ACCC media release
ACCC report
My own research in Melbourne from a few months ago:
Petrol price differentials - additional cost for Premium unleaded petrol on top of Regular ULP price)
—————————-RON 95—-RON 98
BP……………………..8…………..16
Metro…………………10…………..-
United Petroleum…..10…………..16.5
7-Eleven/Mobil……..11…………..16
Caltex………………..12…………..19
Woolworths/Caltex…12…………..18
Coles/Shell………….17…………..23
Actually, the ACCC reported woolies petrol was one of the cheaper retailers along with the indies. Coles is the most expensive along with BP
Never go to a Shell. They're bloody cheats. Always charging $1.50 for their E10 petrol (they don't even have ULP 91) when other places are up to $0.30 cheaper
i don't own a high yield AMG
Shouldn’t that be a Ferrari since they are a F1 partner/sponsor?
Mercedes-Benz use Petronas.
Subaru told me Shell was the worst
Yes, my Subaru dealer recommended Mobil/BP.
According to Shell's website Shell's fuels are better?
Uh …OK.
@Diji1
No way. Shell wouldn't be so biased as to say their own fuels are better than their competitor's on their own website.
Why would you tell us shell fuels are better and link their own website as your source.
like,
Why.
bp ultimate is better.
https://www.bp.com/en_au/australia/products-services/fuels/b…
mobil supreme is better.
https://www.mobil.com.au/en/our-fuels
one them should be better than the other two.
OB have been complaining about Coles for a very long time. The fact that when I get their 10c offer, and it's still cheaper for me to use WOW Caltex, I knew they were ripping of Aussies. I just don't get why people still go there. Crazy.
I go there when it is the cheapest in my general area, this doesn’t seem crazy to me, but perhaps I am missing something.
If that is true, then you are a rare case. I my area, Coles are not just 4 or 5c more, but usually around 12c more. If they are cheaper for you, then it makes sense to use them.
They should have to display carbon per million particle level… That's the bit that really matters.
On a side note United E10 works best of the fuels I've used in mine.
The united near us at work had water in their tanks for over a month and wrecked half the cars in the neighbourhood. The funny thing is they are supposed to check for water every night. I wonder if they will go out of business.
The only news here is why isn't the ACCC doing it's job, rather than telling us something so obvious? They could just help one of the thousands of complainants they get each year that don't get any help. The ACCC has redefined it's agenda and nobody knows it.
Lol ACCC.
I reported to them one business who charged excessive Credit Card Surcharge (long story short, 2.2% for Visa payment and this is relatively large company) and their 15 days reply has long expired.
I want to report to them another restaurant charging 1.2% for the use of EFTPOS (max cost is 50c) but I could be wasting my time.
There should be a royal commission into ACCC.
I know of a restaurant that charges +10% GST on their advertised rates. To make matters worst they always add 10% and round forwards to the nearest $1.
I told the owner its illegal in Aus to charge GST exclusive rates in B2C transactions. He said the tax goes to the government so he will not include it in his prices. He hates me since the day I brought this up but the foods good so I keep going back.
He sounds like some of those moronic Americans and their “plus tax” when you pay the bill. The bill already shows the GST component on it - he can circle that if he wants to make a point. Given his attitude, and the fact that he hates you, I would be a little concerned about him adulterating your meal.
Agree that the ACCC kind of is going above and beyond here. Their role is to protect consumers against price fixing or other illegal practises. Coles/Shell however has the right to sell their product at whatever margin they want, and would defend the extra cost by talking about all the extra features their petrol has. They are not the only ones to do this - shoe manufacturers are a good example of companies that trade on their brand name and justify the extra cost through their perceived technical or other advantages such as association with various sports stars. Cars are another - potentially even a better example when you consider those cars that share a common platform eg Volkswagen’s A Series platform - used by the Audi A3, Skoda Yeti and Octavia as well as the Jetta, Scirroco and Tiguan or other shared platforms like the Infiniti (Nissan) Q30 and Mercedes A class, or the Chrysler 300 / Mercedes-Benz E-Class…. ok sometimes they are quite different, but sometimes they really are basically badge engineering with minimal differences (eg Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ).
The good thing here is the ACCC are trying to educate consumers that just because you use discount vouchers doesn't mean you are getting a great deal. Another example here that personally annoys me no end would be electricity providers with their various "nn% discount" offers, when their base rate may be expensive meaning that overall you are paying more than you should. Again, not illegal but definitely buyer beware.
My bet is the ACCC get lots of complaints from consumers about being overcharged, so thought it easier to put this info out than just ignore it, and then perhaps they will be able to concentrate on their 'real job' rather than deal with the noise about this. Personally I do go to Shell but only when I'l also be doing a gas cylinder swap (I've given up having it filled manually, and the 'local' Bunnings is too far away) so I get at least $0.14 off the pump price. Otherwise I go to the local Metro (Mobil).
Some BP have 98 as much as 20c more than 91, I personally have seen 18c/20c on top.
My experience also is that often Coles Express is more expensive. On our drive into town we can see both Coles and Woolworths Caltex price boards simultaneously and I can't recall Coles being better. Twice when I had the 10 cent discount and a 4 cent voucher it was worth it to use Coles.
Got off/degraded 98 from Coles Express Mildura, they don't get nearly as much traffic as other servo's.
In Australia there's a +/- of 5 octane points allowed, in America it's tested regularly to be spot on, so the only thing we can do is go to a servo that has a lot of turnover/fresh fuel.
Are we playing state the obvious here?! 😕
3 Shell Servos within 10mins radius of me are ALMOST ALWAYS way more expensive than everyone else, including BP! Recently, whilst every other Servo was 79.9 for LPG Shell was 86.9! I am at a loss why the masses do not boycott these RIPOFF Merchants but they'll always have the people that put $20 of their dole in at a time(usually on their way to the Pub on Pay day) because they don't give a crap about the money as it was a handout in the first place!
GET FUEL SPY PEOPLE, SHOW YOUR REAL OB HERITAGE!!!
Thanks. Didn't know about petrol spy app. I used to use some website but it wasn't very good so I gave up.
Will give petrol spy a shot.
No worries mate. Just keep an eye on when last updated (only works when users actually update prices.
My own research in Melbourne from a few months ago
Did you compare different locations and also on various days for the same brand?
just listen to the ACCC research, more accurate. Dont go coles & BP, and go woolies and indie. simples
Yea normally I don't unless there's an offer eg. BPme/Amex.
In NSW, there is the Fuel Check app by the government. If Coles Express aren't the cheapest, I aren't getting it. Obviously other people at otherwise they'll be out of business.
If your car manufacturer recommends ULP 91 this reasearch means nothing.
Whats more important is the research that proves that putting ULP 95 or 98 in your tank makes no difference to your cars performance if its designed to run on ULP 91. Yes thats right!
Furthermore any small gains in fuel economy are far outweighted by the price difference.
So if your car is designed to run on Regular Unleaded ULP 91 then thats what it will run best on.
Now if your car is designed to run on ULP 95 or 98 then yes, OP's research is somewhat useful if not academic.
However the bottom line is not the difference but the actual price itself.
So its much more useful to compare PULP prices between stations than the difference between ULP 91 and PULP which is only academic.
I was wondering what you were saying for a while there…
I got all excited when I thought you were saying 95 is a hoax and I can stick with 91. (My wife's car requires 95.)
But I agree your bottom line: separate comparisons of each product would be more useful than saying how much more expensive apples are than oranges. I was thinking the OP had a really mixed up approach to comparing fuel prices :)
You're better at translating gibberish than me as I just got a headache! E10 is usually always around the 94/95 octane mark(7 eleven or Freedom) Freedom gives you 4c discount automatically if you buy 40 litres or more.
Are you saying E10 is okay for cars that require 95? That would be so great. My wife came home grumbling about the price to fill up yesterday. She would love to use E10 if it's okay for the car.
Thanks for the tip. We're in a new town and shopping around for where to get fuel :)
@SlickMick: E10 is safe but runs less Km/L, so even though they are cheaper but won't make much different in terms of cp ratio.
@SlickMick: check with your manufacturer, from memory 7 eleven E10 is guaranteed to be no less than 94 & freedom is 95
I run E10 in absolutely everything (except my drag cars & Diesel vehicles obviously) including Jetskis mostly because it's renewable, it's better for the environment & cars will mostly run better on it due to higher octane than regular ULP.
does this mean that even though one company is cheaper in E10 they end up selling 98 more expensiver than the company selling more expensive e10?
Has anyone food a Woolworths petrol station where the price difference between ulp91 and ulp95 is only 8 cents as opposed to the regular 12 cents?
No but the Shell / Coles Express in Mac Park has 98 for 25c more than 91. Joke.
yeah, i gave up supermarket petrol discounts a while back.
I've also been logging different RON and consumption in my car. Calculating a price/performance ratio.