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Drivers pay £3.60 less to fill up their tank as petrol prices drop again

Drivers pay £3.60 less to fill up their tank as petrol prices drop again
Matt Browning
Written By:
Posted:
03/10/2024
Updated:
15/10/2024

Fuel prices dropped by 6.5p in September in one of the biggest drops in the last 10 years, a motoring service reveals.

The average cost of unleaded petrol is 134.7ppl (pence per litre), a drop from 141.26ppl at the beginning of the month, according to RAC Fuel Watch data.

This is the ninth-biggest monthly reversal of petrol prices in the last decade.

Diesel, on average, fell from 139.5ppl to 146ppl at the start of September, leaving the cost to fill up a tank at just under £77.

The cost to fill up a standard 55-litre family car is now £3.60 less than before, thanks to the decreasing wholesale costs of oil. Fuel is now $72 per barrel, down from $78 at the beginning of the month and miles away from the $83 during the summer.

Indeed, since May – when petrol prices shot up to 150ppl with UK forecourts having an ‘inexplicable disparity’ – the cost to fill up your tank has plummeted by £8.50.

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For diesel drivers, the change has been even more pronounced, with savings of £10 on a full tank compared to five months ago.

The profit margins taken home by retailers reached 13ppl in August for unleaded petrol, and those profits were a reason for concern for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

But with prices falling throughout September, RAC predicts that, over the next fortnight, retailers will finally shave off the profits made at the forecourt and prices might go down by as much as 4ppl.

Meanwhile, the big four supermarkets of Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are an average of 3ppl when compared to the rest of the UK’s garages.

Those retailers charge 131.86ppl for unleaded petrol, while the UK average stands at 134.79ppl. For diesel, the big four supermarkets charge an average of 136.47ppl, around 3p cheaper than the national 139.5ppl average.

‘Drivers very pleased to see prices at pump drop’

Simon Williams, RAC’s head of policy, said: “Drivers will be very pleased to see prices at the pump not only continuing to fall but dropping by 6.5p in just a month, as this translates to saving £3.60 on a full tank.

“Since the start of May, prices have come down dramatically, with 15.5p being shaved off unleaded and 18.5p off diesel.”

Williams added: “The reductions have primarily been driven by a drop in the price of oil from above $90 in early April to below $70 briefly in mid-September, supported by a slightly stronger pound, which makes wholesale fuel cheaper as it’s traded in dollars.

“With analysts predicting oil may continue to fall on the back of a weakened global economy and Saudi Arabia upping its output to regain lost market share, the immediate future on the UK’s forecourts looks considerably brighter for drivers.”