Supermarket Petrol V. Name Brand Petrol

[johnny37]

Friend who is a retired petrol station owner swears supermarket petrol damages your engine due to the additives they put in it.
Anyone know if this is true?

[EDDIE51]

Here is a map showing all the fuel refineries in the UK.
Each of them supply all the fuel companies in the area.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=lcl&q=oil+refinery+uk+map&oq=oil+refinery+uk++maop&;gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i22i30k1.7803.12324.0.15655.6.6.0.0.0.0.178.967.0j6.6.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.6.950...0.0.ci5dSy1OPcU#rlfi=hd:;si:;mv:!1m3!1d3495465.336523091!2d-1.3996395999999998!3d53.92991185!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i106!2i279!4f13.1;tbs:lrf:!2m1!1e2!2m1!1e3!3sIAE,lf:1,lf_ui:2
The only difference is at the actual point where the fuel is put into the individual tanker. It is at this point that the additive package is added. Most including the supermarkets use the standard additive package, some companies have their own additive package and use that.

[HansUrbancka]

The following links confirm what Flonska has said;-

https://www.petrolprices.com/news/supermarket-fuel-and-premium-petrol-the-lowdown/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/advice/fuelling-the-debate-is-supermarket-fuel-ok-to-use-in-your-car/

Hans

[mikey4444]

Hans ...lets hope this finally puts to bed, the daft urban myth that supermarket fuels are somehow inferior.

Isn't it amazing how such things get to be believed ?

[EDDIE51]

^ I am afraid it will make no difference. There will always be those who are influenced by advertising and convinced a 'Brand name' is best.
My motto is 'Never buy anything that is advertised and never buy a brand name' I base this on my thinking that if a product has to be heavily advertised it can't be much good. A really good product will sell due to word of mouth not an expensive advertising campaign.
I know for fact that supermarket own brands are often the brand name product in a different wrapper.
Good Ale Needs No Bush.

[Old_Geezer]

Whether you think it inferior or not will depend on what you think of the various additive packages. One can still disagree. At least we know that there is a minimum standard.

[EDDIE51]

^ Nothing has changed ALL fuel, petrol and diesel ,sold in the UK is produced by the same refineries, it is exactly the same except for the final additive that is added as the individual tanker is filled at the refinery.

[EDDIE51]

Tesco has never sold anything other than it's own brand fuel. Same for the other supermarkets. Possibly an ex Texaco station was bought out by Tesco .

[EDDIE51]

Texaco is part of Chevron, it's stations are branded Chevron now.

[Zacs-Master]

The basic economics on supermarkets having special fuel is a bit of a no brainer.

If a refinery made special batches of fuel, this would have a cost associate with it. The supermarket would then have to pay extra for it. supermarkets sell fuel at a lower price than most 'brand' name producers.

I've heard of a loss-leader, but this would be insane.

[Bazile]

I said all that in my post at 15:54 - lol

[Bazile]

....i.e. the petrol is the same , just different additives

[Zacs-Master]

Great minds Baz (didn't read all the previous threads). ;-)

[Zacs-Master]

Ah, well, my argument is slightly different then. Why would supermarkets pay for additives and then sell it cheaper?

And i don't buy the loss-leader argument.

[Quoi]

What if ALL petrol has additives but the supermarket has cheaper, less effective additives put in.
Then this fits the low price from supermarkets and inferior petrol argument.

[Zacs-Master]

No it doesn't. The refinery would have to dedicate specific storage facilities & purchase non-standard additives, all of which would add costs.

[Quoi]

not if it was put in the tanker just before it was delivered - it doesnt affect the refinery at all.
Be nice if we could find someone who knew the proper answer.

[Bazile]

Quoi

I suppose it is a question as to whether or not the different additives really add a significant improvement on engines and if they do is there also a difference between the cheapest and the dearest

[Zacs-Master]

Quoi, the different additives would still have to be purchased and there would still be an extra process in adding it into the petrol tanker. Which have costs.

I'm pretty sure it's not like sprinkling a bit of salt into your Spag Bol to give it a bit more flavour.

[Quoi]

I was late to this particular party and really commenting on this quote
//Ah, well, my argument is slightly different then. Why would supermarkets pay for additives and then sell it cheaper? //
But I wish I knew someone who knew the facts.