Expensive tank year – diesel was 60 cents/litre more expensive this year

For a private petrol car (average consumption of 625 liters per year according to Statistics Austria) this means an additional cost of approximately 280 euros, for a diesel (786 liters consumption) this is approximately 470 euros. “For a commuter with an annual mileage of 30,000 km and an average consumption (6.46 l/100 km according to Statistics Austria), the additional costs are more than 1,100 euros,” according to the ÖAMTC.

The diesel price shot up by 40 cents in March
The situation in March was particularly unusual, emphasizes ÖAMTC expert Martin Grasslober and gives examples: in the first half of March, the price for a liter of diesel increased by more than 40 cents within a week, and for the Super by 30 cents. The premise that gas stations on the highway are always more expensive than elsewhere was temporarily and incidentally set aside in March.

Diesel is often more expensive than premium gasoline
Also unusual was the fact that diesel prices were so long and significantly higher than Super. “From the beginning of March to the end of May, a liter of diesel cost on average more than a liter of Super. After a short phase in which the usual price order applied, diesel was again on average more expensive than a liter of Super from mid-July, on some days even by almost 30 cents. And for more than two-thirds of the year, diesel was more expensive than Super, currently it’s still about 20 cents,” Grasslober told APA.

The traffic expert also looked at the development of fuel prices excluding CO2 additional tax (introduced as of 1 October 2022). According to this data, prices for Super in December were only slightly above January levels. Due to the extra CO2 price, the liter of Super including sales tax (VAT) became 8.2 cents more expensive. This measure made a liter of diesel including VAT 9 cents more expensive. “As a result, diesel prices are about 21 cents higher than in December, apart from the extra CO2 price in January,” says Grasslober.

Top prices: 2,089 euros / liter for diesel, 2,099 euros for super
And what about the crude oil markets? On Thursday, oil prices continued their downward trajectory even more clearly. The North Sea variety Brent cost 82.41 dollars (77.45 euros) per barrel (159 liters). For comparison, on January 2, 2022, Brent cost $77.78. It rose steadily until early March to well above $100, before falling slightly to around $90 before breaking the 120 mark again midway through the year. Since then it has declined, with intermediate steps. Brent crude oil peaked at $138.03 on March 7. The highest values ​​at petrol stations in Austria were measured in July at 2,089 euros/litre for diesel and 2,099 euros for premium petrol.

Driving a car also became more expensive
But it was not only at the gas station that you had to dig deep into your pockets. According to the previous figures of Statistics Austria’s car index, driving a car was about 17 percent more expensive this year than in the previous year. Compared to 2008 – when the mileage allowance was last increased halfway through the year – this is an increase of about 34 percent. “From the point of view of the ÖAMTC, it is therefore urgent to increase the mileage allowance to 60 cents per kilometer,” explains Grasslober.

According to a study commissioned by the ÖAMTC, expensive refueling has so far changed little in car use, although people do drive a bit more slowly. The club attributes the slight change in behavior to the fact that car users depend on their vehicles.

Recently there has been an increase in the number of new car registrations. According to Statistics Austria, there were 18,178 new passenger car registrations in November, which is 3.8 percent more than a year ago. The increase was greater in October (+8.9 percent) and September (+16.1 percent). From January to November there was a minus. In the first eleven months, a total of 197,448 new passenger cars were registered, 11.1 percent less than in the same period in 2021.