There are no sales at a loss, but fuel at cost. Leclerc and Carrefour responded to the government’s call to limit the current increase in prices at the pumps and announced the launch of these operations starting this Friday, September 29. These operations will be carried out every day, a priori at least until the end of the year.
696 Leclerc stations at cost price
In Leclerc, fuel at cost price will be applied “in the 696 service stations of the brand’s hypermarkets.” National and highway service stations will not be affected, a press release states.
“This initiative, designed to last, must be re-evaluated or adapted each month to take into account supply conditions and the expected participation of oil tankers,” the document adds.
Carrefour hypermarkets also participate in the game
On Carrefour’s part, there is no press release, but there is a tweet announcing a “historic” operation:
“We announce the largest fuel sale operation at cost price in our history. We commit to selling fuel without margin, every day, starting this Friday, and until the end of the year. This massive operation will cover all our hypermarkets,” announced Carrefour France on X (formerly Twitter).
In total, Carrefour has 248 hypermarkets in France, with a total of 213 stations cataloged on the Carbu.com website. Its other brands, such as “Carrefour Market” and its 707 stations in particular, but also “Carrefour Contact”, 365 stations, will not participate in this operation.
What effects on prices?
However, in terms of price you cannot expect miracles. On the side of the UFIP (French Union of Petroleum Industries), we estimate that the margin of the distributors is of the order euro cents per liter.
It is Leclerc who mentions the highest margin (and therefore the greatest potential savings), of the order of “2 to 3%, that is, 2 to 6 cents per liter”, or “1 or 2 euros per liter”, he indicated. Michel-Edouard Leclerc. on Wednesday on France Info.
“With a full tank, the savings are not surprising: in the best of cases 1.90 euros for 50 liters of unleaded gasoline 95-E10 and 2.20 euros for diesel,” Auto Plus magazine recently estimated, after Compare prices on the day of the operation. at the cost compared to those of the previous day in four major brands: Leclerc, Système U, Intermarché and Casino.
According to our price list by brand updated daily, a full 50 liters of diesel cost 95.35 euros at Leclerc this Thursday, September 28, the day before the launch of the cost price operation. This meant a difference of 2.3 euros with Totalenergies and 8.25 euros with BP, the most expensive brand in our ranking.
What strategy for other retail brands?
Among the other brands: Intermarché, which has more than 1,400 stations in France, announced on September 12 the resumption of its operations at cost price every month, but not permanently. These operations are scheduled for Friday, September 29 and Saturday, September 30, Friday, October 27 and Saturday, October 28, Friday, November 24 and 25, and Friday, December 15 and Saturday, December 16.
A program that should be completed soon, at the end of the Matignon meeting last Tuesday, operations at cost price were announced two weekends a month at Intermarché, but also at Cora and Casino, and at least one weekend a month in Auchan. and Systèmes U.
At the end of this meeting, the Government had, in effect, announced “almost 120,000 operations” at cost price, which will be carried out “in 4,000 stations” until the end of the year. A system that is added to that of the Totalenergies network (3,400 stations) that limits the price per liter to 1.99 euros, at least until the end of the year.
The “Plein BFM” to find the cheapest station
To help you refuel more economically, you can consult our “Le Plein BFM” service, which provides you with a map of the cheapest service stations.
Also find our summary of average prices by brand, updated daily.
Source: BFM TV
