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Drivers can save a lot of money if they go to the right petrol station.
This is once again proven by the large gas station report by the Federal Cartel Office right at the beginning with an everyday example.
For this purpose, the Bonn authority has calculated the potential savings on a daily commuter route in the urban area of Munich that is ten kilometers long: According to this, car drivers can use the cheapest petrol station for the E5 petrol to save up to twelve cents per liter compared to the most expensive station on their route save up.
Source: WORLD infographic
"That corresponds to a potential saving of around six euros per 50-liter tank," writes the Cartel Office.
If the commuter accepts a slight detour and reaches an even cheaper petrol station, the savings potential increases to around 9.50 euros per filled petrol tank.
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The Federal Cartel Office uses its own market transparency office to compare all gasoline prices in Germany every day and every five minutes.
As of December 2020, around 14,800 petrol stations were affected.
This observation shows how big the daily difference is: At one and the same petrol station, the Cartel Office found on average price differences of around twelve cents per liter of E5 premium petrol per day.
In relation to the entire city, the cartel watchdogs even identified 22 cents per liter as savings potential.
In general, the petrol stations in rural areas show lower price differences during the day than in urban regions.
It is still the case that in the morning from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. the petrol prices are significantly higher than in the evening between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
What is new, however, is that the cartel watchdogs also noticed “a noticeable price increase” in the evening hours that had not occurred in the previous year.
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Instead of the five price jumps observed so far, a sixth increase was added in the course of the year for almost all petrol station brands.
In general, it is usually cheaper to refuel in the afternoon on the way home than on the way to work in the morning.
On a nationwide average, the times of the first and last increase in the course of the day remained roughly the same.
The other increases followed one another more quickly.
Source: WORLD infographic
The Cartel Office also looked at the individual petrol station brands.
"As with previous changes, it can be observed that Aral's price-setting behavior was initially adjusted," writes the authority.
On the following day, the Total brand also introduced an additional increase.
Another working day later, Shell, Esso and Jet followed in a similar way.
That means: The market leader Aral with around 2400 petrol stations sets the pace and the competitors are following suit.
But that doesn't stop the maneuvering at the price masts.
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“In the following days, Aral suspended the new increase for a few days and then started it up again.” If you don't look carefully before choosing the petrol station, you will have an unusually expensive time to refuel.
According to the observations, the petrol prices at the approximately 230 truck stops in Germany are only slightly above the price level at the street petrol stations.
In the comparison, the Cartel Office determined there typically two to five cents higher liter prices for E5 petrol.
In contrast, the prices at the 355 German motorway filling stations are usually significantly higher than in the surrounding cities and towns.
Here the authority names a surcharge of 25 cents per liter.
“Their price level is still significantly higher on average than at the other petrol stations and the daily cycle is much flatter,” writes the authority.
The price gap between the E5 and E10 gasoline types has also widened significantly.
Over the course of the year, this difference averaged five cents in favor of E10 gasoline, which has twice as high a proportion of bioethanol as an admixture.
Drivers have obviously reacted to this: While the sales share of the E10 variety was around 13 percent at the beginning of 2020, it rose to 16 percent by the end of the year.
Most of the petrol stations per square kilometer are located in Germany in the city-states of Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen.
In Lower Saxony it is the most in terms of population, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in relation to the number of registered cars.
In 2020, the cheapest regions for E5 premium petrol were found in the south of the country.
In contrast, drivers in Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia are the most expensive to refuel.
In addition, according to the study, there are a particularly large number of petrol stations with small price differences in the course of the day in southeast Germany.
Conversely, the proportion of stations with an average price range of more than 15 cents per liter in the Ruhr area and in the Frankfurt area is comparatively high.
Source: WORLD infographic
According to a current analysis by the ADAC, refueling has just become more expensive in Germany.
According to this, a liter of E10 premium gasoline costs a nationwide average of 1.47 euros, an increase of 0.7 cents compared to last week.
The price for diesel is currently 1.31 euros and thus 0.3 cents above the value of the previous week.
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One reason for this is the rise in the price of crude oil.
A barrel of the Brent variety currently costs around 66 dollars (55 euros), a week ago it was around 64 dollars.
Since the value added tax was raised again and the CO2 tax was introduced at the beginning of the year, petrol station prices have already risen sharply year-on-year.
Source: WORLD infographic
In general, the Cartel Office analyzes a direct link to the purchase prices in the sales prices at the petrol stations.
"The development of the petrol station prices essentially follows the refinery sales prices, which in turn are significantly influenced by the crude oil prices," writes the authority.
Finally, the study shows no significant changes for the holiday season either. Because higher prices during typical vacation times such as the Easter vacation were not observed. However, this could also be related to the restrictions of the pandemic - which makes travel almost impossible.