Although lately there is a certain sense of relief with respect to the levels we have reached months ago, gasoline is still through the roof, so there are probably many families who have considered changing their habits and leaving their gas station aside usual in favor of a low-cost .
There are a lot of myths about these gas stations, so we are going to shed a little light and tell what happens in them and what differentiates them so that they get those more adjusted prices and that way you can choose with full knowledge where to refuel and if it deserves you. It is worth or not to save fuel.
Is low cost gasoline of worse quality?
As for the first point of contention, with that false myth that the gasoline from these low-priced service stations is of inferior quality, a lie. The fuel is exactly the same for everyone. This is so due to the fact that all the fuel sold in our country comes from the same refineries.
The CLH company or Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos, now known as Exolum, is the only official fuel distributor in the country and all the oil companies and distributors buy and distribute fuel from CLH depots. It is a certified fuel, controlled and with a legal quality, whether branded or not.
What is considered legal and adjusted to a minimum is included in Royal Decree 61/2006 , of January 31, which determines “the specifications of gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas and regulates the use of certain biofuels’. This acts as a legal framework so that minimum specifications are met.
The difference is in the additives
Once we know that the fuel base served at all gas stations is the same, it is normal for doubts to arise about the price differences between one and the other if it is exactly the same.
The differences begin once the fuel is loaded into the tankers of each oil company, since each of them adds certain additives to gasoline or diesel . The fuels distributed by Exolum already have the HQ300 (for diesel) or HQ400 (for gasoline) additives as standard, but it is the oil companies that can add even more components.
These additives are chemical products that add some characteristic to the fuel and the main ones used are:
- Detergents: keep the combustion chamber and injection systems clean.
- Anti-corrosive : they help protect metallic elements against oxidation and corrosion.
- Friction: helps improve friction between metallic elements.
Low cost brands, such as Petroprix, Ballenoil or Plenoil, do not usually do so , or at least to a lesser extent, and therefore offer their customers a good quality fuel that meets all the standards set in the Royal Decree, but “without extras” such as those mentioned above, although those already included in the old CLH.
Although fuels in Spain have a minimum quality to be suitable for sale to consumers, it has been shown that gasoline or diesel with fewer additives can generate deposits and dirt that could end up reaching the engine.
Luckily, cars have a fuel filter that is responsible for preventing these residues from entering the combustion chamber. The filter will get dirty sooner with poor quality fuel and could end up affecting engine performance . Even if it ends up accessing the cylinders, this dirt could lead to a major breakdown.
Where is the trick then to have those low prices in addition to the absence or fewer of these additional additives? Manuel Santiago, CEO of Petroprix, answers it perfectly in statements to El País : “Automatic gas stations are cheaper because we are more efficient. We have fewer staff, smaller sites, a smaller structure, we spend less energy… It is a combination of factors that makes us more efficient and work with less margin” .
