Has anybody decided that paying extra for a branded fuel is saving money in spite of the extra cost?

I’ve already posted about my experiences on here so won’t go into detail….

Save to say that breaking down on holiday in Spain and needing a forced regeneration at a Spanish VW main dealer who I had to find and book a slot with — all because I’d been using supermarket fuel has taught me my lesson.

I use Shell advance every time now.
 
I have 15 years experience working as a fuel tanker driver working out a large fuel terminal, all uk diesel meets the EN590 physical properties that all automotive diesel must meet to be sold in the uk. Asda shell jet Tesco’s etc all come from the same big massive tank, however every company have there additive added too the fuel during loading, this additive is about 1 litre to every seven thousand litres of diesel. Truck tops and hgv sites that store the likes of key fuels and uk fuels has zero additive in it. So honestly unless your buying a super diesel you have no idea what your actually getting. I prefer to use supermarket fuel, there storage tanks are generally newer, they get a deliver most days, some site have 40 year old rusty and constantly run out of fuel dragging all the crap off the bottom of the tanks.
 
Apologies and no offence intended but let me get this right…

You are basing your entire knowledge of fuel capabilities upon..

1) You’ve moved a lot of the stuff about for a long time
and
2) the amount of additive is only tiny so it can’t really do much.

Not being funny but do you have any technical qualifications or actual evidence to support your post.

I totally understand your point about tank conditions though, that makes sense.
I mean, an eggcupful of arsenic in a tank of drinking water would make a hell of a difference. As would a bottle of fairy liquid in a fountain.

I’ve been washing up for years but I really don’t have a clue how to make a soufflé.

Best wishes

;););););)


:whistle:
 
Oldrat said:
Apologies and no offence intended but let me get this right…

You are basing your entire knowledge of fuel capabilities upon..

1) You’ve moved a lot of the stuff about for a long time
and
2) the amount of additive is only tiny so it can’t really do much.

Not being funny but do you have any technical qualifications or actual evidence to support your post.

I totally understand your point about tank conditions though, that makes sense.
I mean, an eggcupful of arsenic in a tank of drinking water would make a hell of a difference. As would a bottle of fairy liquid in a fountain.

I’ve been washing up for years but I really don’t have a clue how to make a soufflé.

Best wishes

;););););)


:whistle:
Click to expand...

I thought that was pretty good information, I hadn’t seen the actual additive ratios quoted anywhere else.
 
Yes I’ve moved a lot of fuel about, in order to do that I also have to load the fuel, when things go wrong it takes technicians to sort this and that’s where some of my information is from. I’m just giving my 2 pence worth of what I’ve experienced first hand.

I’m just letting people know that all diesel comes from the same tank. All supermarket fuel still has a additive, I’m just letting you know if a site sells key fuels or uk fuels that diesel does not contain a additive and most sites don’t keep this fuel separate.

I’m sure most people don’t know this
 
I have worked very closely with the fuel supply industry for over 20 years at a technical level and its true that the fuel in any area of the country probably comes from the same supply tank, what is different is the additive packs and this is what makes the difference, personally I wouldn’t use supermarket diesel and stick to Shell if I can.
 
Kevwkevw said:
Yes I’ve moved a lot of fuel about, in order to do that I also have to load the fuel, when things go wrong it takes technicians to sort this and that’s where some of my information is from. I’m just giving my 2 pence worth of what I’ve experienced first hand.

I’m just letting people know that all diesel comes from the same tank. All supermarket fuel still has a additive, I’m just letting you know if a site sells key fuels or uk fuels that diesel does not contain a additive and most sites don’t keep this fuel separate.

I’m sure most people don’t know this
Click to expand...
I was making a bit of serious point but with tongue firmly in cheek :whistle::whistle:
 
I’m taking lots of insight from a tanker driver who loads diesel from a refinery and delivers it to multiple branded and supermarket fuel stations.

To me that says the base petrol and base diesel is all the same, supplied to an agreed standard specification.
 
Paynewright said:
I’m taking lots of insight from a tanker driver who loads diesel from a refinery and delivers it to multiple branded and supermarket fuel stations.

To me that says the base petrol and base diesel is all the same, supplied to an agreed standard specification.
Click to expand...
I've been told the same by a tanker driver. He also said it's only in the 'premium' fuels that the additives are different. Also that due to the volume supermarkets sell their fuels are fresher and have lost less of the volatiles.
 
Paynewright said:
I’m taking lots of insight from a tanker driver who loads diesel from a refinery and delivers it to multiple branded and supermarket fuel stations.

To me that says the base petrol and base diesel is all the same, supplied to an agreed standard specification.
Click to expand...
Of course it must meet a minimum standard, I’d expect that in an industry as regulated as fuel.


But he clearly stated
“however every company have there additive added too the fuel during loading”

My point was about the observation that effectively 1 litre of additive would make little difference in such a large tank.

we’ve no idea about the chemical actions/ reactions
 
The 1 in 7000 litre ratio for additive is interesting, that gives 0.014% of additive. Taking an example additive (Millers ecomax), that recommends 1 in 1000 ratio, i.e. 0.1%.

In terms of pricing, if we say premium diesel is about 10% more expensive than regular, then calculating the equivalent percentage increase from buying some Millers ecomax (from Halfords, no doubt could find cheaper), then you get to a premium of roughly 2% added expense.

So, premium fuel is giving you seven times less additive for five times the price. Based on this, you really have to believe the additive the fuel company uses is absolute magic for this to make any sense at all in economic terms given we know that the additive is the only difference.
 
Skyliner33 said:
I've been told the same by a tanker driver. He also said it's only in the 'premium' fuels that the additives are different. Also that due to the volume supermarkets sell their fuels are fresher and have lost less of the volatiles.
Click to expand...

Yeah, turnover of fuel being important makes a lot of sense. Presumably if you buy fuel from the middle of nowhere who only gets a delivery every two weeks then you're way more likely to end up with something less than ideal in there.
 
Or, The additive that the tankers use isn’t watered down but the brands Halfords sell are diluted, or it would be virtually impossible to measure out and you would feel like it was pointless just to put half a pee sized amount in your tank. Who knows?!
 
Back to my point about - you can’t price quality by the quantity of the additive.

I don’t have a clue about the effect of an additive, but likewise I guess neither do most folks.
What I do know about chemicals is that quantity isn’t always a factor.
 
The fuel debate rumbles on, I used to be happy to pay a bit extra on premium fuel but the difference now at my local garage is 20p/litre, which I'm sure is far more than it used to be and it's more than I'm prepared to cough up.
So, I've reverted to B.P. normal diesel plus Millers additive.
Now the truth is I don't know if I'm chucking money away by using the Millers, what I do know is we chuck thousands at these vans in the form of wheels, suspension etc, if I wanted to save money I'd be driving a Transit! :rofl:
 
Loopdreams said:
Petrol is usually higher octane if it's the premium version and I think this will produce actual, measurable differences. But with diesel if the only difference is the magic additives then I guess it could be debated forever what the long term benefits might be but it's hard to imagine there would be any immediate, appreciable difference.
Click to expand...

I've done some digging on this and high octane gasoline is only regular gasoline with an additive to give it the extra 2 octanes,

however there are rules coming into force for 99 octane gasoline which will be its own stand alone product made to 99 octanes.
 
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