PowerSwitch

From the RAC this time.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59886270

I have little sympathy for two reasons. Firstly petrol is about the same price as it was was TEN years ago, and drivers have benefitted greatly from much reduced prices in the intervening years.
I would be delighted if bus or train fares were held to those prevailing ten years ago, most have roughly doubled.

Secondly petrol retailing is not in general particularly profitable, look at the number of filling stations that have closed down.

If the RAC really believe what they say, perhaps they should buy and operate a few filling stations themselves, they could either charge the going rate and share the huge profits with their members, or charge a lower price as a good will gesture.

In Kazakhstan they are rioting about LPG (OK so not petrol but can be used for cars) price increases.

There do seem to be some filling stations that charge more and some that charge less. I don't know about the economics of the business but if some charge more and some less and they pay the same for the product then something is happening. It may be no coincidence that the glossy new petrol stations seem to charge more and the smaller, unkempt ones seem to charge a bit less.

Petrol is cheap and has gotten cheaper in real terms over the last decade.

As for price variations between petrol stations - they are trivial, varying by no more than a few percent. Compared to almost anything else petrol prices are incredibly uniform.

I've got a spreadsheet going back 25 years of what I've spent on fuel etc! Nerdy I know but why not.

Basically it's gone from around €0.05 (five cents) maximum to drive one kilometre to around €0.07 (seven cents) maximum 'since records began'.

Also in the meantime, vehicles have become more affordable (as well as better generally). In other words, motoring has never been cheaper.

Absolutely, fuel is cheap, cars are cheap, they are dramatically more reliable than decades past... 'motorists' don't know how lucky they are. If only train and bus users could be so lucky.

Petrol cost are more likely to vary more from one area to another. For some reason Newbury is an expensive area, we're all rich apparently, and prices here are routinely 5p to 10p more per litre than surrounding areas.