If you fill up your tank consciously, you can save money every day – because fuel prices fluctuate greatly. If you want to know when refueling is particularly cheap, you should keep an overview.
Expensive in the morning – cheap in the evening
The ADAC analyzed the price development in May 2025 at over 14,000 German gas stations. Accordingly, E10 and diesel were the cheapest at the end of the day: premium gasoline showed a range of around 12.5 cents per liter, diesel even 13.3 cents – the highest values since data collection began. It gets particularly expensive on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. when commuters fill up their tanks; the daily peak is usually shortly after 7 a.m. After that, the prices fall in waves – similar to small waves in the water – until they reach their low in the evening between 7 and 8 p.m. In phases between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and again between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. the prices are also significantly below the daily average.
Waves instead of consistency
The price fluctuations are not only due to daily phases, but follow clearly defined waves. In the morning the price rises rapidly, followed by several waves of gradual decline. Prices climb slightly around 11 p.m. and then remain stable overnight, just above the daily average. The ADAC evaluation counts up to eight such typical highs and lows – a record level, while the Federal Cartel Office measures an average of 22 price changes per station per day. Individual gas stations can even show more than 50 fluctuations per day.
Savings basics when refueling
If you fill up in the right time frame, you can save over six euros on 50 liters – this has a noticeable effect on your wallet. The choice of time of day is more important than minutes: the best chance of catching a low in the market is in the evening between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. It’s also worth comparing gas stations – an inexpensive station can ultimately have a greater impact than the optimal time.
A strong instrument is the Market Transparency Office for Fuels at the Federal Cartel Office, which regularly reports current prices and makes them available via an app. Consumers can see in real time which gas station is currently the cheapest – similar to the stock market.
Looking into the hinterland: geopolitical influences
In addition to daily fluctuations, long-term factors such as geopolitical developments also have an impact. Disturbances in the Persian Gulf, for example due to conflicts in Iran, can influence global oil prices and thus also Germany. At the same time, the strong euro has a stabilizing effect because crude oil is traded in US dollars: a favorable exchange rate dampens the price of fuel in euros. Nevertheless, fuel prices this year are likely to be among the highest since records began, provided there are no serious political or economic changes.
D. Maier / editorial team finanzen.net