UK pump prices for unleaded petrol may be creeping up again from £1.07 a litre in January to £1.17p now, but holiday motorists will pay far less for their fuel in Europe this summer – especially diesel drivers.
As one-in-five people say they intend to take to Europe’s roads, Post Office Travel Money’s annual Motoring on the Continent report shows that holidaymakers will be able to save up to 26 per cent on fuel costs compared with a year ago.
Pump prices have fallen heavily in all 22 countries surveyed but while UK drivers are paying 11-12 per cent less for fuel compared with a year ago, the price falls in Europe are larger.
Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: “People planning European motoring trips can bank on the cost of a litre of unleaded petrol being up to 22 per cent lower than last summer and 26 per cent less for diesel. Prices are up to 31p a litre cheaper than in the UK and this rises to 46p for diesel. That’s because diesel is cheaper than unleaded in almost every country so do some homework before travel and plot a holiday route that will cost least.”
The Post Office research found that the UK is now the only destination where diesel costs more than unleaded (+4p: £1.21 vs £1.17). Furthermore diesel has broken the sub-£1 barrier in 14 European driving destinations. These include France, the country where the greatest numbers of UK drivers (57 per cent) get behind the wheel. Motorists will pay 91p for a litre of diesel, saving 18p (17 per cent) on last summer’s pump price, and 30p less than in the UK. By comparison, unleaded petrol costs 16p more than diesel at £1.07.
Andrew Brown said: “France is particularly popular with campers and with holidaymakers staying in rural gites for their summer holiday. Whichever type of fuel they use to reach their destination, they will benefit when they fill up after crossing the channel.”
Spain, another country popular with UK holiday motorists (47 per cent of those who have driven abroad have done so in Spain), has also registered big falls. A litre of diesel fuel costs 89p, down 21 per cent year-on-year, and unleaded petrol is priced at 99p, a 17 per cent drop.
For the fourth year running Andorra offers Europe’s cheapest fuel. Diesel costs just 75p a litre while unleaded petrol is 86p. In addition to Andorra and Spain, others offering a sub-£1 litre of unleaded are Austria (90p), the Czech Republic (93p), Luxemburg (93p) and Cyprus (97p).
Twenty per cent of UK adults intend to drive overseas this year, either in their own car or in a hire car, according to the Post Office Travel Money research. Fourteen per cent of these holidaymakers will take their own car because it is cheaper than flying and 12 per cent because they want to take advantage of lower fuel prices. A further three per cent said they had never driven abroad before but would be doing so this year because of the lower pump prices.
Other findings in the Post Office Travel Money Motoring on the Continent report include:
Austria offers the biggest percentage price falls – 22 per cent for unleaded (90p) and 26 per cent for diesel fuel (81p a litre), which means motorists can save over £42 on a 1,000 miles of diesel driving
Norway remains the most expensive place to drive – although litre prices have dropped 25p for both unleaded petrol and diesel year-on-year. Drivers using unleaded will fare worst with a litre price of £1.39 to pay – 53p more than in Andorra.
The biggest differential between unleaded petrol and diesel is in the Netherlands where motorists will pay 28p less a litre (£1.02) for diesel than for unleaded petrol (£1.30). Diesel also costs more than 20p less in Belgium (95p vs £1.15), Denmark (£1.06 vs £1.27p), Greece (92p vs £1.18), Portugal (95p vs £1.16) and Turkey (£1.05 vs £1.29p).
Country | Price difference: diesel vs. unleaded petrol |
Netherlands | -28p |
Greece | -26p |
Turkey | -24p |
Denmark | -21p |
Portugal | -21p |
Belgium | -20p |
Germany | -18p |
France | -16p |
Norway | -14p |
Luxembourg | -13p |
Italy | -12p |
Andorra | -11p |
Spain | -10p |
Austria | -9p |
Slovenia | -9p |
Croatia | -8p |
Ireland | -8p |
Sweden | -6p |
Switzerland | -2p |
Cyprus | -1p |
Czech Republic | = |
UK | +4p |
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