Weighed - Car & Caravan Weighing

22/05/2026

Fill up now, prices on the way back up 🤬

06/05/2026

New product on its way, navagation with elevations and cheap fuel 😁

Great if you tow a large caravan.

21/04/2026

Diesel wholesale price has just dropped nearly 20 cents.

Hold on from filling up if you can.

More big price drops incoming. 👍

03/04/2026

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗗𝗶𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗹. 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗲𝗹. 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.

With fuel prices where they are right now, this conversation is probably worth having.

Diesel is diesel.

If you’re paying extra for premium, your paying to much.

And you need to understand why.

It all comes from the same place — same supply chain, same tankers, same holding tanks. Every litre sold at the pump must meet the same Australian Fuel Quality Standard. The base diesel is identical whether it’s labelled truck diesel, standard diesel, or premium diesel.

It is the same fuel.

What changes is the additive package blended in at the terminal.

Premium versions typically include anti-foaming agents (which can make filling quicker and less messy), a small detergent package, and sometimes minor additives like corrosion inhibitors or a light fragrance.

There’s no clearly advertised higher cetane number, and independent checks show that cetane ratings are usually the same — or only marginally different — between regular and premium diesel from the major brands. If there was a significant, consistent boost that delivered real performance gains, fuel companies would promote the exact numbers front and centre. They don’t.

Cetane isn’t like octane. Simply raising the cetane number doesn’t create more power or dramatically better combustion in modern diesel engines. Australian diesel already comfortably exceeds the minimum standard (cetane index of 46) by the time it reaches the terminals, so there’s very little room — or need — for meaningful improvement.

You won't notice a difference from one tank to the next in power, fuel economy, or drivability. Any variation people feel is almost always explained by changes in traffic, load, road conditions, or even expectation bias.

What you might notice is that premium diesel smells a bit nicer and flows more smoothly when filling up. That’s the anti-foaming agent at work.

Premium diesel does contain detergents that can help keep injectors and the fuel system cleaner over the long term. That benefit is real, but it’s gradual — more of a slow maintenance effect than an instant performance upgrade. It’s not exclusive to premium either. Using a quality aftermarket diesel injector cleaner every few months can deliver a similar result at a fraction of the ongoing cost.

So what are you actually buying?

The same base diesel, plus a modest additive package, marketed as something more.

That doesn’t make premium diesel useless — but it does mean the extra cost only makes sense if the small added benefits are worth it to you personally.

Most drivers get along just fine with regular diesel.

If fuel quality really matters to you, the station you choose is usually far more important than whether the pump says premium or standard.

Busy service stations and truck stops with high turnover keep their tanks fresh by constantly refilling them, which means more consistent and higher-quality fuel overall.

When you crunch the numbers over a full year of driving, the extra cost of premium diesel simply doesn’t add up for most people.

28/03/2026

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗙𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗸𝗲?

Every time there’s a global conflict or crisis — and lately it feels like that’s all the time — fuel prices jump almost overnight.

And every time it happens, the blame seems to land in the same place:

The local service station.

But that’s not where the problem lies.

Retailers don’t control fuel prices the way people think they do. Their pricing is largely dictated to them. When you see a sudden jump at the bowser, it’s not because the local operator decided to put the price up — it’s because the Terminal Gate Price (TGP) they pay has increased.

That price is set upstream.

By the suppliers.

The big players — BP, Ampol, ExxonMobil and others — determine the wholesale price, and that flows straight through to the pump.

Retailers operate on relatively small margins, and they’re heavily regulated. They have to report pricing, stay competitive, and update pricing systems that are publicly tracked.

So if prices jump overnight, it’s not the servo making that decision.

It’s the price they are being charged.

Now this is where it gets interesting.

Because the real issue isn’t just who sets the price.

It’s how the price is set.

Australia operates on what’s called a replacement cost pricing model.

That means fuel is priced based on what it would cost to replace it today — not what it actually cost to buy.

So even if the fuel sitting in a tank was purchased cheaper days or weeks ago, it gets repriced immediately when global prices rise.

That’s why when prices move in places like Singapore, we see it almost instantly at the bowser.

Not because costs have already gone up.

But because they might.

And that’s the problem.

Because that same logic doesn’t apply on the way down.

If this model was fair to the end user, pricing would move both ways equally.

If prices can rise immediately based on future replacement cost, they should also fall just as quickly when those replacement costs drop.

But they don’t.

And that’s where the imbalance sits.

Instead, what we effectively see is a split system:

On the way up — replacement cost pricing
On the way down — lagging cost justification

That’s where the money is made.

So who actually benefits?

Not the retailer.

They’re largely price takers in this system.

The benefit sits upstream.

With the importers, wholesalers, and the integrated majors — the ones setting the Terminal Gate Price and holding inventory when prices move.

They are the ones operating inside this pricing model.

They are the ones positioned to capture the gains.

So what can be done?

If we want a fair system, it starts with transparency.

Right now, it’s almost impossible to see:
- what fuel actually cost when it was purchased
- how much is gained when prices rise
- how much is given back when prices fall

These companies report globally, not locally. Their wholesale arms in Australia are buried inside international reporting structures, making it very difficult to track what’s really happening here.

That needs to change.

At a minimum, there should be legislation requiring:
- reporting of inventory gains and losses
- separation of Australian wholesale profits from global reporting
- clear visibility on how pricing is being applied in real time

Because if the pricing model is fair, it should stand up to scrutiny.

And if it doesn’t — that’s exactly why it hasn’t been made transparent.

The final question is the uncomfortable one.

Does the government have the backbone to actually do anything about it?

Or is it easier to keep pointing people toward the servo while the real pricing power sits further up the chain?

Because right now, the people paying the price are everyday Australians.

And the people benefiting most…

Aren’t standing behind the counter.

08/03/2026

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗱 “𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵” 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵?

When did we stop striving to be the best we can be and start accepting mediocrity?

If you are supplying a service or producing a product, you have an end user handing over their hard-earned money. To knowingly offer a half-baked result when you could do better is, in my opinion, a poor reflection on us as professionals.

I spent half my life working in construction and saw it daily.

We would arrive on jobs to find cladding not screwed off properly, windows not sealed, waterproofing poorly applied (or missing entirely), walls completely out of plumb — yet somehow the building supervisor had already signed off on it.

A common saying you would hear often, "it looks good from my house".

We have been weighing just under 3 years. That is still short of what it takes to get a trade qualification, and I’m the first to admit I’m still learning and refining the process to improve the product we provide.

But comments like this from another weighing professional made me stop and think.

On a reel where I showed the difference releasing the handbrake makes to towball weight — and why it matters — a comment was made:

“Geez do these 2kg variations matter? No one is weighing broccoli.”

Firstly, the variation wasn’t 2kg. In that case it was 4kg. Often it’s more.

In the example below it was 9kg, we have seen differences of over 20kg on the towball after releasing the handbrake.

Individually that might sound small, but our job is not to decide what is “close enough”. Our job is to provide the most accurate result possible with the equipment and process we have.

Accuracy comes down to process.

For example, if you aren’t releasing the handbrake or returning the jockey wheel to its travelling position (or where it is normally stored) before recording your weights, you are not producing real-world results.

Yes, it takes extra effort and time — but it’s the only way to accurately replicate how your setup is presented.

Accuracy matters.

If we’re not striving to produce the best and most repeatable result we can, then we’re doing our clients a disservice and ultimately undermining the credibility of the industry.

We can always improve.
We should always try to improve.

And “close enough” should never be "good enough".

04/03/2026

Is this Toyota 79 Series overweight towing this monster caravan…
or is she all fine and dandy? 👀

𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲:
Believe it or not, this 79 Series was legal — but only just.

With a 4.5T towing upgrade, 4495kg GVM upgrade, and a GCM upgrade, it was towing a 4T caravan.

That left around 50kg of payload remaining on the vehicle, and roughly the same margin on the rear axle.

That figure was with the weight distribution hitch attached.
Without it, the rear axle ended up about 100kg over.

02/03/2026

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 — 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗥𝗩 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿

A great watch if you were thinking about a Zone RV before everything unfolded. Some interesting insights on what’s ahead for the brand and what might change under new ownership.

👉

After months of pain and suffering with a predicted end to the Caravan market innovator - Zone RV is back in business. We interview the new owner and ask all...

24/02/2026

𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗥𝗩 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 – 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻

We didn’t weigh into the Zone RV collapse when it first happened. We’ve had — and still have — quite a few clients caught up in it, and it didn’t feel right adding noise while people were dealing with real stress and uncertainty.

But there is some positive news on the horizon, with the brand now being purchased by another manufacturer.

Being Sunshine Coast–based, we weighed a lot of Zone RV caravans over the years. They were a well-designed product, generally well balanced, and had built a strong reputation locally and nationally.

So when the news broke about the collapse, I genuinely felt for the owners and customers caught up in it. No one hands over that sort of money expecting to be left in limbo. It’s a horrible position to be in.

The caravan industry has had a tough couple of years — supply chain pressures, rapid COVID-era expansion, finance tightening. A lot of businesses have felt it. At the same time, there are now investigations underway into the company’s owner, which suggests there may have been more involved than just broader market conditions. That process will take its course.

That doesn’t make it any easier for the customers affected — and I genuinely feel for anyone still working through the fallout — but the news that Essential Caravans has stepped in and purchased the assets is, in my opinion, a positive outcome.

It keeps manufacturing local, supports jobs here on the Coast, and gives the brand a chance to move forward rather than disappear completely.

Long term, this is a far better result than the alternative.

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s the ABC story covering the situation.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-24/essential-caravans-buys-zone-rv-customers-owed-millions/106331548

16/02/2026

𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘀 - my marriage is fine 😁

edit: for those that can't read all of the way to the bottom.

I really am just looking for advice on a reversing camera.

I can reverse and all your suggestions are valid and are all things we already do or they aren't an option and the reversing camera is what I think is my best solution just to make it easier on myself.

Seeing the gap on approach so I can get the caravan square to get through that gap is the only issue I have.

My wife is great and we normally FaceTime which works great, but there will be times where I will do it on my own and squaring the caravan up and getting it into the correct position requires me to see the posts.
________
Not sure our marriage of 19 years can survive much more of trying to reverse our caravan into our yard.

As you can see, we don’t have a very big gap to work with.

Some days I nail it. Other days, it doesn’t matter how much I try, I just can’t seem to line it up correctly. Those are the days I reckon I’d struggle to find sand on a beach… we all have them.

So I think it’s time to install a reversing camera on the van, but I’m not sure what I actually need or where the best place to mount it would be.

Should it go low on the bumper like a car’s reversing camera, or high like most other vans seem to have? Not sure what would work best in our situation.