the fuel is the same at supermarkets and branded filling stations, others suggest that the additives might be different. Then there's the interesting supposition, which had never occured to me, that the likes of Shell/BP might store and maintain their fuel better.

Same story with premium v. regular fuels, with some claiming mileage and performance benefits and others not.

I'd really love to see some real science put into this subject. We should be informed!

virgo17

A._Badger wrote: »

I find arguments based on shelf stackers managing the storage of fuel wholly unconvincing. Most filling stations employ low cost labour to run their tills, too. Like the supermarkets, they also employ trained managers.

Of course. That is your perogative.

The point I am making is that an own brand filling station will have well established procedures for which tanks are filled with what and how.

One two occasions I have been in the Tesco filling station in town. On the first occasion the tanker driver rang the cashier to get directions. Clearly not a regular. On the second occasion a tanker driver was asking the cashier which 'grid' to put the unleaded fuel in. Three of the five grids were marked to take the fuel but he needed to know presumably which underground tank to fill. She hadn't a clue. No disrespect intended.

I do sometimes buy my fuel from Tesco but am conscious that an error is perhaps more likely than at the BP or ESSO forecourt.

MEMBER02

Ive been using supermarket fuels for about 12 years with no problems whatsoever,cant understand why the debate!!!!

MEMBER02

Ive been using supermarkets fuels for about 12 years with no problems whatsoever,cannot understand why this is being debated,surely supermarkets wouldnt get away with selling sub-standard fuels,after all the price diffrence now between supermarkets and bp etc is on a par with each other.