Supermarket petrol price war

Ashton Berkhauer, insurance expert at uSwitch.com, comments on the supermarket petrol price war: “Today’s news that supermarkets are fuelling the fight by rolling back petrol prices will come as a welcome relief to Britain’s 33 million motorists. Asda leads the fuel pump war by bringing the cost of petrol down at their 170 petrol stations by 3p, to a flat rate of 113.9p per litre. This will reduce the cost of filling a tank by £3.14 (5%) - £82.47 over the course of a year. If all UK motorists were to fill their car petrol tanks at Asda instead of a regular forecourt filling station, collectively they would save £96.9 million, equating to £2.5 billion over a year. Customers at Morrisons will also see a reduction of 4p per litre to an average of 113.9p”

“With average petrol prices in the UK currently standing at 119.5p per litre, British motorists are already facing crippling annual fuel bills of £1,760, forking out an average of £67 every time they fill up their tank. This is a 23% increase on last year when a full tank of petrol set consumers back £49 or 87.9p per litre.”

Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s will also be offering shoppers 5p off a litre if they spend £50 or more in store for a limited time.

Berkhauer concludes: “With oil prices beginning to fall, it is refreshing to see large organisations passing on these savings to consumers who have already felt the crunch of a 20% increase on their food bills. We can’t ignore the fact that supermarket petrol stations represent a small proportion of all forecourts in the UK and consumers could find themselves driving further to make these savings. Going forward, we hope to see this initiative replicated by large fuel companies.”