Europe fuel prices ?

[RTLover]

Originally Posted by Bell driver

Not every country in Europe has toll charges, but that information is easily available on the net and can be planned for accordingly.
Route planning can be assisted by a GPS, for example Tomtom, it can be told to avoid toll roads as well as highways.

I've not encountered your problems in France, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland or whereever. You can always pay in the shop or, if the station is automated, by credit card.
A GPS also tells you where the gas stations are and a smartphone will tell you which one is the cheapest.

Planning can be simple.

France is a bit of a problem child when it comes to paying by credit/debit cards. Most automates don't accept cards other than French ones. If there is an attendant, no problem, but most stations outside urban areas are unmanned at night. Those on the autoroutes are 24/7.

[jetjackson]

I paid with card at Carrefour and they put a 120 Euro security on my card. This could effect someone if they say filled up 3 times to find out that they have 360 euro security placed on their card (if they were running their card close to the limit). It takes 3-4 days before they clear the money back to your card and only charge you for the fuel that you took. I think all 24 hour Carrefour stations do this.

[RTLover]

Originally Posted by jetjackson

Sorry, not all motorways have tolls - but if you check the AA site linked you will see Spain/France/Italy all have a decent amount of tolls - i.e. if you want to cross the country fast then you are going to pay for it. These are large countries I would assume most coming to Europe would include in their Itinerary. This could hit your budget if not planned for - I had no idea it would cost that much, coming from a country with no tolls on the majority of motorways (and when we have tolls they are a couple of dollars) - you can't plan for everything or you will never leave the house - if someone had mentioned tolls I would have looked into it and included it in my budget. As they say, you don't know what you don't know.

Yes, some parts are toll free and you can make up a bit of time on those, but for the most part for fast travel it was tolled motorways.

As I mentioned travel time doubles when you take out motorways - we rode Nice - Genoa on the coast with the motorways turned off - this took 5 and a half hours - the GPS said it would take 4 but I did not take into account the traffic that you will get along the coast - and we were travelling a week and a half ago in the low season - not summer. So add an extra hour through summer. That same ride on the way back on the motorway cost 20 Euro and took 1 hour 40 minutes.

GPS not always reliable - I almost ran out of fuel yesterday riding to Digne from Nice through the mountains as 3 of the fuel stops in my GPS were not open any more, just rusted out old stations that are closed (my tip though is that you should look for a brand name 'chain' fuel stop in the GPS - more reliable). You can use a smart phone - although roaming internet from what I have seen can be expensive. In both France and Italy I had the issue with not being able to pay in the shop or the attendant at the pump only taking prepayment - having said that, you may have been able to pay to get it filled in those instances but the language barrier made it difficult. All in all I think that if I was looking to save money - spending time researching cheap accommodation would be more fruitful. Instead we spent the time researching this each morning for 30-45 minutes to stay within our budget when we could have been out seeing sites - I would have rather been doing that research when I was stuck behind a pc in a cubicle back in Australia.

Sorry to speak in absolutes. It would seem Germany does not have tolls - which makes it a very attractive destination for adventure riders

Just a few observations of your info.

The pre-payment machines are rare to non-existent in France. Italy does have many of them, but it isn't necessary to feed it a 20 euro note, they take 5s, 10s, and coins.

There is no language barrier between a motorist and an attendant. Hand signs get the job done. If you want it filled, raise your palm horizontally to about your neck height. If you want to get X euros of fuel, use your fingers.

GPS will lead you astray-use it as a guide, not as an absolute. Remember that the data is at least a year old when you buy the thing. Those who live by the GPS sometimes will literally die by it.

If you paid 50 euros for a bike ride from Paris to Avignon, you overpaid by about 20 euros. Yes, autoroute tolls are high, but what you get in return is often well worth it. They are very safe, in excellent nick, have frequent and reliable services areas, open 24/7/365. What you pay in tolls can be partially recovered in better mileage, unless you run at the limit. A steady 100 on the autoroute is way better than stop and go at 80 on the national or departmental roads. I rarely ride the autoroutes unless there is a compelling reason. Easy fix is to not include them in your planning whenever possible. If your goal is to cover lots of kms, then use them but don't knock them for what they are. If it weren't for autoroutes, imagine what the traffic situation would be like.

[John933]

Getting petrol in Europe is dead easy. Just wait a while. And when some one turns up. Offer him/her the money, usually 20 euros and ask or hand sign's to fill the bike up with there card. So far no one has turned down the offer of a few extra ready cash to pop in there pocket. Work's every time.
John933

[babilon]

Price today in Switzerland:

95 was 1.79 Swiss Francs

[WIBO]

€1.629/ltr this date,for petrol,in South West France.

[Donmanolo]

That's cheap...!

Italy today : €1.87 /L

Slovenia (5 minutes away) : €1.49/l

[alicethomas]

Yesterday in D-68199: 1.41€/l. But that's "E35", about the maximum Ethanol concentration for unmodified carburetor engines.
On the other extreme today 1.88€/l for premium pure fossil fuel.

[babilon]

Originally Posted by alicethomas

Yesterday in D-68199: 1.41€/l. But that's "E35", about the maximum Ethanol concentration for unmodified carburetor engines.
On the other extreme today 1.88€/l for premium pure fossil fuel.

almost the same price but different currency

[fluff34567]

Originally Posted by babilon

Price today in Switzerland:

95 was 1.79 Swiss Francs

then you are in a very cheap place.

95 is 1.86 around basel and zurich

[alicethomas]

Migrol in Samnaun today CHF 1.475 (both petrol + diesel).

[aposaric]

In Croatia, today 95 is 1,38 Euro, 98 is 1,45 Euro and 100 is 1,55 Euros. Regarding the payment, there is no problem with paying with any card imaginable and most of the stations work 24/7, especially on higways and in citys. There are no automated stations so you won't have to struggle with refunds and such.

Since I travelled pretty much through the whole Europe, I would reccomend Visa, because it is accepted allmost everywhere. Diners, American expres and Mastercard are also Ok in most of the countries, but in France and Itally there is not much places that will accept them, at least, that was my experience. But the cash is the best solution, so I would reccomend you to allways have 100-200 euros in reserve and you can pay with Euros on most of the gas stations because they have some kind of exchange counter, at least in Croatia and Balkans.

In France I had a really funny experience near Grenoble, I was travelling alone and at around 3 AM and I poped to the gas station, and the fueling mechanism didn't work so I wawed to the gas station keeper and he asked me to come inside. When I came In he asked me to give him my helmet. I said no, and gave him my passport instead, but he refused it. I gave him a 100 euro bill, but he refused it also and said that I should give him my helmet ( Shubert S1 pro ) ha ha ha, aparently, they have a lot of bikers that steal gas from the station . I laughed my ass of, went back, refueled my bike, went back again payed him and "repossesed" my helmet, went back to the bike and continued my journey. The whole process lasted for 15 minutes, so they are not very efficient, but I was in a no hurry. It seems that the more "developed" the country is, higher the crime rate, so be carefull of the dodgy helmetless dudes that roam the country and steel gass

[fluff34567]

Originally Posted by alicethomas

Migrol in Samnaun today CHF 1.475 (both petrol + diesel).

wow cheap, filled in zurich today and 1.90chf for 95 and this is not stations around the airport or on highway

[zandesiro]

http://www.fuel-prices-europe.info/

[babilon]

Originally Posted by fluff34567

then you are in a very cheap place.

95 is 1.86 around basel and zurich

Border between AG and BE

Originally Posted by alicethomas

Migrol in Samnaun today CHF 1.475 (both petrol + diesel).

Samnaun doesn't count because no TAX but I love to ride there and visit a part of my family