Frustration at the petrol pump This is how Bonn drivers deal with the high fuel prices

Bonn · The high fuel prices have changed the way people in Bonn fill their tanks. We asked around at petrol stations about the strategies motorists are using to cope with the situation - and whether tips to save money really work.

 Prices on Friday afternoon on Bonn's Reuterstraße.

Prices on Friday afternoon on Bonn's Reuterstraße.

Foto: Meike Böschemeyer

Exactly 209 euros: only the best is good enough for this Bonn entrepreneur's Porsche Panamera. That's why on this Wednesday afternoon he reaches as usual for the premium petrol at the Aral petrol station at the Verteilerkreis. Almost 90 litres gush into the tank within two minutes, followed by loud cursing. "They’re taking the piss," he says to an acquaintance he met by chance at the petrol pump. Calculated over the year, he says, he’s paying round 2,500 euros more for fuel. "That's a whole family holiday." But he does not want to change his driving behaviour. "I can get a lot of it back at the end of the year when I do my tax returns. If I want to save, I take the second car, which is a diesel."Fuel prices have been high since the start of the war in Ukraine. At peak times, a litre of diesel cost more than 2.30 euros. It has since fallen to around 1.90 euros, but that is still far above the pre-war level of around 1.60 euros. At the beginning of the pandemic, it was sometimes even under one euro.

Filling up in Bonn: Only put between 10 and 20 litres in your tank

This has changed the way many Bonn residents fill their tanks. While the entrepreneur in the Porsche always fills up, a woman who is on her way to Euskirchen and has to make a stop at the ED petrol station on Lievelingsweg is always on the move in small steps. She puts between ten and 20 litres in the tank when her car is running low on fuel. "If I see a better price, I can fill up more cheaply," she says. She has teamed up with colleagues to save fuel. Then four people have to squeeze into the small car. An elderly couple who stop at the SVG at the distribution circle are also keen on saving fuel. "My husband only drives 100 on the motorway," she says while he is paying.

The police don’t look out for cheaper prices. "We have an unwritten law there. As soon as the tank is half empty, we fill it up. It could be that we have to quickly drive to Düsseldorf or travel long distance for an operation." And the taxi drivers? Resignation reigns among them. "It's hardly worth it any more," says one.

Next refuelling only after 1 June

Some motorists are planning to wait until after 1 June before filling up. Then the fuel tax will drop, making diesel about 15 and petrol 30 cents cheaper. A man who runs an agricultural business is trying to make do with what is left in the tank until then. "If I fill up all the machines, that's a lot of money," he says. He is not afraid that there will then be bottlenecks, as some mineral oil companies are proclaiming. "That won't happen in Germany." Does he pay attention to when it is cheap or expensive? "Yes, it is more expensive in the morning. But now it's not always like that either."

This iron rule has long applied. In the morning, fuel prices go up all at once. By the evening they drop, before becoming a bit more expensive again at night. This is how the Market Transparency Unit at the Federal Cartel Office described it in its latest report. "At one and the same petrol station there are usually price differences of eight to 13 cents per litre per day. If you compare the petrol stations in one city, there are usually even price differences of 18 to 24 cents," says spokesperson Kay Weiden. Looking at the statistics, this picture is also confirmed in Bonn. On average, fuel prices are highest between 5 and 8 a.m. and lowest in the evening between 6 and 10 p.m. Weiden says that the investigation, which the office had initiated in April, has not yet been completed. "It will certainly continue beyond June."

High fuel prices in Bonn: much anger and frustration at the cashier's counter

The cashiers in Bonn, who have to look into the often angry faces of their customers every day, cannot always confirm the price fluctuations. "It happens more and more often that it costs more again in the evening. And there are peaks throughout the day," says one employee. In the past weeks, she says, she was met with a lot of anger and frustration, but when the tax reduction was announced, people’s mood improved.

At the big brands like Aral, prices change more and more frequently, as a cashier reports. "There you are driving out of the yard at a price that had just changed and a few minutes later it's even cheaper." The petrol station tenants have no influence on this: Aral and Shell have a head office in Hamburg, SVG at Verteilerkreis has its headquarters in Düsseldorf. And the lessees' margins are also low, as one of them explains. "We earn through the shops, with petrol it's only a few cents per litre." Does he know how the pricing works? Shrugging his shoulders, "No idea."

Mineral oil companies are not very forthcoming when asked about why fuel prices are so opaque, BP didn’t respond to our question at all, Shell sent a brief e-mail with a reference to its own website. Apparently they have heard this question too often. "The price structure as well as determining a local price is a complex process based on many, constantly changing factors," says a Shell spokesperson. The website says: "The higher the volatility, the more frequently prices change at petrol stations. And, the more intense the competition, the more likely price movements." The decisive factors for prices at the petrol station, it says, are "market conditions and procurement costs and not the German holiday calendar".

(Original text: Nicolas Ottersbach - Translation: Jean Lennox )
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