Fuel! At what price will you have to sell the car?

[Bean]

I have two cars, the Westfield which did less than 500 miles last year and my everyday car, a Clio 172.

I was thinking about replacing the Clio this year with a VW Golf 130/140 or similar, now thinking about a smaller engined car to take advantage of £30 per year road tax and decent MPG.

[carpetstu]

Fuel protest add your name here.......

http://www.fuelprotest.com/

[alistairolsen]

Anyone ever worked out the tax the government makes in total when you buy a litre of petrol, Im talking about the percentage the oil companies pay on the field development, the tax in the fuel used to transport it from the refinery, the income tax you pay on the cash you then use to pay it, and the tax you pay directly on the fuel?

Its f**king mental!

[neilb]

The wife has a car; I have a Jeep (already paying £300 a year road tax on it) plus the Westfield in the garage.

We were talking the other day, about fuel costs, and have said if it gets much worse the Jeep or the wife’s coupe will not get renewed at the end of the lease!

Its ridiculous, we both work hard running the business, and we have to consider cutting back due to the damn government costing us off the roads!!

When is the General election?

No sympathy for anyone that runs a 4x4 (that includes Steve who started this in his Nissan Navara)

Just remember when you come to vote who introduced the fuel price escalator and who scraped it.

The problem is everyone wants to have free health care, police on the streets, small class sizes, healthy kids and low taxes, no CCTV, drive the kids around in 4x4's because they are to afraid to let the kids walk to school because everyone is driving 4x4's whilst feeding them on McDonald's and Pizza.  You can't have it all ways. If you want the cheap fuel prices of America you will have to give up cheap health care, be thankful if your employer gives you 2 weeks holiday a year and be happy in the knowledge that anybody that wants a gun can have one.  On the other side don't compare the UK to Holland, Denmark or any of the other small European countries they have about 10% of our population and pay a lot more in taxes.  France where they just riot and go on strike at the drop of a hat or Italy where you can't get you bins emptied unless you pay off the Mafia......

[ljsanders]

The westy is stay whatever the fuel costs. Compared to the cost of running the tin top, its small change.

65 miles/day * 5 days a week * 47 weeks a year = 15275

for work alone.

115p/litre * 4.5 = 517.5p/gallon

15275/40mpg = 381.875 * 517.5 = £1976/year

Considering a train ticket Havant->Winchester return costs about 13 quid return. Plus a 3 quid bus ride.

16 * 5 * 47 = £3760

Driving to work is still the cheapest way to get to work for me.

[cast iron]

The problem is everyone wants to have free health care, police on the streets, small class sizes, healthy kids and low taxes, no CCTV, drive the kids around in 4x4's because they are to afraid to let the kids walk to school because everyone is driving 4x4's whilst feeding them on McDonald's and Pizza.  You can't have it all ways. If you want the cheap fuel prices of America you will have to give up cheap health care, be thankful if your employer gives you 2 weeks holiday a year and be happy in the knowledge that anybody that wants a gun can have one.  On the other side don't compare the UK to Holland, Denmark or any of the other small European countries they have about 10% of our population and pay a lot more in taxes.  France where they just riot and go on strike at the drop of a hat or Italy where you can't get you bins emptied unless you pay off the Mafia......

Fair enough for people who want to dirive cars, but why should my fuel duty pay for schools and health. It should purely be used for Transport and the relevant infrastructure. If it was then I wouldnt mind paying a realistic price, but its the creaming off that ends up in the fat cat politicians pockets and the social scroungers that pisses me off  

[MK11]

I believe that this government (and any subsequent ones too) are quite willing to allow the cost of fuel and other natural resources like gas to spiral up and up.

The justification for this is that at some point in the future we will run out and if we can wean ourselves off the profligate waste of these resources now by being hit where it hurts most (ie the wallet) then this is a good thing.  Nobody ever said going cold turkey was easy and I believe that is exactly what is happening.  For example, now people will lower their thermostat at home to save money, whereas they would never have done so to save energy.

The other potential benefit of the increased costs is alternatives become more attractive to develop as the cost differential closes.

That being said, I am still very happy driving my Westfield and Volvo D5 daily driver and my wife loves her RX8 so while I can still afford it we'll keep driving them and hope that alternative fuel arrives soon (and I don't mean batteries!)

[carpetstu]

QUOTE

No sympathy for anyone that runs a 4x4 (that includes Steve who started this in his Nissan Navara)

I have a 4x4 through need not choice!

Staffordshire is very rural and I need the car to access the area we cover. Personally I hate the thing and would much prefer a sporty family motor but that will not do single track farm roads in the middle of winter in 4 inch snow or floods.  

[Norman Verona]

Interesting to see the goverment being blamed by many for the rise in energy.

So, do you think fuel prices will drop when (if) the tories take over?

[neilb]

No sympathy for anyone that runs a 4x4 (that includes Steve who started this in his Nissan Navara)

I have a 4x4 through need not choice!

Staffordshire is very rural and I need the car to access the area we cover. Personally I hate the thing and would much prefer a sporty family motor but that will not do single track farm roads in the middle of winter in 4 inch snow or floods.  

I lived on a farm until I was 6, my dad never had a problem getting up and down the 1.5 mile lane in his Cortina on a daily basis    

[Nic Ayre]

What I want to know is where have all the lorry drivers and farmers gone?

They did such a fantastic job blocking the refineries back in the early noughties, yet with the recent price hikes they have been very quiet.  Are they being given a back hander in the way of subsidies to keep them quiet?

Must admit I would be stuffed this time round as the 50 mile round trip to work each day would mean a tank full would last me only a couple of weeks. (That's the Mondeo TDCi and not the Westy)

Thank God I got rid of the Scooby Turbo!!!!

[alistairolsen]

I wouldnt mind paying if I thought it was being spent efficiently and responsibly. Paying excessive taxes on fuel leaves a distaste in my mouth because whatever their intentions, our current labour government is incapable of being responsible with money.

[Guest]

The other potential benefit of the increased costs is alternatives become more attractive to develop as the cost differential closes.

Personally I would rather see the cost of public transport come down to meet fuel, rather than the other way round.

Public transport is an even worse rip off... but that's off topic!

[dombanks]

already in that position. we now drive a s reg clio most of the time instead of the mondeo or 4x4. only reason i have the mondeo is i dont think i would be able to sell it for anything much. it sitts on the drive doing chuff all for ost of the time. paid all the insurance in one go last year. it and tax runs out in jully so not much point in sorning it till then just going to use it to go to stoneleigh and thats about it.

the 4x4 we need to tow the horse but the way its going we are not going to be able to do that soon anyway as cost of getting to places will be prohibitive.

i have always wanted a tvr and a westy. had to give up on the tvr as even tho i could have afforded a chimera instead of the westy coulnt afford to tax/fuel it. now it looks the same for the westy. what a ****ter. couple this with the lack of science funding available (contract finishes in dec) and the very real prospect of negative equity on my house i dont know what im going to do.

problem is see is we all wing about the fuel prices but no one does anything. we all just bend over and take it up the   like good citizens. tighten our belts and moan. untill we riot in the streets no one is going to listen

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

I lived on a farm until I was 6,

Now that answers quite a lot of questions