Psychological trick at the gas station: That's why we almost never pay full price

Created: 01/07/2022, 02:41 PM

From: Marcus Efler

Almost every price quotation for petrol or diesel ends with an inconspicuous 9. That's behind it.

Munich - refueling hurts - in your wallet.

Even if fuel prices have moved a little back from their record levels in autumn of last year: a full tank is really expensive.

We have long been used to prices like 1.59 euros for a liter of super or 1.52 euros for diesel.

And that's exactly how you fell for one of the oldest tricks in the mineral oil industry.

Because when we read on the large price board: 1.59, or even proudly say: “Hey, last night I filled up for 1.55”, we have ignored something important.

Namely the often smaller 9, which closes almost every price indication.

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Psychological trick at the gas station: That's why we almost never pay full price

It stands for 0.9 cents per liter.

In the first example, it costs not just 1.59 euros, but 1.599, i.e. almost 1.60 and thus a good cent more than the price suggests at first glance.

(Almost) every motorist knows this, of course, but more or less ignores it.

And (almost) every gas station does it that way.

But why actually?

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Psychological trick at the gas station: fuel has to do with butter

According to legend, the gas station attendant (who is hardly around today) received the 0.9 pfennig per liter back then.

Today, however, the oil companies that set the prices for the petrol station tenants (and adjust them several times a day), as well as the free stations, use an age-old marketing trick, as 24auto.de explains.

Because thanks to the 9 at the end, the whole product looks cheaper without the retailer having a noticeable drop in sales: a packet of butter seems cheaper at 1.69 euros than at 1.70, the TV set for 499.99 euros is more of a bargain than that for 500 euros.

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Mostly ignored, but effective: The 9 at the end of the price quotation.

(Symbol picture) © Marijan Murat / dpa

Psychological trick at the gas station: An "honest" price quotation would be bad for business

Of course, the psychological price doesn't make a real difference in the customer's wallet. Nevertheless, hardly any petrol station dares to give an “honest” price: If the liter of super costs 1.60 euros, while the competition a few meters further still writes 1.599 (with less than 9 at the end) on the board, that is probably bad for business .

But how do we even pay these not-even-cents?

Sure: if you fill up with ten liters, your bill makes exactly nine cents more expensive.

But in the vast majority of cases it doesn't exactly work out, and a few fragments of cents are left over.

And here comes some good news for drivers: the total is generally rounded down - even if it ends with 0.5 to 0.9 cents.

In the best case scenario, the fuel customer saves almost a whole cent.