Petrol prices coming down, says expert

22/09/2008

Aside from the cost of car insurance and road tax, motorists have had to contend with rising fuel costs in recent months.

However, it has been claimed that retailers have managed to reduce the cost of petrol.

Ray Holloway, director of the RMI Petrol Retailers Association, said that although the price of oil does influence the price of petrol, the cost of fuel is determined by a number of other factors.

"Prices for crude oil and forecourt fuel are obviously linked but they do not move in tandem. Therefore they do not automatically move up or down at the same time," Mr Holloway explained.

Despite this, forecourt retailers have been able to reduce petrol prices recently "at the expense of their own profit margin", he stated.

Car insurance customers can begin to expect fuel prices to reduce if there are no "unexpected events" in the crude oil market, Mr Holloway suggested.

He added: "There is evidence that this is beginning to occur and should be obvious on forecourts across the UK within the next ten days."

In the UK, supermarket chain Morrisons announced that all of its petrol stations would be cutting prices from this week.

The firm said that both petrol and diesel would be cut by 3p, brining the price down to 107.7p a litre for unleaded and 119.2p for a litre of diesel, the Associated Press reports.

Phil Maud, petrol director of Morrisons, said recent falls in the price of crude oil are now being "reflected" in petrol prices.

To compare the market for cheap car insurance online, go to comparethemarket.com.

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