THE FESTIVE FUEL RIP-OFF

Servos turn Grinch charging 11 cents more than they should

MOTORISTS in Cairns are being ripped off at the bowser this Christmas with some fuel retailers in the inner city charging 15 cents a litre more than those in parts of the Cassowary Coast.

Last week’s predictions of a fuel price rort seem to have been realised with some retailers charging about 11 cents above what the RACQ believes drivers should be paying.

BP and Caltex petrol stations near the CBD and at Edmonton were selling the most expensive fuel with at least one yesterday charging $1.40 a litre for unleaded, exceeding the RACQ estimated fair price of 128.9c.

By contrast the cheapest fuel in the region could be found at Puma Mareeba, Puma El Arish and Caltex/ Woolworths Mission Beach, where unleaded was 124.9c a litre.

RACQ spokeswoman Lauren Ritchie said, while the price varied for retailers because they used different wholesalers, on average the margin between the price fuel was bought at and sold for was too high in Cairns.

“Cairns retail margins are sitting at 13.5 cents and we think about eight cents would be fair,” she said. “They are higher than we would expect.”

Brisbane has a margin of about six cents and in Toowoomba it was as low as two cents, Ms Ritchie said.

One Cairns retailer who has reaped the benefits from charging less is Machans Beach Store owner Mark Viney, who was yesterday selling unleaded for 126.9c and diesel for 122.9c.

“People can see we’re trying to do our best to pass on cheaper fuel and we’ve created a good customer base just from that word of mouth,” he said.

“People travel from Redlynch or Clifton Beach just to get fuel. Most people come out once a week and that’s it.

“We’ve increased volume sold with a smaller margin.”

But Mr Viney said it was becoming more difficult to charge a fair price.

“Our cost is going up every delivery,” he said.

Ms Ritchie said because Cairns did not experience significant price fluctuations like Brisbane, the best advice for motorists looking to save was to do their homework.

“Don’t just go to the closest petrol station and hope for the best,” she said.

“Look for anything 128 cents or below – that would be a fair price, that’s people doing the right thing.

“If you’re going out of town for a long road trip it might be better to fill up halfway through the journey.”

A BP Australia spokeswoman said the company did not comment on petrol prices.