The fuel prices went on a wild roller coaster ride in the year that is drawing to a close.

The cheapest year of fueling since the introduction of the E10 fuel has now been followed by the most expensive since 2013, according to data from the ADAC.

November was even the most expensive month for refueling ever.

And not only that: Anyone who wants to buy a new car currently has to dig deeper into their pockets than ever before.

This is the conclusion of the regular market study by the Duisburg Center Automotive Research (CAR), which was presented on Thursday.

According to the head of the study, Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, the tendency towards scarce supply and lower discounts will continue in the first few months of the new year.

The reason, in particular, are supply problems with semiconductor components.

The state innovation bonus for electric vehicles obscures the trend towards higher prices somewhat.

A liter of diesel costs 27 cents more than last year

The scarce supply also brings with it another circumstance that Germans are familiar with, especially from the GDR era.

Many new car buyers report that they have to wait many weeks, sometimes even several months, for the model they want.

Above all, the high gasoline prices fueled the debate about state relief for motorists.

Up until the end of November, the average price for E10 premium gasoline in the current year was 1.514 euros per liter, the nationwide average.

For diesel it was 1.373 euros.

For the year as a whole, ADAC fuel market expert Jürgen Albrecht expects even slightly higher final scores, because diesel and E10 have been more expensive in December.

Roughly speaking, it comes to an increase of 26 to 27 cents in the case of the E10 compared to the previous year, in the case of diesel it should be around 27 cents.

The cheapest fueling day was January 1, at € 1.324 for E10 and € 1.215 for diesel.

The most expensive days for diesel fell on November 11th with an all-time high of 1.572 euros per liter.

E10 cost 1.701 euros on November 14, just barely past the record of 1.709 from 2012.

"With E10 there was almost a 40 cents difference between the most expensive and the cheapest day, which is extraordinary," says ADAC expert Albrecht.

What Saudi Arabia and Russia have to do with it

The most important driver was the development of the oil price.

The decreasing corona restrictions caused increasing demand, but supply remained scarce because large producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia were only cautiously expanding their production.

The prices increased significantly in 2021: From 50 dollars per barrel (159 liters) at the beginning of the year to more than 85 dollars at times in November.

After that, the markets gave way again a little.

The rise in oil prices had been shaky and unsteady for the whole year.

Above all, new developments in the corona pandemic caused concern over and over again.

The latest particularly strong fluctuation brought about the discovery of the new Corona variant Omikron in November.

In the first few days after that, oil prices plummeted, but also recovered.