Petrol duty and VAT rises to increase price of fuel

Post by **clv101** » 04 Jan 2011, 10:47

the mad cyclist wrote:If the average driver were to modify his or her driving style, they could easily compensate for all the recent increases in vehicle fuel.

Additionally, most people buying new cars aren't buying 60mpg+ vehicles. Fuel bust be too cheep for people to continue driving fast and choosing to buy inefficient cars.

Post by **adam2** » 04 Jan 2011, 11:53

clv101 wrote:
the mad cyclist wrote:If the average driver were to modify his or her driving style, they could easily compensate for all the recent increases in vehicle fuel.
Additionally, most people buying new cars aren't buying 60mpg+ vehicles. Fuel bust be too cheep for people to continue driving fast and choosing to buy inefficient cars.

Agree entirely, no doubt some poeople are considering the fuel efficiency of new vehicles, but most are not.
A look at any motorway at off peak hours will show that many, perhaps most, drivers routinely flout speed limits, wasting fuel by so doing.
Many motorists still drive agressively,accelerating hard up to red lights instead of coasting for example.

Is petrol actually much more expensive than in the past ? I suspect not, but dont have any figures.
Anyone got any data on petrol prices over say the last 50 years, corrected for inflation.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 04 Jan 2011, 12:35

I think prices a lower than ever but that's maybe thinking about wage levels rather than actual prices. In other words, petrol prices don't tend to rise much with inflation and so become a smaller part of peoples' income.

Anyway, here's one article from 2008, adam2.

Pepperman · Post by **Pepperman** » 04 Jan 2011, 12:43

This is the killer chart to wave at drivers:

Source: DfT

So yes fuel costs have gone up in real terms, but the total costs of motoring have dropped thanks to the rapidly decreasing cost of car purchase.

frank_begbie · Post by **frank_begbie** » 04 Jan 2011, 12:52

RenewableCandy wrote:I wonder how much (if any) less commutin' (I mean by car) there'll be in the coming year as a direct result of this?

With all the other increases in the cost of living, Gas, Electric, Food, and everything else, people will start to have to cut back on some things.

It just means they have to decide what they cut back on.

Maybe they might only go out once a week instead of twice, so they can still use the car just as much.

Whatever they choose it must surely have an effect on the rate the economy can grow by.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 04 Jan 2011, 13:13

Thanks pepperman. That chart bears out my observations about car purchase - it's getting to be a purchase that can almost be made by credit card or with (for some people) cash. Mega cheap.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 04 Jan 2011, 15:42

emordnilap wrote:... car purchase - it's getting to be a purchase that can almost be made by credit card or with (for some people) cash. Mega cheap.

We've always done that, by buying (very) secondhand. The fuel economy's dire, but since we don't do many miles that's not so serious. Our current crate is over 12 years old, we've had it for 4 years. Latest little adventure was a blowout at 70 mph on the motorway

The one before that, burned-out clutch 6 months ago on the way back from a wedding (why do people get married in the middle of nowhere??). Etc...

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 04 Jan 2011, 16:23

I meant new. I could buy a brand new car tomorrow trading in our now ten-year-old one (getting a scrappage deal) and pay with my credit card, which has a whopping great limit on it.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 05 Jan 2011, 12:06

I bought my last car at 11 months old, and 55% of the list price, on my debit card. It cut the balance by a third...

RogerCO · Post by **RogerCO** » 05 Jan 2011, 12:50

RalphW wrote:I bought my last car at 11 months old, and ...

Seems a bit of a long term investment to have to wait 16 and a bit years till you could take a driving test and use it...

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 05 Jan 2011, 13:11

I remember there was a Hyundai Amica for £5k a few years back, not seen anything of the like since.
To be fair, not really looked, my current car was £500 and does 10mpl

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 05 Jan 2011, 14:09

RogerCO wrote:
RalphW wrote:I bought my last car at 11 months old, and ...
Seems a bit of a long term investment to have to wait 16 and a bit years till you could take a driving test and use it...

I bought my last car at 8 months old

.

Pepperman · Post by **Pepperman** » 10 Jan 2011, 23:06

Looks like the Economist reads Powerswitch too...

http://www.economist.com/node/21014388

bigjim · Post by **bigjim** » 10 Jan 2011, 23:36

Love this comment from the Economist article:

MarkB wrote:
Jan 5th 2011 5:02 GMT

No mention of speed camera after the first paragraph - nice sleight of hand there. And the actual quote in the article? Parking, parking and parking. Again - nice sleight of hand. Don't mind the speed cameras or the parking - look over here at inflation-adjusted costs.

Could this mess be any more disingenuous?

I'm a little irritated by those people who think that they can just pick and choose the laws that they want to obey and the ones that they want to ignore. People should accept that traffic laws apply to all and if they break them then they run the risk of being punished fiscally and with an endorsement on their licence.

Anyway, the higher the petrol price goes, the more worthwhile it becomes to cycle to work, and to my judo lessons, and to the shops.

ziggy12345 · Post by **ziggy12345** » 11 Jan 2011, 09:07

The increase of fuel duty will push people into using cheaper and also illegal fuels. Red diesel is well known to be cheaper but there are others.

You can convert you car to LPG and then top up using the LPG from the household supply. This is a lot cheaper than the stuff at the pumps

Vegtable oil is around 90p per ltr so not really worth the hassle

You can buy a high pressure gas pump and convert your car to CNG and use your domestic gas supply. It takes about 9 hrs to fill your tank but the cost is about 11p per ltr

If you subtract the tax diesel is by far the cheapest fuel

Cheers