MSE News: Motorists cutting back as petrol prices reach six-month high, AA says

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Petrol prices have reached a six-month high, causing many motorists to reduce their car use, according to the AA...

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Motorists cutting back as petrol prices reach six-month high, AA says




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DaleN

Toward the end of last year petrol prices were approaching £1/litre thanks to the falling oil price. It's interesting to see 17% inflation in the petrol price since the beginning of the year when there hasn't been that much change in the oil price, perhaps 10% from the $58 low to current $64.

On the other hand, the 50% falling oil price from a $115 high in June last year to the $58 low in December only resulted in a 23% fall in petrol prices from £1.30 to £1. The optimist might suggest that petrol producers had been operating with reduced profit margins during that time of high oil prices, and are now returning to their normal profit margins.

The pessimist might wonder whether they are using the present lower oil price to help themselves to more profit.

dave76

I was in spain last week where diesel was about 95 cents / litre (68p!) and as ever cheaper than petrol - just like it used to be in this country

Pincher

Over the last six months, I was paying 107.9p to 115.9p, forecourt price, but there were other factors at work.


Shell/Amex spend £50, get £10 cashback. One off deal.


Shell/Santander 123, 3% cashback, one off deal. This is on top of the normal 3% off, so 6% altogether.


As I get 3% off on the Santander credit card normally, 115.9p is actually 112.9p

wolvoman

DaleN wrote: »

Toward the end of last year petrol prices were approaching £1/litre thanks to the falling oil price. It's interesting to see 17% inflation in the petrol price since the beginning of the year when there hasn't been that much change in the oil price, perhaps 10% from the $58 low to current $64.

On the other hand, the 50% falling oil price from a $115 high in June last year to the $58 low in December only resulted in a 23% fall in petrol prices from £1.30 to £1. The optimist might suggest that petrol producers had been operating with reduced profit margins during that time of high oil prices, and are now returning to their normal profit margins.

The pessimist might wonder whether they are using the present lower oil price to help themselves to more profit.

Not quite.
Average prices fell to about £1.07 a litre, not £1.
And oil prices actually went below $50 a barrel at that time.

And on your rant about falling prices last year, you seem to have ignored the appreciating US dollar.

minislim

i have my suspicions that some price fixing is going on in my area too.

at the moment the prices for diesel in the local supermarkets are

asda 116.7p
sains 118.9p
tesco 118.9p
morrisons 118.9p

i contacted sainsburys to tell them it was cheaper locally and they said they set it to their closest competitor, which was tesco if you counted supermarkets.

yet a local texaco close to sains was 116.9p

and only 5 miles down the road another sainsburys was 116.9p!

the sainsburys near me is closer to the refinery that it comes from too! (a friend of mine drives the tankers for them).

somethings afoot!

JC_Derby

Pincher wrote: »

As I get 3% off on the Santander credit card normally, 115.9p is actually 112.9p

Ummm think its only 1% on fuel isn't it?
Not 100% sure though.

PasturesNew

My journeys are cheaper than last year, even if prices have gone up again since Xmas.

Do people really have the attention span and memories of goldfish?

bigadaj

JC_Derby wrote: »

Ummm think its only 1% on fuel isn't it?
Not 100% sure though.

No 3% on fuel.

bigadaj

PasturesNew wrote: »

My journeys are cheaper than last year, even if prices have gone up again since Xmas.

Do people really have the attention span and memories of goldfish?

Not really, but journalists have a lot of time and space to fill!

jimjames

bigadaj wrote: »

Not really, but journalists have a lot of time and space to fill!

Exactly.


If you can easily stop using your car because the price has gone up 5% then you probably didn't need to do the journey or use the car for it in the first place.