Surviving high petrol prices
In the days before self-service filling stations, I used to be a petrol attendant – prices had already risen steeply after the Yom Kippur war and the subsequent four fold increase in oil. Things were so bad I even had a ration card. Petrol cost 11 pence a litre then. Today with petrol at £1.18 a litre and no sense of the prices falling in the short term to medium term, people are naturally anxious about the impact that this will have on their outgoings.
However, there are many things one can do to reduce the impact these prices have. If you are doing none of them at present then you have much to gain – if you are doing all of them then the fuel price has no direct impact on you.
A useful start is to buy Car Sick by Lynn Sloman currently of the specialist consultancy Transport for Quality of Life and erstwhile trustee of the ETA charitable arm. It is on offer at the moment from Amazon here This book puts our reliance on the car into perspective and gives very positive steps on how we can be smarter in our transport decisions.
A second move is to record the number of miles you do each week. Called the Hawthorne Effect – just the act of recording your mileage will reduce costs. At the risk of feeling like an anorak, build a chart in a spreadsheet (graph if you do not have a PC). It might be less fun than watching your weight, but it is easier to get good results.
The easiest thing to change is the manner in which one drives. If you have a car that shows the fuel consumption, you will notice how early or rapid acceleration increases your fuel consumption substantially. ‘Zen’ your travel. If you currently listen to Bat out of Hell, change to something like Lakme – you will be so laid back that you’ll stop at green.
Always buying from the cheapest fuel station will help to bring prices down. Petrol companies rely on people filing up without looking at the price first. There are a number of comparative sites on the net.
Planning your travel can reduce costs dramatically. Called ‘travel blending’, studies have shown that a typical house can comfortably reduce travel costs by a third. That’s like paying 80 pence a litre.
If you have not walked around you neighbourhood, make a point of walking down every street in you locality. You might be surprised by finding a local shop you were unaware of.
Most change can happen over time: in the medium term it is the model of car that you drive and longer term the location of your home and workplace.
Recently travel has been cheaper than any time in history. It is likely that those days have gone for a while.
Related news articles:
How much road tax will you pay next year?
Record petrol prices as road tax doubles for some
Less interest in environment as economy falters
ETA Car Buyers’ Guide
Green driving
Previous article: Oil will not run out (Thursday, 29th May, 2008)
But why should we have to do
But why should we have to do anything at all? It's rediculous that the government can take so much money in tax. How can you justify taking twice as much in tax as the commodity is worth?
And what about people who already drive economically? They are still hit.
Bye bye Gordon Brown, because everyone can see that labour is going out come election time, and you will go down as one of the all time worst Prime Ministers. Unfortunately it probably means that the tories will get in...
recycled chip oil
An addition that you haven't mentioned: most diesel cars will run on recycled chip oil. I run my Peugeot 306 (R reg) on this with no conversion (my daughter runs her 25-yr-old Mercedes on it, also with no conversion), although I do carry a spare fuel filter with me (and apparently you may need to replace your glow-plugs more frequently, though neither of us has needed to in 3 years so far). It costs less; it produces virtually no emissions and it doesn't rely on fossil fuel.
It's worth checking locally to see if there's anyone offering it nearby; I use Plymouth Biofuels.
re-cycled chip oil
I also run my Passat on re-cycled vegetable oil. The engine likes it, and I have had no problems. I am delighted to be producing virtually no greenhouse gases, and that my consumption is better than before. I get my fuel from Purefuels in Edmonton. It costs £1.05 at the moment.
Ray B.