Average gasoline prices do not fully reflect a recent fuel tax cut, according to automaker RAC.
While fuel taxes were cut by 5p per liter last week, petrol has fallen less than 4p and diesel less than 3p, it said.
Big retailers like supermarkets and oil giants Shell and BP have already passed on the tax cut.
But smaller retailers said last week it would take time for the fuel tax cut to be passed on.
The price of fuel was already rising rapidly in the UK before Russia invaded Ukraine, as economies began to recover from the Covid pandemic.
But the war has pushed up crude oil prices, which has impacted pump prices.
The 5p fuel tax cut announced last week by Chancellor Rishi Sunak is intended to help people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis – but with prices rising so quickly, their impact is likely to be minimal, the RAC said at the time.
Now the automaker says the cut will not be fully passed on to consumers.
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Since last Wednesday, the average price of a liter of petrol has fallen 3.71p to 163.30p a liter, while diesel has fallen 2.79p to 177.11p.
RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “Unfortunately, wholesale fuel prices were already rising before the Chancellor made his fuel obligation announcement last week.
“This meant retailers were buying fuel at a higher cost than they were a week earlier, meaning drivers may not have benefited immediately and fully from the tariff reduction.
“Wholesale prices are currently falling, but it will likely be next week before we see the impact this is having on dispensers.”
Mr Dennis added that drivers “remain totally dependent on what is happening in the wholesale market and the extent to which retailers are able or willing to pass on the savings made”.
On Monday, rival auto group AA said: “Why aren’t drivers surprised that on average a third of the fuel savings still has to be passed on at the pumps?
“The fuel trade repeatedly denies the accusation that pump prices shoot up like a rocket and fall like a feather. Now we know the truth,” said Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman.
The big four supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – have fully implemented the tariff cut.
Oil giants Shell and BP have also implemented the downsizing of their own stations – but many of their branded stations are franchisees, with prices set by franchisees.
Shell owns and operates around half of its 1,000 branded petrol stations in the UK, while BP owns around 300 of its 1,200 petrol stations.
Independent retailers warned last week that it would take time for fuel tax cuts to be reflected in pump prices.
Gordon Balmer, chief executive of the Petrol Retailers Association, said at the time that gas stations bought the fuel they sold at a higher fuel tax rate.
“As a result, they must first destock and refill with fuel purchased at a discount before motorists see a change in pump prices,” he said.
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