Self Employed Youth Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 5000? You hardly need a car. For the job that's 10 miles away and where there is no public transport... Cheers for paying my housing benefit mucker. I'd pay my own rent if it wasn't for my financially-legally-lack of public transport restricted work radius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedupTeddiBear Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 (edited) I assume they mean fuel sales including diesel and not just petrol. The Beeb's semi-literacy is becoming painful. Diesel owners with any sense have switched from the "mainsteam" pumps to bio at 90p/litre. More and more people I know are doing this. Hmm... can't think of why they are now trying to push for sales of petrol cars over diesels??? Edited October 5, 2011 by FedupTeddiBear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash4781 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 From my experience people are costing journeys which no-one really seemed to care about much before. For example a trip to town might be £5 in petrol , and then a few more £'s for parking and the town is probably full of charity and discount stores. Car parking charges will continue to rise as local authorities try to make up shortfalls in central government grants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hpc-craig Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Diesel owners with any sense have switched from the "mainsteam" pumps to bio at 90p/litre. More and more people I know are doing this. Hmm... can't think of why they are now trying to push for sales of petrol cars over diesels??? I haven't had a diesel car before but picked one up last month. I am currently running at about 59 MPG, adn am quite impressed with it so far. I haven't looked into biodiesel, but am tempted, especially so as you quote it is 90p/l. Where do I find Biodiesel? I haven't seen it for sale, and can I safely put it in to my car 9 year old car? Can you just fill a tankful of the stuff, or put in half biofuel, half 'conventional' diesel for example. I bought the car to save me some money (and the £30 per year road tax is another great benefit), so Biodiesel sounds even better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copydude Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 From my experience people are costing journeys which no-one really seemed to care about much before. For example a trip to town might be £5 in petrol , and then a few more £'s for parking and the town is probably full of charity and discount stores. Car parking charges will continue to rise as local authorities try to make up shortfalls in central government grants. Yes, absolutely. People are counting costs. The absurd hikes in the costs of accommodation, energy and so on, not to mention all Brown's stealth taxes, assumed we all had bottomless pockets. Well, they just assumed there was no limit. Now they are scratching around. In my godforsaken, semi-rural area of Essex, there suddenly appeared a parking warden the other day. Hoot. There hasn't been a policeman down this way in years. This guy was sent out to check the very few parking bays outside the fleabitten Co-Op and Indian grocery. Possible fine for putting half a tyre over the white lines etc. Given the shameful lack of policing in the area, local residents all told him that he should be ashamed, just turning up for council pension money and all. Hoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sponge Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 my fuel bill is £400 per month at the moment, i drive a batterd r reg passat tdi, this car is bulletproof 100 miles to £10 i also do a round trip once a month to bournemouth and back twice in a weekend to get my daughter thats about another 1000 miles ive heard i can claim my milage even if im on the books? done over 100k in the last 3 years wow thats some diesel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaspers Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I've cut my fuel bill by a quarter merely by only driving three-quarters of the way to where I want to go then getting out and walking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pl1 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 What a surprise. Put the price up of a commodity by too much and people stop buying it and seek alternatives. Fuel companies really did think they could take the p*ss forever. Increasing petrol every single week. Week in, week out. Blaming "contract futures" when petrol prices still increased, despite falls in the oil price but conveniently forgetting those contract futures when the oil price increased. How stupid do they think we are? Well their greed has backfired. The kind of changes that occur with petrol are deep seated ones and do take a long time to change but crucially a long time to reverse that change. BP, Shell, Esso, Texaco let me introduce you to a new friend - demand destruction. I think you'll be knowing each other for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredwerker Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Money issues aside, petrol is tricky to store (dangerous, and it degrades relatively quickly). Diesel on the other hand could easily be stored in a large home heating oil tank (it's almost the same stuff). If you have a bit of space on your land and you drive a diesel car, a 2000 or 3000l tank might not be a bad idea. I'd imagine you could save a little bit over pump prices by buying in bulk from a wholesale distributor too. You would get a discount come to think of it.I used to work with some bus companies and I happened to be waiting for the owner to negotiate his weeks fuel. He got his weeks fuel down to a mere £7k(if memory serves) - This happened to be a small bus company Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krackersdave Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 What a surprise. Put the price up of a commodity by too much and people stop buying it and seek alternatives. Fuel companies really did think they could take the p*ss forever. Increasing petrol every single week. Week in, week out. Blaming "contract futures" when petrol prices still increased, despite falls in the oil price but conveniently forgetting those contract futures when the oil price increased. How stupid do they think we are? Well their greed has backfired. The kind of changes that occur with petrol are deep seated ones and do take a long time to change but crucially a long time to reverse that change. BP, Shell, Esso, Texaco let me introduce you to a new friend - demand destruction. I think you'll be knowing each other for a long time. Yeah but hang on - 70% of the cost is not the product it's TAX!!!! The oil companies make near jacksh1t on petrol sales. I mean petrol is practically a by-product. Put the blame where it belongs... a ******ing stupid greedy s1ht head government run by brain-dead fkwits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedupTeddiBear Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 (edited) I haven't had a diesel car before but picked one up last month. I am currently running at about 59 MPG, adn am quite impressed with it so far. I haven't looked into biodiesel, but am tempted, especially so as you quote it is 90p/l. Where do I find Biodiesel? I haven't seen it for sale, and can I safely put it in to my car 9 year old car? Can you just fill a tankful of the stuff, or put in half biofuel, half 'conventional' diesel for example. I bought the car to save me some money (and the £30 per year road tax is another great benefit), so Biodiesel sounds even better. Try a google search for "biodiesel" and your local area. If you are in the SE I can recommend the company we use. They deliver to your home. Prices vary quite a lot. Some is equal to or more expensive that regular diesel. Heating biodiesel is exactly the same stuff as car biodiesel -only difference is how it is taxed - and it is not dyed. You can use up to 2500 litres of this per year without being in trouble with the tax man. (need to keep the receipts) We have been running an 03 reg car on this for about 2 years. The car runs more smoothly than with regular diesel and we've saved a good few pennies. In winter you do need to mix with normal diesel to prevent gelling at low temps. Edit to add: I've heard that cars made between 1996 and 2004 are best suited & are unlikely to need any modification. Just make sure you use properly processed biodiesel and not SVO (straight veg oil.) Edited October 5, 2011 by FedupTeddiBear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Employed Youth Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 What a surprise. Put the price up of a commodity by too much and people stop buying it and seek alternatives. Fuel companies really did think they could take the p*ss forever. Increasing petrol every single week. Week in, week out. Blaming "contract futures" when petrol prices still increased, despite falls in the oil price but conveniently forgetting those contract futures when the oil price increased. How stupid do they think we are? Well their greed has backfired. The kind of changes that occur with petrol are deep seated ones and do take a long time to change but crucially a long time to reverse that change. BP, Shell, Esso, Texaco let me introduce you to a new friend - demand destruction. I think you'll be knowing each other for a long time. Lower sales don't necessarily mean lower profits. Laffer curve and all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Employed Youth Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Yeah but hang on - 70% of the cost is not the product it's TAX!!!! The oil companies make near jacksh1t on petrol sales. I mean petrol is practically a by-product. Put the blame where it belongs... a ******ing stupid greedy s1ht head government run by brain-dead fkwits. Say you do 8k mile a year and buy £1k worth of fuel. Yet pay £2k+ in insurance! Why worry about the petrol price? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Why do you think an 80mph speed limit is now being proposed? Driving at 80mph uses on avg 20% more fuel than driving at 70mph does, so this speed limit change alone will help reverse that drop. Ha ha! My thoughts exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedgefunded Posted October 6, 2011 Author Share Posted October 6, 2011 Say you do 8k mile a year and buy £1k worth of fuel. Yet pay £2k+ in insurance! Why worry about the petrol price? Because £1000 is still £1000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredwerker Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 If that's actually happening, I'll eat my shoe. Reminds me of Kirsti and her hat It seems to be going around - getting the best mpg. I was in a car and someone turned the engine off in a traffic jam the other day. With some cars I have had, I wouldnt turn them off as they might not go again. But my observations on the M23 are in general, get out of the fast lane if you are doing 80. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efdemin Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Yeah but hang on - 70% of the cost is not the product it's TAX!!!! The oil companies make near jacksh1t on petrol sales. I mean petrol is practically a by-product. Put the blame where it belongs... a ******ing stupid greedy s1ht head government run by brain-dead fkwits. That's what they want you to think. Shell/BP 'Petrol Station Company' makes buttons on the fuel it sells, however Shell/BP 'Oil exploration, drilling and refining Company' makes loads on the processing of the fuel in the first place. The cost of which is also part of the forecourt cost, so in reality I'd bet the majority of the non-tax bit is finding its way to Shell/BP shareholders one way or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aa3 Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I don't like going past 55mph. Once I push past that, I can feel the strain on the car, and I can feel how much I am having to use the accelerator to keep pace. I just pull over to the travel lane, and cruise along under the speed limit. Some days people are happy to cruise along behind me. And other days people are veering around me and blowing past me. That is a scary thing about buying a used car. You could have one car that has 100k miles on it, that the person just cruised along like me, barely putting any strain on the car. Or a car with 100k miles where the person really was straining the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eight Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I don't like going past 55mph. Once I push past that, I can feel the strain on the car, and I can feel how much I am having to use the accelerator to keep pace. I just pull over to the travel lane, and cruise along under the speed limit. Some days people are happy to cruise along behind me. And other days people are veering around me and blowing past me. That is a scary thing about buying a used car. You could have one car that has 100k miles on it, that the person just cruised along like me, barely putting any strain on the car. Or a car with 100k miles where the person really was straining the car. Just out of interest, what kind of car is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredwerker Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I don't like going past 55mph. Once I push past that, I can feel the strain on the car, and I can feel how much I am having to use the accelerator to keep pace. I just pull over to the travel lane, and cruise along under the speed limit. Some days people are happy to cruise along behind me. And other days people are veering around me and blowing past me. That is a scary thing about buying a used car. You could have one car that has 100k miles on it, that the person just cruised along like me, barely putting any strain on the car. Or a car with 100k miles where the person really was straining the car. My car is doing about 3k revs at 80 mph in sixth gear and has a top end of near 150mph supposedly - so it sits quite happily at 80mph. 3k revs is not straining it in the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bear Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I don't like going past 55mph. Once I push past that, I can feel the strain on the car, and I can feel how much I am having to use the accelerator to keep pace. I just pull over to the travel lane, and cruise along under the speed limit. Some days people are happy to cruise along behind me. And other days people are veering around me and blowing past me. That is a scary thing about buying a used car. You could have one car that has 100k miles on it, that the person just cruised along like me, barely putting any strain on the car. Or a car with 100k miles where the person really was straining the car. What's the travel lane? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbonic Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 ... That is a scary thing about buying a used car. You could have one car that has 100k miles on it, that the person just cruised along like me, barely putting any strain on the car. Or a car with 100k miles where the person really was straining the car. I once bought a fairly new high mileage (100k) ex company car. It transpired it had had it's neck wrung by a sucession of callous young sales reps. T'was on the scrap heap within 3 years. It must have been comical to the neighbours seeing me towed back home on the back of a RAC truck on several occasions though. That was one of the reasons why I bought new in '06 - an economical car I could keep for 10 years whose history I totally know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lepista Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 What's the travel lane? The middle one, silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Yes, absolutely. People are counting costs. I will refuse to be priced out of the local town shopping centre on market day by parking charges that were free for everyone years ago, so I have invested in one of these, and I don't care what I look like, street cred or not...will park and walk....the only way today.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longtomsilver Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I don't like going past 55mph. Once I push past that, I can feel the strain on the car, and I can feel how much I am having to use the accelerator to keep pace. I just pull over to the travel lane, and cruise along under the speed limit. Have a little faith in your car, you might just be sitting in a flat spot within the rev range. I've got an asthmatic Renault Clio 1.2l - running it in now and my heart sank when I tried to accelerate from 50mph to 70mph - awful experience and I felt cruel doing so but once it got there (3000revs) perked up alot with no trouble getting from 70mph to 80mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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