Petrol Prices (answer)

[Chrislong]

Originally Posted by terry.sc

Why does this country always scream at the government to do something instead of doing something themselves? If you don't like the cost of fuel get a more economical car.
I had a job which meant a 300 mile per week journey and a big sports coupe that was lucky to manage 25 mpg. I did the sensible thing and swapped it for a little diesel that did 60mpg instead. Now I'm working nearer home I've swapped it for something with a big engine again as I can afford to run it. It's not economical but if fuel prices keep on going up I'll swap it for something cheaper to run, not sit and moan about how expensive it is.

So the fix is to roll on your back and loose the freedom of choice?

I like the car I have and I can afford it, it is becoming more expensive to use (VED & Fuel) and I don't like that as that is labour trying to force the public to drive crappy small cars or new breed efficient diesels (still very expensive 2nd hand), but to change cars atall costs money id rather not spend. Because my car costs a lot to run it is likely to depreciate, and I am being more careful now than ever of how much driving I do, and how fast I drive. But its not being changed until im ready.

But I pride myself in my car, I won't be forced to change, and I am all for getting my voice heard, signing petitions, hearing out ideas of boycotting brands, & heck id even be for protests and blockades. But I won't let the greedy "fill my boots" politicians dictate indirectly what choices I make.

[cwilson]

well heres a solution for some. if you have a diesel car you can run you car on used cooking oil! all you have to do is filter it, put it in the tank and drive. and last time i checked used cooking oil is dirt cheap if not free.

[Danny]

The idea of boycotting a particular company seems kind of stupid to me. If it happened it would lower prices in the super short term, ie this week. Everyone would then fill up there & bang, up go the prices & welcome back to square one. If BP were to go out of buisiness their facilities and assests would just be sold on & it would achieve nothing. It isnt a buyers market at all. That is just plain wrong. How can it be a buyers market? Its supply restrained!!

Chrislong why are small cars crappy? Id like to see people leave their egos at home a bit more & think differently when it comes to chosing which cars to run. I know a guy who runs a TVR Tuscan and I know a guy who has a Porsche 928, both awesome cars that cannot fail to leave you with a smile every time you drive them. But they go down to the shops on a saturday afternoon in a Vauxhall Astra & a 10 year old Renault Clio respectively. The money they save enables them to run much better 2nd cars & keep them in proper reliable shape & have enough change to fill em up & go for a spin on Sunday. I dont get why people try to make 1 car tick all the boxes, you just end up making too many comprimises. These days you can get so many excellent, reliable, fuel efficient 2nd hand cars now for small money, its madness the "keeping up with the jones" new car mentality that so many people seem to have.

The government could really help this thinking by giving small cars tax breaks & really hitting the big engines hard. I would love to see this happen, with the rates going up more for expensive, oil-slaughtering cars...4 liter engine? £800 tax per year. 6 liter? £1500. Id like to see a revival of something similar to what happened in Japan with all the tiny Kei cars in the 90s. They ruled.

[Chrislong]

Originally Posted by cwilson

well heres a solution for some. if you have a diesel car you can run you car on used cooking oil! all you have to do is filter it, put it in the tank and drive. and last time i checked used cooking oil is dirt cheap if not free.

Ive just heard about this yesterday, a friend of mine sells Bio fuel and his own vehicles have stop running on it due to a bacteria in the fuel which blocked the fuel filter with gunk. He has had to have his tank steam cleaned, all his fuel lines cleaned etc etc - basically cancels out all saving made by running a cheaper fuel.

Danny (Danny who?), my post was a rant but certainly no Ego included in it. Perhaps small cars are not crappy - but they're not suitable for my needs.

[Lee]

I agree with chris, why should the government effectively choose our cars for us, if you are a farmer up in the deepest darkest hills you would probably choose to use a landrover or some other large 4x4. Why should they be penalised for something they need to do their job

How do other govenments get away with taxing people less, in every respect, not just fuel? Are those countries on the verge of going bankrupt as well? Or is it just the fact that they use the funds they have wisely and not spend millions every year furnishing MPs london pads and spending more money on stupid campaigns

If you or i handled our finances the way two jags has handled the countries money we would be behind bars. FACT!

[Swiss]

I approx. do 30-35K miles per year, and I certainly wouldn't want to be driving a small car.
Our company put us on a private lease scheme because of the ridicolous taxes the government put on 'company cars'. They now pay us a lump sum every month and we choose the car we drive.
When you spend that amount of time in a car, you do appreciate the finner things, size being no.1.
When I first started the job I used my own car for 6mths, and bombing up and down the M4 in a Saxo is no fun day in day out.
My 2pence worth and although slightly irrelative, as the company pay my petrol. The funny thing is they are having to re-calculate the pence per mile we get becuase of these silly petrol prices, (I still have to pay for all my private miles)

[Alfonzo]

Originally Posted by terry.sc

so why is everyone screaming at the government about the rising cost of fuel? No one seems to be shouting about the government doing something about the rising cost of groceries.
We are paying around the same amount of tax on fuel as they do in Germany, Finland, Belgium, but not as much as Sweden.

Because the government doesn't control half (or more) of the price of groceries! How much tax is directly applied to groceries? Not even VAT.

[burgie]

Originally Posted by Lee

If you or i handled our finances the way two jags has handled the countries money we would be behind bars. FACT!

Did "two jags" ever handle the countries money? I thought it was our Current PM who did that for the past decade.

It's not the oil companies that are determining the cost of the petrol we buy, it is the government. They are maintaining ridiculously high taxation rates on fuel, whilst saying it's not a tax issue, its all down to supply and demand.

The government want us to buy economical cars because cars are bad for the environment, whilst expanding current airports...

[Alfonzo]

Who are you talking about there, Chris? Not Gordon 'No more boom and bust' surely? I've said some stupid things in my life, but that takes the Pi$$! bet he regrets that

[mark christopher]

Originally Posted by cwilson

well heres a solution for some. if you have a diesel car you can run you car on used cooking oil! all you have to do is filter it, put it in the tank and drive. and last time i checked used cooking oil is dirt cheap if not free.

utter crap

most modern diesel systems will fail if run on that, it clogs as chris has said and it certainly viods any warranty Ford offer and im sure it will other manufactures

[Danny]

Originally Posted by Lee

I agree with chris, why should the government effectively choose our cars for us, if you are a farmer up in the deepest darkest hills you would probably choose to use a landrover or some other large 4x4. Why should they be penalised for something they need to do their job

It doesnt have to be an all-encasing rule that punishes all, there could easily be exceptions for people that "need" the power, but most people with large 4x4s dont need them. The government doesnt need to choose our cars for us, but a lot of people are just wasting oil, doing tescos & the school run in a range rover. They're still allowed to but it would be cool if they pay an extra cost for decadently wasting the earths resources just because they can.

[Lee]

You mean like you are wasting electricity, from your pc by being on oOple instead of doing something constructive

I agree though it doesnt have to be a tax across the board for all, but it is

The government are a bunch of cocks who are basicailly in it for their own personal gain. Has anyone ever has an MP sympathise with them and actually go out of their way to help them? I have never heard of this in my local area.

I think it would be interesting to see how much red diesel has increased since the turn of the year and whether or not it is relative to the fuels with duty added. I would love for some truckers to bring the uk to a standstill again.

After Tally though

[Nick Goodall]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

utter crap

most modern diesel systems will fail if run on that, it clogs as chris has said and it certainly viods any warranty Ford offer and im sure it will other manufactures

Haha i'm glad people don't just follow every bit of advice they read on here

I know of some old Escort vans that have tried it, but the stench alone is feckin terrible, talk about embarrassing too

[markwilliamson2001]

I know that this comment most peeps will turn there nose up at, but in an effort to keep 'toy' car racing, I car share to work with a colleague. We both work about the same time, and live in the same town, so car sharing is not quite as easy as driving yourself in, but I worked out that I saved

£300

a year simply by cutting down my miles by car sharing. It also made me less tired at the end of the day, since I wasn't having to concentrate on driving on the way home! (Bonus!!).

I believe for those people who live in cities (Worcester closest to me) is a prime example of how car sharing could benefit everyone... There would be less traffic which would cause less traffic jams, use less fuel, which would then reduce the demand for fuel, causing the price to drop...

I think instead of taxing fuel, either tax those people who drive along in a 14ft box of steel all to themself, OR give benefit to those who car share?

Just an idea..

[Lee]

Do you really notice £300 over a year though, personally i wouldn`t, its less than a pound a day

Im not knocking you in anyway and its good that you have managed to do this and it works for you but personally id rather spend the £1 a day and work when i wanted and have my own space in the car and not be relying on anyone else.

[Doomanic]

the Transit has just cost £90 to fill up!
It'll do around 400 miles for that!

I used biodiesel for a while last year and it was fine, but the supplier got flooded and the fuel was contaminated. The van never ran the same after that til it went back on the ordinary diesel.

I used to car share a few years ago, it's great until you want to work late, or not, and holidays can be a nightmare.

[Chrislong]

Originally Posted by Danny

It doesnt have to be an all-encasing rule that punishes all, there could easily be exceptions for people that "need" the power, but most people with large 4x4s dont need them. The government doesnt need to choose our cars for us, but a lot of people are just wasting oil, doing tescos & the school run in a range rover. They're still allowed to but it would be cool if they pay an extra cost for decadently wasting the earths resources just because they can.

Hi Danny,
I agree, SOME people with 4x4's don't need them and I whole-heartily agree that they are the ones in the wrong. People who live in urban area's, don't go off-road and have several children should be driving MPV's or saloons. But my hate for them is due to the way they drive - may aswell be a white van in disguise.

BUT, the point I am getting at, is the rules the Government are making and the like, I initially thought would be aimed specifically at this type of 4x4 owner, but it isn't, its also hitting hard the average Mondeo, the mid/large high spec hatchbacks, sports cars and pretty much a big proportion of the country.

[Chrislong]

Originally Posted by markwilliamson2001

I think instead of taxing fuel, either tax those people who drive along in a 14ft box of steel all to themself, OR give benefit to those who car share?

Just an idea..

Granted, car sharing is a good plan. But only when it is possible to do so, and more often than not it is already happening, I drop someone off at home every evening.

These schemes I have heard about id not be keen on, I do not want a stranger in my car.

But don't penalise anyone who doesn't car share, the benefit to those who do is the split in the cost of fuel, the penalty for those who don't is they receive no benefit and pay all their own costs. Its nothing the government can force upon people, its a mindset that people need to get into.

[glypo]

The FACT is that the government are taxing our fuel, and it's the major cost. £0.57 is duty a litre, and the VAT is on top of the price and duty. At £1.15 a litre, the petrol station and fuel company are taking 40 pence, and the government are taking 74 pence.

So do your basic maths with that, the government is taxing 281% on fuel.

The price of a barrel of oil has doubled in just a couple of years, and the petrol prices haven't. Fuel companies just a few years ago were making a loss, now they're making a profit. It's supply and demand at the moment, and the demand is too high. And our Prime Minister has the cheek to sit the fuel companies down, and say they are charging too much. What a joke.

The bottom line is, the government won't drop fuel prices. We live in a country with the worlds highest fuel duty, the government can't lower the duty otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford to pay for nice houses and benefits for the unemployed. The demand is far to high, so petrol companies can't drop their prices.

Until a viable alternative comes along, such as fuel cell cars which will likely be the future...... complaining won't help (we don't really live in a democracy), so just buy fuel efficient cars. It's the only way. When that alternative does come along, expect car tax to rocket, as the government has no way of plugging that deficit.

[RogerM]

It's all down to the super high PERCENTAGE tax the gov' have on fuel .... a small increase in the price of the fuel itself is complertely swamped by the huge % increase in tax on that small amount.


As for the comments about food prices ..... why do you think they are going up so much? Something to do with the cost of fuel used to plant / harvest (in the UK), transport the raw materials, engergy costs in making the goods (even fresh stuff has a shed load of engergy applied to it in storage and treatment (huge cold stores / washing plants consume huge amounts!!!!!) and then transport of the finished food products.
The lions share of the cost of that lot is in tax, which is taxed ... then taxed again!!!!


As for running modern diesels on "bio fuel" or worse normal veg oil BE VERY, VERY, VERY CAREFUL.
The company I work for only supports the use of 5% biofuel ...... like most (as in 99%) of the other manufacures.

Just because the engine will burn it doesn't mean it has the right properties to look after the fuel pumps etc. Most people don't realise that the fuel is also the lube in most fuel pumps ...... even those that do don't realise the huge demands on the fuel pumps and the importance in the lubrication properties of the fuel.
If you don't clog your fuel lines, generate cold starting problems or cause nasty deposites in the injectors you will be hurting the pumps and shortening their life ...... anybody got any ideas how much a modern common rail diesel pump costs????

Be careful ........ and point your rage at the right people ...... so shout towards Westminster!