24 replies to this topic

[Fran]

As we all know, petrol prices are painfully high, and still rising.

However, I was surprised to see the BFP report that 51% of over 500 readers claim to be using their cars less as a result, so I decided to do an equally unscientific poll here.

[147]

Perhaps somebody can do the maths for me. Is petrol dearer in real terms than when it hit £1 per gallon in 1980. I'm not sure but if you take into account how fuel efficient cars are now we might be better off.

I personally don't bother to chase cheap garages for my fuel, however I do remember struggling to find the money to fill up in the early eighties.

[Fran]

Perhaps somebody can do the maths for me. Is petrol dearer in real terms than when it hit £1 per gallon in 1980. I'm not sure but if you take into account how fuel efficient cars are now we might be better off.

Is there an accountant in the house?

I personally don't bother to chase cheap garages for my fuel

I have added that to the questionnaire. I don't drive out of my way to go to cheaper petrol stations, but I keep an eye on the prices at the ones I regularly drive past and fill up at the cheapest. About once a week I drive through Hazlemere, and it's typically at least 3p per litre cheaper there, so I invariably fill up when I go past, even if it's only half a tank.

I do remember struggling to find the money to fill up in the early eighties.

Of course that may be because you had less disposable income when you were younger.

[147]

Of course that may be because you had less disposable income when you were younger.

I dont remember having less money, I had a well paid job and no commitments. I just remember hating parting with money at the pump.

Edited by Fran, 23 January 2011 - 11:40 AM.
Fixed quote tag

[Adrian]

I seem to remember working this out last time petrol went over 120p/l and the conclusion was that it was quite a bit more expensive in the '80s than it is now in real terms.

It makes a good deal of sense to use the cheapest petrol stations, as station managers do a weekly survey of their competitors and adjust prices to suit. I worked in a couple of petrol stations in my youth and this was normal practice.

Oh, and anyone tempted to blame the oil companies for the price of fuel need only look at this (out of date, it's even worse now) graphic from the BBC.

[147]

My simple calculations.

I now earn 4 times what I did 30 years ago, petrol has increased in price 5 fold, however back then a luxuary saloon averaged around 18-20MPG now if your silly enough to by a petrol one you can expect 25-30 or 35-40 with a diesel. So i suppose yes we are better off.

[Fran]

I find our results more plausible than those of the BFP: so far only 1 out of 8 people here say they drive less than they did. I suspect that most people have relatively few journeys they could eliminate or replace.

I am also a little relieved that no one has managed to make car sharing work. (I needn't feel too guilty.)

[Eaton]

I am also a little relieved that no one has managed to make car sharing work. (I needn't feel too guilty.)

We've been members of the liftshare website for 5.5 years and have never heard from anyone! Although occasionally my husband gets a lift home from a neighbour if he meets her on the train, more often I end up bringing her home as well. I presume that the only way car sharing would work is if you actually worked with someone that you also lived near.

[Matthew (Admin/MPJ)]

We've been members of the liftshare website for 5.5 years and have never heard from anyone!

I to joined the lift share web site 4 years ago to see if I could get a lift to Milton Keynes, or other destinations, have never had any contact!

Anyway, I don't drive (so re above, I would only be able to share costs) but my concern with rising petrol prices is the knock on impact on transport costs for deliveries, which will push prices up in the shops and also increase my company's transport costs. I also suspect pressure on taxi fares to rise, although they are controlled.

I am also concerned that if people use their cars less, they may use public transport more. In itself not a bad idea, but public transport cannot cope now, so an increase usage will not be good and put people off using it. Until public transport can support itself financially, the services won't run, but people won't use it unless the service is there - chicken and egg situation. Will increasing prices force public transport to improve by creating demand, or will we all just stay at home?

[rk9]

Hi All

i find the fuel prices a discrace i run my own small buisness and find that iam now putting in over £100 pounds a week just to fill my van up as work is tight for everybody at the moment you cant pass the extra costs on to the public
Add this to having to put about £30 into my wifes car so she can do the school run and get to work makes our yearley fuel bill about £6500 Adding together the cost of mots servicing and insurance it costs me around £10000 a year to run two motors just to get to work and our son to school .
So yes we are all having to be more aware to save fuel and money where we can

[hyposmurf]

Im doing about 400 miles a week to work, but I've always had an eye my fuel efficiency.Still a relatively new driver, but best thing I've found is leaving a big enough gap in front of you and the car in front.Just watching the car in front driving braking on off on off,on off, but I've not had to touch my brakes at all just ease off the gas.Simple thing I know, but alot of drivers just dont Considered having my car converted to use gas,but just didnt look econically attractive enough to warrant the change.Fuels a huge earner for the goverment,so even if they bring in this new cap, they will grab it back elsewhere.

[Rayhoop]

We are fortunate enough not to have to 'worry' about the price of petrol/diesel, but that does not mean that we do not try to drive efficiently. When filling up, I tend to do so at stations en-route that I know are cheaper than others.

Whilst some may think it is not worth bothering looking at the price at the pumps for the sake of a 50p to £2 saving per tank, I think it is. It takes virtually no effort to just keep an eye on the prices as you drive past the pumps on your usual route. When I was commuting to Portsmouth every day, I would fill up with 60litres of diesel for every 4 days commuting, or approx 50-55 litres of petrol for every 2 days commuting (depending on which car I took).

With ref to driving efficiently. I'm known - much to the humour of my friends/family - to occasionally see what max mpg I can get from a full tank of driving. Driving efficiently does make a significant difference to the distance travelled on a brimmed tank. In summary, the results of which are...

My Honda Accord 2.2 diesel. A combined 40mpg if driven without care/enthusiastic driving, compared to a combined 53mpg when driven efficiently.
My Golf VR6 (2.8l V6). Combined average of 28mpg on normal driving... 20mpg on enthusiastic driving... 37mpg on efficient driving.

When I was commuting to Portsmouth, I was doing a minimum of 800 miles a week (just commuting - excl social/domestic). Now Im commuting to Staines I cover around 250 miles a week commuting (excl social/dom). But I still try to be fairly efficient, and take the Accord for the majority of journeys.

[Eaton]

My Qashqai has a very handy gizmo which shows an average miles per gallon on one setting and on another shows an almost minute by minute reading. It also shows how many miles on the present mpg until I will next need to refuel.

On a recent visit to Wiltshire a journey of around 118 miles each way I started out with 361 miles until my next refuel at an average mpg of 25.1 and by the time I got there I had around 520 miles until my next refuel. At one stage, having sat at a steady 70mph for around 30 miles without needing to touch my brakes it read that the car had reached 62.1mpg.

It has already been mentioned that braking is a big fuel burner but so is driving without the correct tyre pressure and I keep a weekly/fortnightly eye on my tyre pressure. Having said that, although I know how to add air to my tyres a lack of hand strength means that I have to get my husband to 'do the necessary' or I end up losing almost as much air as I've put in!

[timo_w2s]

There would have to be some serious price rises for me to change my driving habits. I'm not a high mileage driver (about 9000 a year) anyway since I work from home. I think if the price got closer to 200p/l I'd drive less. Or when I run out of money.

[Speedy]

50% of my driving is in the horrendous traffic queues around the area of the beacon school in the morning, and as sitting in traffic is the worst thing for fuel economy, i tend to use more than i have to. Luckily i only drive 13 miles a day, and the wife a further 14, so we don't do that much mileage, but when the car only ranges 15 - 18mpg, we tend to use the cheapest garage. We use ashley green service station on the top of nashleigh hill. It's always 2 - 3p a litre cheaper and only half a mile away from home. It may not seem alot, but when the tank on my car holds 80 litres, it starts to make sense.

So would i change my driving habit? Well i already have, no spur of the moment trips to the coast at the weekend for example.

[Fran]

My Qashqai has a very handy gizmo which shows an average miles per gallon on one setting and on another shows an almost minute by minute reading. It also shows how many miles on the present mpg until I will next need to refuel.

I think most cars have had something similar for quite a few years, haven't they? I certainly find the average mpg useful (though I'm not convinced it's very accurate). However, the minute-by-minute one is very distracting. That said, it is quite useful to use occasionally on an empty road to see the effect of different driving styles.

On a related note, here's a short BBC video report on where your petrol money goes: BBC site.

[PaulEden]

Marie's Nissan has that too, but I don't trust them, particularly when the tank is nearly empty. The other day she told me she had refilled the tank when it said 34 miles remaining. It's s big fuel tank - it cost over £80 to fill it.

The BFP article assumes people drive for pleasure. I don't think many people do that these days.

[Eaton]

but I don't trust them,

I don't rely on it, I still do exactly as I always have, which is to never let it go into the red but I think it's an interesting little gizmo to have.

[hyposmurf]

With ref to driving efficiently. I'm known - much to the humour of my friends/family - to occasionally see what max mpg I can get from a full tank of driving. Driving efficiently does make a significant difference to the distance travelled on a brimmed tank.

Im a bit like that to.Think part of it is due to the longer journeys,just gives me something else to do when driving for over an hour.

[Rayhoop]

:-) and these days traffic is such that driving fast does not get you anywhere quickly (and most of the time is impossible), so I've switched to getting my kicks from efficiency lol

[PaulEden]

I have found that music makes a difference too! Replace the Rolling Stones with Jack Johnson on the ICE and fuel economy improves.

[Fran]

I have found that music makes a difference too! Replace the Rolling Stones with Jack Johnson on the ICE and fuel economy improves.

Good point - though probably not a good idea to go to the extreme of anything too relaxing, either.

[Tallguy]

The BFP article assumes people drive for pleasure. I don't think many people do that these days.

I'm lucky enough to have a 'weekend car' as well as my daily driver. Whilst I can't say I drive it for 'pleasure' in the old sense, it is nice to get out of my 4 door saloon and into something a bit different for a change. I also use it for the commute to the office once a week.

[PaulEden]

I meant 'recreational' driving then. I enjoy driving, that's why I do it for a living, but I rarely have the time or funds to do it for fun these days.

[David P]

Is there an accountant in the house?

No, but I can do the arithmetic.

Inflation since the beginning of 1980 is about 3.65 times.
Fuel at £1.30 per litre is now £5.85 per gallon.

However, according to this article prices were, in real terms, much higher in 1917 and cheapest in 1949.

More usefully, if you register your email address here you can get a weekly email telling you where to find the cheapest fuel in your area.