Vacation budget: favorable prices in the car yard

Is it worth taking a short detour to a service station on the side of the highway? The Mobil in Deutschland automobile club wanted to find out once again after 2014 and 2016 and made its third price comparison "Saving on the freeway".

The price differences are often considerable
To say it up front: Service stations are still significantly more expensive than truck stops. In 2018, there were price differences of 16.4 percent for fuel (50 liters of diesel) (2016: just under ten percent) and 25.3 percent for snacks and drinks (2016: 29.9 percent). Still water, for example, costs €1.25 at the cheapest price at a truck stop and €3.19 at the most expensive price at a service station. At its cheapest, Bifi costs 0.90 cents at a truck stop and 1.99 euros at a service station.

Fill up once up to 19 percent cheaper
Although purchasing at service stations has become a little cheaper and at truck stops a little more expensive, the gap in fuel prices is even wider than in the last survey. 50 liters of diesel at Tank & Rast cost 74.95 euros (2016: 60.20 euros) and at truck stops the price rose to 64.40 euros (2016: 54.75 euros). That makes a difference of 17.40 euros or 19 percent when filling up once.

The same products were always compared
A shopping basket was put together with the same products from the store. These included Coca Cola Zero, still water, Red Bull, cappuccino, Bifi, children's bars and bockwurst. The cost of a toilet visit was also taken into account. The fuel prices were collected over a period of five days in July 2018 at 10.30 a.m., 3.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. using fuel price apps and an average daily price was calculated from this and an overall average price was calculated from the five values.
mobil.org/price-comparison-savings-on-the-highway-2018