UK Fuel Prices

It feels like fuel prices are always climbing, the AA recently reported that the UK has some of the highest fuel prices in Europe. The UK ranked at 18th most expensive place to buy petrol in Europe even though it'll be sourced from the same wholesalers as most other European countries. The AA’s February report shows a drop in unleaded by 0.5p but diesel prices have stayed relatively the same. With the North East having the lowest prices for unleaded and Northern Ireland for diesel,  the South East is highest for both.

Fuel Pricing Breakdown

To understand why the UK’s fuel prices are high in comparison to Europe, it’s important to see how the pricing is broken down. Pricing is broken down into 5 parts:

• Fuel duty:

  Which is currently 57.95p a litre – so accounts for about 50% of a litre of fuel.

• Cost of petrol:

  The cost of the raw element (crude oil) and its refinement at the plant.

• VAT:

  Which is 20% at the moment, any change in the price of fuel will be subject to this tax.

• Retailer profit:

  Surprisingly, retailers only receive a small profit from the sale of every litre, at about 5%.

• Delivery distribution:

  The cost of transporting and distributing fuel is taken by the wholesaler and accounts for a little under 2% of the total cost.
• Find out how TerraClean can improve your car's performance.

Premium fuels, are they worth it?

Next to the regular ‘everyday’ petrol and diesel pumps you will see ‘Premium’, ‘Super’ or ‘Ultimate’. These are usually more expensive and have flashy adverts promoting their benefits. Customers are usually put off using these fuels by high prices, but if you drive a performance car, it could be worth splurging on a tankful. It can help make the most of the car’s performance by improving throttle performance.

Premium Petrol

Premium petrol usually has higher octane rating than standard petrol. Octane is a chemical compound of petrol. The amount of octane in petrol determines how well it’ll perform in higher compression engines (high octane fuels work more efficiently than lower rated fuels). Standard rating for petrol in the UK is 95 octane, cars sold in the UK have their electronics tuned so that they can fuel properly on this rating of fuel.

Premium Diesel

There is a distinct difference between premium petrol and premium diesel, because diesel engines don’t ignite fuel to create power, premium diesel doesn’t usually have a higher octane rating. ‘Super’ diesel will feature chemicals in its mixture that are designed to shift soot deposits and other build up within the engine’s fuel system.

• DPF cleaning explained

Why choose super fuels?

If you drive a mainstream car, you see the benefits of using super fuel as being applicable to you. Cars are set up to being able to use standard petrol and diesel efficiently without damage to the engines. However if you drive a diesel car, a tankful of super diesel every 1000 miles, would help clear out soot deposits from the engine and fuel system. This can make the engine run more efficiently and economical, the extra cost every now and again can help prevent larger scale problems in the future. If you are interested in TerraClean services, click here and put your postcode in to find your nearest dealer.