[masklinn]

A big part of it is taxes, European countries tend to tax fuel pretty heavily.

If heating oil is still a thing where you are, compare its prices to diesel (especially historically). They’re nearly the same product, the difference is almost entirely fuel taxes.

[OtherShrezzing]

In the UK, farm vehicles use a specially dyed Red Diesel, which is the same liquid with a chemical added to it to turn it red. It’s taxed at a much lower rate, so you’ll sometimes pass petrol stations selling two Diesel from two different pumps, one of which is around half the price of the other.

If you’re caught running red diesel on a normal carriageway, the penalty can be steep.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

In Germany that red stuff is applied to all diesel, not only agricultural use.

And it's not the same liquid. From first principles maybe, but not after it has gone through the supply chain until it reaches you.

Anecdotical evidence from decades ago, when I had an oil-fired oven for heating. With a big barrel in the cellar, which you let fill by hose from a truck maybe once a year.

And hand pumped into a can every few days, and carried that up, to fill the tank of the oven. One year I was rather broke, and that barrel empty. And then came winter.

Thought I'd be smart, because it's just the 'same stuff', right?

Walked to the Aral maybe 200 meters away, filled a canister.

That 'same stuff' made the fire drum clog from the inside with the finest carbon, like those mushrooms which grow like disks from the side of trees.

That never happened with just oil. And that was normal Aral diesel, nothing special.

One can also notice a difference in smell with older cars. Just oil stinks more.

[walthamstow]

Apparently cat litter gets the red out and nobody ever gets dipped anyway

[fifilura]

What could possibly go wrong :)

Filter your diesel through cat litter in your garage and fill up your £60k mercedes.

Feels like extra work I would really enjoy doing and also the wonderful smell.

And I can probably re-use the cat litter for pesticides, so i don't need to worry about disposing of it.

But otherwise i would probably recommend against it.

[walthamstow]

These are poor rural people so it's less a 60k Merc and more like a worthless Volvo that is somehow still running in 2026 AD

[fifilura]

I'd say, let them have whatever fuel they prefer. These are not the tax-evaders we are looking for.

[BizarroLand]

Truckers absolutely get dipped. Commuters less so

[consp]

We used to have red diesel for agricultural use which was tax exempt. So they added a coloring agent which would make your tank red and thus noticeable if you used it in a regular car.