Motorists “cautious” at the pump despite low prices

Despite lower fuel prices motorists are being cautious about how much they buy suggests a new market survey. The Energy Institute’s Retail Marketing Survey found fuel prices fell from an […]

Despite lower fuel prices motorists are being cautious about how much they buy suggests a new market survey.

The Energy Institute’s Retail Marketing Survey found fuel prices fell from an average of 136.22 pence per litre for petrol in 2012 to 134.88 p/l in 2013.

Diesel prices fell from 142.39 per litre in 2012 to 140.74 the year after.

While fuel sales did rise in 2013 it was just a fraction, increasing by 0.6% to reach 35.42 million tonnes. But the total number of cars in the UK rose by a bigger margin of 1.4% to 35.21 million on the road.

The EI suggests that although more fuel was sold, this was driven more by rising vehicle sales than by lower fuel prices.

The number of forecourts in the UK also continued to fall, with 8,611 sites by the end of 2013 compared to 1967’s all-time high of 39,958 forecourts.

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