It pays to ask before you fill your tank on the Coromandel

If you are heading to the Coromandel for the summer break, it could be worth pondering where you will fill up the car.

A snap check of prices on the peninsula this week showed plenty of variation in what you would have been charged at the pump.

The cheapest places were Ngatea, Whitianga, Whangamata and Waihi.

Shell service stations in those centres showed consistency in pricing - at 131.9c a litre for unleaded petrol they were generally in line with prices paid in Auckland and Hamilton.

But if you are running short of gas while passing through Thames, Coromandel, Tairua and Pauanui, expect to be hit hard in the pocket.

Fureys Creek Service Station in Coromandel township charged 17 per cent more (153.9c a litre) than pump prices at Whitianga on Monday. Round the corner, the Tiki Rd BP was charging 151c. Prescott's Mobil Mart in Hikuai was charging 152.9c and BP Tairua 145.9c.

At Thames, diesel was selling for between 91.9c and 95.9c a litre at the Caltex, BP and Mobil stations.

The Ngatea service station was charging 88.9c and Pauanui's Gasoline Alley Services 106.9c for diesel.

Many stations would not reveal their prices over the phone, citing "company policy". Shell stations were an exception.

Thames motorist Eric Hamilton said people should not buy their fuel from his town.

"You can't get any decent answers out of the petrol station owners here. They've all said it's the transport costs, but why are Whitianga's prices cheaper? I say one word to that [the reason given for higher charges in Thames], and it's to do with what bulls do."

Consumers' Institute chief executive David Russell said price variances were determined by what the market dictated. Higher prices were being charged in Thames "because they can get away with it."

The price of fuel in the Thames market had simply found an equilibrium between the seller and buyer..