Premium unleaded premium?

[FJ Steve]

T-go, i work in the industry, and some of my colleagues are in management positions or Shell, BP etc. One working for BP is on a salary package of circa $350k and he gets a BP card which offers him a 25% discount. so I find it hard to believe that yr mate's friend is in reality only paying 30c/l (unless he's sleeping with the boss!!

Therefore...BP Boss's take it up the.....?

[pologti18t]

How many conspiracy theories do some of you guys have to come up with!!!

Petrol pricing would have to be one of the most investigated topics EVER in Australian industry and they never come up with credible evidence of any price fixing.

As for the price difference between ULP and 98ROn... are you comparing normal non-ethanol ULP or the e10? e10 is 1-3c/l cheaper than ULP and that could quite easily account for the 10 -> 13c difference between ULP and 98RON.

High Volume/Low margin will work quite easily for companies now as there are far fewer petrol stations around, compared to 20yrs ago, and far more cars. Throw in grossly overpriced drinks and snacks (why don't you ask the ACCC to investigate that!) and i can see how they make money!

Actually, that's quite funny. People will whinge about a cent or two on petrol prices but are quite willing to pay $1.20 more for a can of coke than they could buy at their local store! Amazing!

So, to sum up... stop whinging about petrol prices. It wont change anything and will most likely give you an ulcer

[VW Convert]

Hell ... I remember when fuel was .20c/gallon (4.55 litres) ... oops.

Dave

Me too Dave and I can remember when ice creams were sixpence!

I also seem to remember getting about $20.00 for a 40 hour week in my first full time job!

Cheers

George

[PogoAmy]

Normal unleaded. There's always somebody who has to accuse others of being whiny conspiracy theorists, doesn't there?

My original post was a simple question as to whether my local Caltex was the only one to raise the 'surcharge' for premium or not. Seems they're not.

Cheers!
PogoAmy.

How many conspiracy theories do some of you guys have to come up with!!!

Petrol pricing would have to be one of the most investigated topics EVER in Australian industry and they never come up with credible evidence of any price fixing.

As for the price difference between ULP and 98ROn... are you comparing normal non-ethanol ULP or the e10? e10 is 1-3c/l cheaper than ULP and that could quite easily account for the 10 -> 13c difference between ULP and 98RON.

High Volume/Low margin will work quite easily for companies now as there are far fewer petrol stations around, compared to 20yrs ago, and far more cars. Throw in grossly overpriced drinks and snacks (why don't you ask the ACCC to investigate that!) and i can see how they make money!

Actually, that's quite funny. People will whinge about a cent or two on petrol prices but are quite willing to pay $1.20 more for a can of coke than they could buy at their local store! Amazing!

So, to sum up... stop whinging about petrol prices. It wont change anything and will most likely give you an ulcer

[NickZ]

As prices went down from $1.50 to $1.00 per litre, Shell increased their surcharge for V Power from 10c to 13c. They always had the lowest surcharge in Sydney amongst the majors so this isn't a surprise, however no doubt it was deliberately timed during the price falls rather than when prices were at its peak!

BP to me seem to vary their surcharge week on week - when Shell had their shortages of V Power in Sydney BP took advantage and the surcharge was up to 18c!

And in terms of margins, the refineries make a decent margin on the petrol (especially 98RON as it does not cost even close to 13c a litre extra to make), they sell to retailers but you will find the retailers wont make much margin, instead relying on the overpriced bread and milk to bring in the profits.

Call that marketing BS, but that is because one owner tends to own multiple service stations in the area. If you remember a couple of months ago in Sydney some independent owners (note this does not just mean your Metro and Speedways but a person who owns one BP or Caltex) protested at the unfair buying power of these servos by dropping prices to 30c below the market price. Also you will be surprised at the amount of people who are willing to pay the premium for milk and bread at the servo for the convenience and the amount of money they make on that, as well as the people who fill up on Thursday and Friday when petrol is 10c a litre more.

[pologti18t]

Normal unleaded. There's always somebody who has to accuse others of being whiny conspiracy theorists, doesn't there?

LOL. love this use of the word surcharge It's just another product they can sell at the price they want. Anyone old enough to know would realise that the % diff between ULP and PULP has never been lower.

You get the ill-informed buying public to buy your product promising extra kms/tank, extra performance etc... once they are "hooked" you bumped the price up or charge a "premium" over the lesser product. Demand for premium must be on the rise as more euro cars are sold that seem to require it.

I am truly interested to know why people focus so much on those piddly cents when just OWNING a car pisses buckets of money away each day.

The popular press has a lot to answer for in this regard.

[gerhard]

You get the ill-informed buying public to buy your product promising extra kms/tank, extra performance etc... once they are "hooked" you bumped the price up or charge a "premium" over the lesser product.

I am truly interested to know why people focus so much on those piddly cents when just OWNING a car pisses buckets of money away each day.

The popular press has a lot to answer for in this regard.

Yeah - VW, BMW et al know jack **** about petrol. That's why they specify 98 for their engines, when we know it's a suck-in - 91 is fine

But you are correct on part two - why people who buy a car knowing it requires premium fuel then bleat incessantly that it's dearer than regular fuel is beyond me.

Asking what happens when regular or 95 or E10 fuel is used in the "98" motors is a very sensible question. As the Brisbane people know, you can't always get 98. You would then step down to 95, then E10 in an emergency, but using 91 would almost be worse than being stranded on empty.

[NickZ]

You get the ill-informed buying public to buy your product promising extra kms/tank, extra performance etc... once they are "hooked" you bumped the price up or charge a "premium" over the lesser product. Demand for premium must be on the rise as more euro cars are sold that seem to require it.

By ill-informed, are you implying that 98 octane is the same as 91 octane? Last time I checked, 98 does give better performance and economy.

Back in 2002/2003 the gap was 8.8c when prices were at the same level as now with the premium at 13c? That is just economics working at its best - in 02/03 fewer cars actually required 98RON so the market was more sensitive to prices as motorists had the choice to use 91RON. Nowadays more and more cars (like our VWs) require the 98RON stuff hence they can charge a higher premium without losing too much market share

[tryingavw]

LOL.
I am truly interested to know why people focus so much on those piddly cents when just OWNING a car pisses buckets of money away each day.

The popular press has a lot to answer for in this regard.

very true. i've done the numbers on my 2002 7 series where the fuel economy has now dropped to 15l/ 100klm. the car is worth 50k but at a replacement price of 200k so the difference is 150k - one of the sales pitches is the new model is more efficient. woopee i reckon if i drove 24/7 for 2 years i couldn't make the numbers work.

Ive also considered the higher cost of maintenance at say 12k per year- this is still better than the 25k depreciation on a new one. not to mention finding the cash....

it still goes well so i'm keeping it.

The same numbers hold for a 50k car as well, just the petrol saving gets better as a % of overall running cost.

the other issue is the energy required to build a new car- who knows how much that really is?

sorry for the rant - couldnt help myself!

[pologti18t]

Yeah - VW, BMW et al know jack **** about petrol. That's why they specify 98 for their engines, when we know it's a suck-in - 91 is fine

I never mentioned cars requiring 98RON. But even my mates BMW X5 4.8is would quite happily run on 91RON.

Will have to check, but I think the vast majority of cars for sale in Australia must run on 91 or 95RON fuel. Even the Golf Gti and Polo Gti will run on 95RON with no issues.

Even the new M3 V8 will run on 95RON

Back in 2002/2003 the gap was 8.8c when prices were at the same level as now with the premium at 13c?

Was 98 widely available back then? Or are you talking about the 91 <> 95 price differences?
95/98 isn't as widely discounted as normal ULP. So the gap between it and 95/98 opens up on big discounting days.