Looking for advantage
On 1 July, part of the excise tax credit will evaporate and the price of car fuels will rise again. Refueling across the border can pay off again, even if you have to make a detour for that. Yet appearances can be deceiving.
The excise discount introduced last year, intended to reduce fuel prices, is disappearing in steps. The first step is on 1 July: petrol will then be 17 cents more expensive and diesel will cost 12 cents (including VAT) more. Where the average petrol prices in the Netherlands and Germany are now about the same, about €1.80 per litre, refueling at the eastern neighbors is a lot cheaper. The Belgian petrol price is already 10 cents lower. If the Dutch excise tax credit lapses, it will therefore save more than 25 cents per litre. Diesel is still slightly cheaper in the Netherlands than with our neighbours, but that advantage will soon disappear.
It may soon be interesting for petrol drivers in the southern provinces in particular to fill up across the border. Even if you don’t live right on the border. For example, if you fill up with petrol in Belgium and you drive a total of 60 kilometres, you will consume 4 liters of petrol at a consumption of 1 liter per 15 kilometres, which will cost you almost €8. The advantage on a full tank of 50 liters is €12.50 at 25 cents per liter. In short: the detour is still worth it. With a smaller price difference of, for example, 15 cents, it becomes more difficult.
Not always as beneficial as it seems
“People are going to detour again, but often do so beyond what is worthwhile,” says fuel expert Paul van Selms of UnitedConsumers. According to him, this is partly because the advantage is less at petrol stations just across the border. The Dutch filling stations should discourage detours and are therefore slightly cheaper, while the German or Belgian filling station just across the border knows that it can charge slightly higher prices than elsewhere in those countries. “The profit is not that big, but people drive because it gives a good feeling,” said Van Selms NU.nl.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl