Total petrol station - sharp practice to watch out for

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gardner1 wrote: »

total Excellium/bp ultimate/shell v power
all sold at 5-7p more than standard fuel and all the same colour pumps ie green or black and all clearly say premium or standard
very few garages advertise the premium prices its just normally unleaded/diesel/lpg prices on tower

Wait what?

A Shell V-Power nozzle is always red (or red+black for diesel) and the pumps are also clearly marked with red (and black). This alone should be enough to make you double check what you're doing as red is traditionally the colour for 4-star and you really wouldn't want to put that into a modern car with a cat.

Agree with you that BP can be a bit confusing though, since they use black for diesel and 3 different shades of blue for the other fuels.


And not advertising the higher priced fuels makes sense because it will scare off diesel buyers. Generally when people look at a forecourt sign, it's quite hard to see the labels, but the actual prices are lit up, so you just read both and, if you want diesel, you assume the higher price applies to you.

People who actually want V-Power, such as myself, know it will be 5-7p more and aren't too bothered by this so just fill up anyway.

Edit: Oh, and FWIW, Total Excellium is crap. As a rule of thumb, stick with V-Power for performance Japanese cars, and Ultimate for performance European cars.

johncas1

We need to settle this argument ok all pumps actually have a sticker near the nozle saying what that pump dispences all the garages arround me do see photos below you know what your getting if you can't see the sign on the pums telling you what is being dispenced then don't use the pump and the 3 total garages in Leicester all have stickers on the pumps telling you what that pump dispences the octane rating and the BS EN Number so that Total garage your complaining about will have a sticker on the pump saying what it dispences octane number and BS EN number I thought that was law so look before you fill up

rdwarr

"Excellium" has to be the most horrible word for a brand ever invented. I cringe every time I see it and would never go near a Total station with that plastered all over it.

mattyprice4004

Does it state the price on the pump when drawing fuel?

split_second

total are a rare site up here, mostly texaco, a couple of esso and supermarkets

johncas1

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Does it state the price on the pump when drawing fuel?

Shell like in my photo have the price on the pump using slide in numbers most other garages like Tescos BP Texaco Esso etc have the price displayed on the pump using a LED display all modern pumps do even the older ones with the flip displays at BP do Tescos state the price on a led display 24/7 even when your not filling up so you can check before you fill up

grizzly1911

johncas1 wrote: »

Err it dose say on the pumps what your buying I just looked at that Total station on google streetview and the back pumps have labels on them saying what it is dispensing and the nozel has a label on it saying premium so it's a case of if you cant read or see the lable before you fill up my mate at the optitions might want to see you

IT's not total they don't own the garage normally someone owns the garage and then sells the petrol for total under contract it's up to the garage owner to sort out his signage not total so complain to him non total a lot of people think the fuel companys own the petrol stations well shell do but the other are independents that Total garage could be a BP garage the next week then Esso a year later the owner decided what companys fuel to stock

So my mate whith his sports cat but only runs on super unleadded your saying don't fill up don't buy petrol some people need super unleadded and using petrols like Tesco momentum BP ulitmate and Total Excellium ETC has saved my mum money she gets more MPG and it lasts longer in the tank and gives better peformance so stop moaning and try it on a long journey you might actually save money

So basicly your saying to all theose sports car owners and performance car owners like those who have Evos or imprezas which run on super unleadded only you can't fill up your can garages should not sell this petrol

Agree that if you want top performance out of a few "special" cars premium unleaded may make some difference.

Don't agree that "branded" fuel makes any difference to MPG. comes out of the same tanks at the refinery. Each type has a standard cetane value. There are standard EU specifications for each type of fuel - it has been done to death on these forums. Some may have a bit more detergent in (added afterwards) to keep the engine cleaner.

Most people who fill up don't forensically look over the pumps prior to filling unless they have been caught out once or are OCD(?) about these things. It is a much as some can do to put a black or green hose in.

It is purely marketing spin by the fuel companies/retailers. I am sure the retailer also gets a better cut from the more expensive fuel. For the vast majority no measurable difference will be noted.

No doubt someone will be along to tell us that Sainsburys milk is better than Tescos milk.

johncas1

grizzly1911 wrote: »

No doubt someone will be along to tell us that Sainsburys milk is better than Tescos milk.

Well it all comes from cows unless Tesco have super cows

squack

bought some petrol the other day, pulled up to one pump, noticed the choice was either "premium unleaded", or diesel

thinking that i had gone to the wrong one i moved to another pump, that was also marked "premium unleaded" as the only petrol choice, realised that they are now using the term "premium" to mean the standard cheapest stuff as opposed to "super" unleaded?

anyone else noticed this

johncas1

squack wrote: »

bought some petrol the other day, pulled up to one pump, noticed the choice was either "premium unleaded", or diesel

thinking that i had gone to the wrong one i moved to another pump, that was also marked "premium unleaded" as the only petrol choice, realised that they are now using the term "premium" to mean the standard cheapest stuff as opposed to "super" unleaded?

anyone else noticed this

Well they say premium unleaded well I surpose there unleadded is better than Asda's or Tescos so it could be premium unleaded.
Standard unleadded at Shell or Esso or Texaco is better than Tescos or Asdas standard unleaded as supermarket fuel is always lowest quality