Is supermarket petrol inferior to high street petrol stations petrol?

Question

My mechanic informs me so. Is he right?

Answer 1

My brother is a fuel delivery driver working for Total fuels out of the Immingham refinery, I asked him the same question and basically, the fuel in supermarkets does'nt have the additives (cleaners etc) in it that the brand name petrol stations do. it is added to the raw fuel in the delivery lorry at the refinery before delivery. all fuel has to meet british standards anyway (even the supermarket fuel) from a personal point of veiw, my Focus diesel runs better on brand fuel than supermarket fuel. better economy, acceleration idling and burns cleaner.

Answer 2

It is probably best to go for Supermarket petrol as the one factor that does effect the efficiency of petrol is the freshness, so the busiest petrol station is best and that will usually be the supermarket garage. Also you can now get 99 octane petrol from Tescos.

I would say go to the supermarket and buy the premium unleaded and you will get a grade of fuel that is in the same category as Shell V-power and BP Ultimate (in the case of Tescos 99 octane, even more potential power) for a much lower cost. Locally BP Ultimate is 104.9p and Tescos 99 is 98.4p. But most importantly it will be the freshest, as i mentioned earlier the most important factor is how long it has been sat at the petrol station.

Answer 3

you have all the answers here but bear in mind petrol is petrol its the ADDITIVES, OCTANES & SULPHUR etc that can affect some cars.Super-markets buy the fuel on the Rotterdam market and then its additives etc are blended in the fuel by petrol companies.rumour has it that this is where some discrepencies MAY happen because its down to £££.there are some problems with sports cars or imports that run at differant octane level to europe. check your fuel flap, newer cars have this on the inside, then check with the petrol station as they have to display this. also check the BS spec of both as there is a minimum and maximum just like oils.cheap oils for example only need to be 9% synthetic in a synthetic oil, Shell,Esso etc have almost 40% hence the price. likewise with fuel, how much additives do the supermarkets put in ?

Answer 4

He is talking oblocx, supermarket petrol and high street petrol is loaded into the lorries at the same place, for the south west all the petrol that is in the garages comes from the main depot in Avonmouth.

Answer 5

The issue is what does the supermarket buy. If they buy an inferior grade that cost less at wholesale there is a chance it may not be as good at the name brand station. Usually the refinery will sell products that they don't test as stringently or don't quite come up to their standards for a lower wholesale price. This doesn't necessarily mean it is "bad" gas. It also might have more or less additives good or bad depending on the additive.

Answer 6

He had a point many years ago but they are all high quality nowadays. I suspect he's been a mechanic for a long time.

I remember a petrol station in Manchester once being done for uncalibrated pumps and another for excessive water in the underground tanks but have never heard of this since.

Answer 7

apparently SOME of the brands have a lower octane level - so i hear... Some fuel card companies won;t be used at Tesco for example.... But I must say I also use supermarket fuel and find it no better or worse than others so who knows... sorry :O)

A Mechaniuc friend of minesay try and use a "brand" every few fill ups to mix the levels....

Answer 8

Same stuff. The supermarkets just use their huge bulk buying power to get it as cheap as possible from the big suppliers. This emans you might always buy from, say, Tesco, but over a period of time you might get Shell, Texaco and BP. Anyway, they all have to meet certain standards.

Answer 9

Dude, most of it's the same. If they're selling it in a supermarket, it must be good quality, because it's hard to get into those stores so only the best companies can purchase space in there. Trust me, that's my job.

Answer 10

there is a difference, unleaded get it from bp or shell. they are usually better. although all petrol is to a standard, it is like not all beans are the same. and not all made by Heinz.