Current Affairs
22 January 2010Cheaper petrol anyone?
Yes – that got your attention! But you’ll have to go to Masterton to find it. Actually it’s not quite that bad – for North Islanders - because just lately, we’ve noticed it can be easy to find cheaper petrol. Trouble is – it’s only if you are lucky enough to live in the right areas.
How do you find out about good deals? That’s really the problem. You’d think that in this switched-on tech savvy age that would be so easy... And it is if you live in Maroochydore, Darwin, Perth... Want to see how easy it is? www.motormouth.com.au As I write 91 is NZ$1.40/litre in Maroochy. $1.73 in Wellington.
That’s not all. Add a Motormouth gadget to your igoogle page, and you can check in real time any time you like – if you live in a major town in Australia. Prices are usually only a few hours old.
We’re a tech savvy nation right? Surely the Aussies can’t be a jump ahead of us here? Well, mumble mumble grumble... they are.
The other week Big Four Oil hit us with a second hike in less than a fortnight. But not everyone played along. Did anyone notice? After all the fuss over petrol price hikes in the last couple of years, you’d think there would be parties outside Gull’s gas stations where petrol was at least 7c a litre cheaper. No sign of that at all!
My take on this is that unlike Aussie it’s too hard to find out about cheaper local petrol prices. Ok the AA was on the case advising motorists to shop around. Great idea – but how?
You could go to www.pricewatch.co.nz, which is a bit like Motormouth, but it’s nowhere near as helpful. Recently, I found petrol in Masterton at 7c/litre below Wellington. (Yes – there is a Gull in town which keeps the lid on prices.) But when I checked Pricewatch – there’s not a single price for the Wairarapa.
On the day of the last price drop, Pricewatch’s Auckland and Wellington prices for BP and Gull were up to two days old, and BP’s were obviously out of date. Pricewatch says up front: prices are a minimum of 24 hours old!
But wait it gets worse! Some of the Pricewatch prices are clearly wrong. What kind of muppet would pay $3.76 for a litre of LPG!
And there’s more. In Australia petrol stations are far more likely to show the price for all grades on the roadside sign. Here, it seems lack of real competition means they show as little as possible (The law says they don’t have to show anything if they don’t want to) so even if you drive around (wasting that valuable petrol!) to compare prices, you may not find a good deal.
It seems to be common B4O policy to only show the price of 91 and diesel, so if you use 95/96, 98 or LPG, you have no idea what you will pay until you reach the pump. Yup – I’ve driven right on outta there!
This lack of visible pricing for 95/96 let the companies quietly sneak up the price from around 5c/litre more than 91 in 2002 to 7 or 8c and more above nowadays. Only a few noticed the extra wallet pain.
What to do? For now, if you’re lucky enough to live in the North Island and near a Gull outlet, chances are good they will have the cheapest fuel. And their competitive approach forces B4O station prices nearby to be close. In the South Island – all we can suggest is you collect and use supermarket fuel coupons, and hope one day Gull might move in to your town.
And, let’s all hope Motormouth can open a NZ site really soon which would make it easy to hunt out a better deal. In the jargon of the bureaucrats who are supposed to keep an eye on this – we’d then have some real transparency in petrol pricing.
Comments
Petrol / Diesel Pricing is all over the place with Price variations like you wouldn't believe,
I always shop at a Gull Station unless I have Fuel Vouchers from the Supermarkets to help save a Few bucks when refuelling,
I have seen the Prices rise in NZ when they are going down on the Overseas markets, Which Makes me wonder WHO is Ripping Whom Off, Huh.
Yep, The Motorist Cops it, Yet again,
Mmmm,
Now WHY Doesn't That Surprise me,
Huh, ?
What happened to
FREEDOM OF SPEECH, ???
@Jeay4nz
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Well I'm the muppet who paid $3.76 per litre for LPG - at Herne Bay in AUckland. I had no idea that it would be that much until I was billed $33.84 for my 9 litre bottle fill! I was shocked and will never fill my bottle there again, at least not without checking the per litre rate first!
The situation here is appalling.
For all their bluster, it's obvious that our government (s)
were and are scared to upset the Big 4,
Time to join the Commwealth folks ! They'll continue to rip us off 'till we do.
"This lack of visible pricing for 95/96 let the companies quietly sneak up the price from around 5c/litre more than 91 in 2002 to 7 or 8c and more above nowadays. Only a few noticed the extra wallet pain."
Which begs the question: Why didn't you guys tell the consumer?
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