Petrol Station Super Unleaded Con?

REDDDRAGGON

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

It's not really a con, is it? The product is advertised, it's labelled, it's priced. It's up to the purchaser to take the time to look at what they're buying and decide if it's right for them.

Stoke wrote: »

Still, not sure this is a scam, just lazy from the garage.

As I said in my first post, they are making the most of the poor labelled pumps! £1.599 a litre is over 20p more than the other local garages, and funnily enough the pumps are not the best labelled....

It definitely seems like the garage knows what it's doing...

InsideInsurance

BIL came to visit us in the UK, back home to fill a car is less than 75p and an attendant does it for you and normally washes the screen etc too.

He was firstly confused that you had to fill the car yourself and guessed that it'd cost about £10 to fill a car. Was more than a little shocked at the circa £85 bill and thought the least they could do is fill the car and wash it for you.

AdrianC

REDDDRAGGON wrote: »

It definitely seems like the garage knows what it's doing...

Well, that's one up on their customers, then...

"I just grabbed a bottle of wine off the shelf at the supermarket - and it was £25 not £5! It only told me that on the shelf edge... Was I meant to look and think? It's SOOOOOO unfair!"

Johno100

InsideInsurance wrote: »

BIL came to visit us in the UK, back home to fill a car is less than 75p and an attendant does it for you and normally washes the screen etc too.

He was firstly confused that you had to fill the car yourself and guessed that it'd cost about £10 to fill a car. Was more than a little shocked at the circa £85 bill and thought the least they could do is fill the car and wash it for you.

There are still two states in the US (New Jersey and Oregon) where it is against the law to pump your own fuel, it has to be done by an attendant.

agrinnall

InsideInsurance wrote: »

BIL came to visit us in the UK, back home to fill a car is less than 75p and an attendant does it for you and normally washes the screen etc too.

He was firstly confused that you had to fill the car yourself and guessed that it'd cost about £10 to fill a car. Was more than a little shocked at the circa £85 bill and thought the least they could do is fill the car and wash it for you.

Where was he coming from that you can fill a car for 75p, Saudi Arabia? Either his car has a very small tank, petrol is astonishingly cheap, or you really meant 75p per litre.

Strider590

If the superunleaded has no ethanol mixed in, then you'll probably make up for the extra cost in increased MPG.

They were forced to add ethanol to unleaded fuel (it's called E5), ethanol has a high octane rating, but low calorific (energy) value.

So basically (as basic as I can) they have to reduce the octane level of the fuel before they add the ethanol and then the ethanol doesn't have the energy of what they've taken out so you end up with a fuel that won't return the same MPG.

Octane = The stability/quality of the fuel
Calorific value = Power

All 95ron fuel has ethanol, but most super does not. BP ultimate unleaded doesn't for definite.

DUTR

REDDDRAGGON wrote: »

So this morning I decided to fill my car up on the way to work rather than when I go shopping, so I visited a different garage to normal.

It seems to be they are making the most of the poorly labelled pumps by bumping the Super price to 159.9p, when it's normally about 138.9p every where else. While it might not be illegal, it does seem like a bit of a deception!

Sounds like you were on a motorway service station at those prices :eek:
I feed my car on Super UL and I'm not paying £1.35/L , I think only BP and Texaco may exceed that around here at present.

AdrianC

DUTR wrote: »

Sounds like you were on a motorway service station at those prices :eek:
I feed my car on Super UL and I'm not paying £1.35/L , I think only BP and Texaco may exceed that around here at present.

One of my local stations is doing normal 95 at £1.37 at the mo...

AdrianC

Strider590 wrote: »

All 95ron fuel has ethanol, but most super does not. BP ultimate unleaded doesn't for definite.

It _really_ isn't that simple. ANY brand's super is very likely to be up to E5. None are "guaranteed" to be E0.

DUTR

AdrianC wrote: »

One of my local stations is doing normal 95 at £1.37 at the mo...

Ouch! Near me the Shell is the same price as Asda (has been cheaper sometimes) even out in the woody muddy parts, the fuel is no more than 3p/l more than the city more 2p/l though .