Moaning About Petrol Prices Again

[Peteaud]

I'm sorry, but there's no sympathy from this quarter at all. If you take on a long commute you know what you're letting yourself in for.

Yes i do commute - i have to, there are no jobs local.

If you are lucky enough to live only a short distance from your job, great for you.

Perhaps i should quit and go on the dole and sponge of the state.

Remeber the government saying - go look for a job, they are not on your doorstep.

I have a family to feed, i want to work and i found a job, shall i move as well, no, because even if i wanted to i couldnt get a mortgage.

The only ones who dont seem to realise the damage the high fuel tax is doing are the ones who frankly have not got a clue.

 

[marinyork]

I do not subscribe to the notion that the Government want us to leave the car at home and use public transport. No way; the income they get from the tax is a nice little earner. So why should they worry themselves about providing a good public transport system?
They will continue to charge as much as they think the public will tolerate. They are in danger of over doing it now, as has been shown by the reduction in petrol sales. Hence why they will probably drop the 3p increase in duty (plus VAT of course) which is due in January. And make themselves out to be good guys in the process......

In the past it was believed that although fuel is highly price inelastic if you brought in a mechanism for increasing it's price to something like say £3-5 a litre in today's money over about 20 years, that you'd start to change things. We ditched the fuel price escalator after the September 2000 protests. The rest is history.

You might think this is complete crackpottery, but you're wrong, some politicians and advisers genuinely believed this. In actual fact due to the hypothesised price they haven't actually been proven wrong yet...

 

[User482]

Yes i do commute - i have to, there are no jobs local.

If you are lucky enough to live only a short distance from your job, great for you.

Perhaps i should quit and go on the dole and sponge of the state.

Remeber the government saying - go look for a job, they are not on your doorstep.

I have a family to feed, i want to work and i found a job, shall i move as well, no, because even if i wanted to i couldnt get a mortgage.

The only ones who dont seem to realise the damage the high fuel tax is doing are the ones who frankly have not got a clue.

When I took a new job, I moved so I would be within cycling distance.

 

[Peteaud]

MARK F

No problems and i take your point.

It just winds me up to see the Audi Q7 and "push button" 4x4's, big Merc etc with just the driver in on the commute. They have only bought one as a status symbol.

 

[Glover Fan]

In real terms though fuel has not gone up. For example shall we have the price of fuel.

Let's say fuel is £1.40 a litre right now. When was it last 70p? 15 years ago? What was the fuel economy of a typical family car? 30mpg? 40 if you was very good.

Today I collected my new company car, a brand new Volkswagen Golf with a 1.6l turbo diesel engine with added bluemotion technology. I did a run of 100 miles, had some stop start through aylesbury, about 60 miles on A roads and 40 miles at 70 mph on the M4. I averaged 77.4mpg. That is possibly double of a typical car when fuel was half the price, so really has fuel gone up much?

If anything it has caused car manufacturers to look at combustion engines and see how they can make them more efficient. Which ultimately is the main thing. I see a lot of people here slagging off BMW, Audi etc, but actually they are the leaders in engine design and engineering.

It's the marquee car manufacturers who need to have the anger vented at, but then their clients have so much money that fuel prices aren't an issue.

 

[Peteaud]

When I took a new job, I moved so I would be within cycling distance.

Jealous rage takes over.

I would love to, but i cant get a mortgage.

 

[User482]

Jealous rage takes over.

I would love to, but i cant get a mortgage.

I rented.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I rented.

Fuggin answer for everything!

 

[Crackle]

When I took a new job, I moved so I would be within cycling distance.

It becomes more difficult if you have children in school or indeed each have jobs in different places, not impossible, people do it but at some point most people settle into an area, with all that means. You have to have a mighty reason to move, I know I've done it.

 

[Peteaud]

I rented.

Next door pays more rent than i do for the current mortgage.

 

[gb155]

In real terms though fuel has not gone up. For example shall we have the price of fuel.

Let's say fuel is £1.40 a litre right now. When was it last 70p? 15 years ago? What was the fuel economy of a typical family car? 30mpg? 40 if you was very good.

Today I collected my new company car, a brand new Volkswagen Golf with a 1.6l turbo diesel engine with added bluemotion technology. I did a run of 100 miles, had some stop start through aylesbury, about 60 miles on A roads and 40 miles at 70 mph on the M4. I averaged 77.4mpg. That is possibly double of a typical car when fuel was half the price, so really has fuel gone up much?

If anything it has caused car manufacturers to look at combustion engines and see how they can make them more efficient. Which ultimately is the main thing. I see a lot of people here slagging off BMW, Audi etc, but actually they are the leaders in engine design and engineering.

It's the marquee car manufacturers who need to have the anger vented at, but then their clients have so much money that fuel prices aren't an issue.

Most petrol cars these days get between 30 & 40 Mph (im talking NEW ones here)

 

[Brandane]

Hmm. Let's say you got a measly 20mpg out of your car. That's 3 gallons, or 14 litres.
At £1.40 a litre, that's £19.60. Let's round it up to £20. Even minimum wage would pay that off in less than 4 hours.

So do you think it is ok to work 4 hours of your day, just to cover the travelling costs?

In my particular circumstances, I have a car that returns approx. 38 mpg so I reckon the commute was costing me £8 in petrol alone every day. Without boring you with details, I have a second income so anything I work for I pay basic rate tax/NI. Hourly rate of pay was £8, and then the gits take off 45 minutes pay per day for an unpaid break!!

At the end of the day, the difference between sitting at home (or getting out cycling ) and going to work meant £38 per day (leaving home 7am, returning 6pm). As I explained to someone just the other day, I can do hard work; I can take crap from managers; I can work for not much money; but when you roll it all into one job it just doesn't make sense. The petrol costs being the final straw.....

 

[Glover Fan]

Most petrol cars these days get between 30 & 40 Mph (im talking NEW ones here)

I know, I merely stating that there are vehicles about where even 60mpg is a low figure.

 

[al78]

Next door pays more rent than i do for the current mortgage.

That's not really surprising, given that when you rent you are not only paying the landlords mortgage, but also the agents fees, maintenance of the property plus a bit extra for both a safety net and the landlords profit.

 

[MarkF]

What a nice, idealic little world you must live in!

You are too late, I've already apologised to Pete.

Most emissions in the life cycle of a car occur during its use - manufacturing and disposal are a small percentage. So yes, a little Fiat will consume fewer resources than your Jeep, even if it only lasts half as long.

Doesn't that depend on how much the Fiat is driven?