Fuel prices fall in March, but savings held back by retailer margins
- Perry Richardson
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Petrol and diesel prices dropped in March for the first time since autumn, offering some financial relief to drivers ahead of the Easter break, according to new RAC Fuel Watch figures.
The average price of unleaded fell by 3.6p per litre over the month, ending March at 136.03p. That’s a return to prices last seen in November 2024. For a typical 55-litre family car, the change cuts the cost of a full tank to £74.82 – nearly £2 less than at the start of the month.
Diesel saw a similar fall, dropping from 146.46p to 142.51p per litre. Filling up now costs £78.38, saving drivers £2.17 on average. The diesel figure marks the lowest since early December 2024.
Drivers who shop around are seeing even greater savings. Some forecourts are offering unleaded for under 126p per litre, which is 10p below the UK average. That equates to a saving of around £5 per tank. Diesel can be found for as little as 131p per litre in certain locations, which is 11p cheaper than the national average and worth around £6 per tank.
Motorists in Northern Ireland continue to benefit from the cheapest fuel in the UK. Nowhere across the region is charging more than 137p for petrol or 141p for diesel.
The price drops follow a fall in oil prices below $70 per barrel and a drop in wholesale fuel costs, which began to ease in early March. These were influenced by concerns over the global economic outlook.
However, the RAC says the fall in pump prices does not reflect the full extent of the fall in wholesale costs. Retailers are being criticised for keeping prices higher than they should be by taking larger margins. Wholesale costs in March reached their lowest levels since early October, but the full benefit has not yet reached drivers.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “Drivers are finally seeing some relief from high pump prices, which has come at a good time with the start of the Easter school holidays this weekend and one of the biggest bank holidays of the year for travel in just over a fortnight’s time.
“It’s a shame prices on forecourts haven’t fallen further and faster, but this reflects the higher margins many retailers are now choosing to take – something the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) acknowledged earlier this week in its latest report. Ultimately, it’s drivers who lose out – especially those who live in areas where there’s little or no competition among forecourts. We hope the CMA’s new powers to scrutinise prices will be the catalyst for fairer prices everywhere, along with the Government forcing retailers to publish prices within 30 minutes of changing them.
“We also fear that today’s lower petrol and diesel prices could be rather short-lived. Crude oil prices are once again starting to edge up and if this is sustained, it’s likely to lead to higher wholesale costs and the end of falling pump prices. This is another reason it’s so important drivers shop around to ensure they pay the least they can for fuel.
“Our advice to drivers is to never pay more than the average prices we publish on RAC Fuel Watch as our analysis shows both petrol and diesel can be bought for considerably less. We urge drivers not to presume the forecourt they’ve visited for years is necessarily the cheapest anymore.
“Drivers, whether RAC members or not, can use the free myRAC app to locate the cheapest places to refuel whether at home or away. The app lets them save their favourite filling station for quick reference and clearly displays how competitive the price is by comparing it to the RAC’s UK Fuel Watch average.”
