How do some garages ever sell any fuel?

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

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Joined
17 Oct 2002
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160,165
I've always wondered this.

On the main way into/out of Plymouth from the rest of the world, there are 3 petrol stations.

One of these always sells fuel at frankly ridiculous prices. For example, todays prices:

A: Petrol 95.9, diesel 97.9
B: Petrol 95.9, diesel 99.9
C: Petrol 103.9, diesel 107.9

They are accurate prices. None of these stations sell anything like Optimax, Super is your best bet. Prices shown are just for normal 95ron fuel.

How does Garage C not manage to go bust? I once stopped there for a bottle of coke and got charged £2.70 for a 2 litre bottle..
 
Whenever i queue for fuel i notice that most people seem to use fuel cards, these people probably dont care about the price of the fuel (myself included) :)
 
[TW]Fox;10401316 said:
How does Garage C not manage to go bust? I once stopped there for a bottle of coke and got charged £2.70 for a 2 litre bottle..
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That's how, unsuspecting naïve victims ;)
 
Is it on a dual carriageway? A30 or something?

Some places are like that near me, but they are on the A2, so they can charge more because they are the sort of places people only stop if they really need fuel.
 
[TW]Fox;10401316 said:
How does Garage C not manage to go bust? I once stopped there for a bottle of coke and got charged £2.70 for a 2 litre bottle..
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Because people don't particularly care how much petrol or diesel is when they need it.

There's only 1 garage I know of in a 20 mile radius that sells '95 for less than 99.9, with '98 being 107.4 at the lowest.

What grade is this Optimax stuff, I've never heard of it before - we used to get avgas up at the airport for the MX bikes, but I was told it can damage normal road bikes.

Or perhaps a local Transport company uses it for all their diesel via fuel cards and gets a bit discount. You'd be suprised at the amount of hauliers paying less than 3/5's of what you pay.
 
[TW]Fox;10401316 said:
How does Garage C not manage to go bust? I once stopped there for a bottle of coke and got charged £2.70 for a 2 litre bottle..
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I suspect thats your answer right there mate. Sometimes people need petrol, or coke, and go in without checking first. Sure, you and I probably look at the price before we fill up but I'm certain theres people who don't. By the time you've filled up or taken that bottle of coke to the counter its too late.

Anyway, when it costs £50 to fill a car up at the cheapest station it will be around £54 at the most expensive one. Some people don't care.
 
SGCWill said:
Because people don't particularly care how much petrol or diesel is when they need it.

There's only 1 garage I know of in a 20 mile radius that sells '95 for less than 99.9, with '98 being 107.4 at the lowest.

What grade is this Optimax stuff, I've never heard of it before - we used to get avgas up at the airport for the MX bikes, but I was told it can damage normal road bikes.

Or perhaps a local Transport company uses it for all their diesel via fuel cards and gets a bit discount. You'd be suprised at the amount of hauliers paying less than 3/5's of what you pay.
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You're getting ripped off in Ballyclare, we're paying about 95-96p on average and a hell of a lot less if we fancy a trip over the border :p

Optimax which I don't think is sold in NI (it used to be it wasn't available, not sure if this has changed yet) is 98RON, SUL is 97RON and AVGAS is 100RON. Don't use AVGAS in normal roadbikes as it has lead in it, you won't see any advantage anyway as you'd need to adjust the motor to take advantage of it. It's bloody expensive too.
 
I saw one like that around here the other day. It looked like a small private one selling it at 101.9 when the shell around the corner was at 93.9.
 
Optimax = V-Power these days, sold by Shell. They had to change its name due to Optimax being a trademark for an opticians product or something :p
 
most people do not care that it is a couple of pence dearer, over the cost of the fuel they are putting in it probably makes no more than £1.50 difference to the total cost.
when they are visiting just the once it doesnt really matter to people.

hell, i had a 5p per litre discount voucher from tesco the other day, i saved myself £2 on a tank of unleaded. wow woohoo etc, not.

incidently, how come this nags you so much yet you say it is pointless people buying a diesel just to save a couple of hundred £ a year?
 
It's the same on borders to Countys.

On the A39 Devon/Cornwall border there's a petrol station that charges a stupid amount
 
Morba said:
incidently, how come this nags you so much yet you say it is pointless people buying a diesel just to save a couple of hundred £ a year?
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It doesnt nag me it just makes me wonder as I drive past every day :p

Oh, on a fuel related thing, the best thing about being a student is that even despite the hugely uneconomical 22mpg I'm getting at the moment I have filled up just twice since 1st September and still have half a tank :D
 
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There's a Texaco not far from me near where my dad works that is consistently expensive. And the local Shell stations are also the cheapest here, too.
 
Texaco always seems to be a lot.

lthough I did pay 99.9p a litre for 'High Octane' stuff in Oldham at the weekend.
 
Scuzi said:
You're getting ripped off in Ballyclare, we're paying about 95-96p on average and a hell of a lot less if we fancy a trip over the border :p
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99.9p in the Maxol just down from Kellys this evening :(
 
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