By our editorial member linda moslein
Lichtenfels – if you see a gas station with supposedly cheap fuel, don't hesitate, because making a quick stop somewhere else beforehand could end up being expensive: fuel prices change several times a day, and it's not uncommon to have to dig deep into your wallet to pay for the fill-up.
Waltraud hornung, who leases the aral gas station in lichtenfels, describes the reasons for the ups and downs in prices as follows: "prices usually go down in the evening and up again in the morning. There comes then a note from the central and already we must change over."
so it's not because of the leaseholders that you can only get about 30 liters of gasoline for 50 euros lately. On the contrary, due to competition from other gas stations, prices tend to be kept at the lower limit, says manfred grob, leaseholder of the shell gas station in bamberger strabe in lichtenfels. "Of course, we generally have to follow the guidelines from hamburg. But we are also able to react to price changes at our competitors. This is how we try to offer our customers the cheapest fuel possible."
steady price increase
Nevertheless one could observe a steady rise of the prices in the past weeks. Karin reichert, a customer at the walther gas station in lichtenfels, blames high taxes for the high prices. In fact, government levies such as energy, fuel and value-added taxes account for the lion's share of the price of fuel. According to oliver partheymuller, a frequent driver from the district of lichtenfels, the high prices also show the rough dependence on the price of crude oil. Because especially those who travel a lot and irregularly for work can hardly do without their cars and regularly go to the gas station despite high costs.
On the money is paid attention thereby however nevertheless. Manfred poluda from bad staffelstein often fills up on sundays, when the price of gasoline drops, and also compares the gas stations with one another. "In some cases, it is much more favorable in lichtenfels than in bad staffelstein. And it's only a few kilometers away", he says. So it also pays to compare. Other customers, like karin reichert, set aside a fixed amount before filling up at a gas station. This observation is also made by gas station leaseholders in the district, who are increasingly recording amounts of between 20 and 50 euros. Oliver partheymuller also advises to drive at the same time, because in this way one consumes much less fuel.
More complaints
In addition to the prices, the number of complaints has also risen. "It goes on all day long", reports manuela schmitt, who is employed at the walther service station in lichtenfels. She also advises to visit more free gas stations that are not tied to a chain, because here you can often save a cent or two per liter.
Driving remains an expensive business for the time being. But gas station leaseholder manfred grob is encouraging: "prices will fall again. We have already had this in the past several times." perseverance is the order of the day.