Aug 5, 2015
As predicted last week, the UK has now joined the rest of Europe in selling diesel fuel at cheaper prices than unleaded. According to a report in The Telegraph, diesel now averages 116.28 pence per litre – around half a penny less than the average cost of unleaded.
Experts expect to see further falls, and are suggesting averages of around 111 pence per litre for diesel in the coming weeks.
This all adds up to quite a raft of savings in quick succession for diesel drivers. Diesel price averages have already come down by five pence per litre in a month – with more cuts around the corner. The Telegraph highlights an example of a diesel powered Ford Focus. This vehicle now costs £3 less to fill up than it did a month ago, and this saving will increase to £5 if the additional price cuts come to pass.
The story for drivers of petrol vehicles isn’t quite so rosy. The average cost of unleaded did actually fall last month – but only by 0.5 pence – so individual drivers probably didn’t notice.
However, the news is good on that score too. As we reported yesterday, short term oil price predictions are for further price cuts, and various media outlets are once again starting to discuss the potential prospect of fuel for less than a Pound per litre. Right now, things are starting to look positive for all British drivers.
While you wait for savings to materialise, you can use our free tool to find the cheapest pumps near you.
IMAGE CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons
Jul 28, 2015
Yesterday we delivered the rather depressing news that despite price reductions and a competitive climate, Brits are still paying more for diesel fuel than people elsewhere in Europe.
However, at least things are moving in the right direction; In the past 24 hours, three UK supermarket chains, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, have all announced further diesel price cuts, all amounting to an additional two pence on the litre.
While price variations still exist between diesel and unleaded depending on the forecourt you
choose, The RAC now believe diesel will be cheaper “across the board” within days, according to a report on This is Money.
Unfortunately, the report also refers to some instances of the price of unleaded petrol increasing, while the price of diesel goes down. Wholesale unleaded prices are dropping as well as wholesale diesel prices, so there’s no logical reason why unleaded should go up in price at this point.
Asda appear to be abstaining from joining in this particular round of the current diesel price war, however they are holding firm to a previously-mentioned diesel price cap of 112.7 pence per litre.
Another point the report makes is that despite the “price war” there are still huge variations in cost from forecourt to forecourt, and as usual the motorway service stations are charging far more than the supermarkets. We suggest making use of our free tool to help identify the cheapest place to fill up in your area.
IMAGE CREDIT: Geograph
Jul 20, 2015
The price of diesel in the UK continues to fall, to the point that it’s now cheaper than unleaded in several garages. This change is being reported by multiple media outlets including The Mirror.
Furthermore, the phrase “price war” is coming up with increasing frequency. The Morrisions chain has this morning dropped the price of diesel, after similar recent moves from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda.
According to The Mirror’s report, diesel seems likely to become universally cheaper than petrol for the first time in nearly fifteen years.
However, for our neighbours elsewhere in Europe this is nothing unusual, as diesel is cheaper almost everywhere else, and has been for some time.
Although the average prices at the time of writing still show unleaded at a couple of pence less per litre, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this switch around in the coming days.
As we reported last week, we are starting to see all the hallmarks of a new price war, and it seems likely we might see some price reductions across the board. Some other European countries, including Portugal, are reporting fuel price reductions this morning. Let’s hope they spread to us too.
In the meantime you can locate the cheapest fuel near you using our free tool.
IMAGE CREDIT: Pixabay
Jul 10, 2015
It’s always pleasing to be able to end the week on a positive note, and thankfully this week we can.
This is Money has reported that both Tesco and Sainsbury’s have reduced the price of diesel by two pence per litre as of today. It’s also been separately reported that Asda have followed suit with a similar reduction, and have also placed a nationwide “price cap” on diesel of 114.7 pence per litre at all of their filling stations.
This move is long overdue. As we reported last week, wholesalers are now charging retailers less for diesel than for unleaded, resulting in a nonsensical price variation between the fuel types.
Simon Williams of The RAC believes that fuel retailers could go much further, and argues that there is “scope for at least a 5p cut” in the per litre price for diesel. Whether this happens remains to be seen, but what’s occurring now bears all the hallmarks of a new supermarket petrol price war, and it’s worth remembering that this kind of pricing activity is what began to trigger a falling trend in fuel prices last time around.
Along with the continued freeze in fuel duty announced in this week’s budget, UK motorists finally have some cause for positivity. These small reductions may only seem like a small and inadequate gesture to some, but we hope this all marks the start of something good!
IMAGE CREDIT: Wikipedia
Jul 9, 2015
During yesterday’s UK budget, we reported on how the government are implementing a new approach to car tax that will (by 2017) see owners of all new vehicles pay some level of vehicle excise duty. Unfortunately this means that the days when choosing an environmentally-friendly vehicle could mean no road tax at all are nearly over.
Thankfully, there was some more welcome news in the budget for motorists, with the announcement that fuel duty will remain frozen at least until the end of this year.
Although a pledge had previously been made to keep this tax frozen until September, many people (including some Conservative politicians) wondered whether Chancellor George Osborne might stealthily raise it by introducing an inflation linked increase that he could argue still represented a “real terms” freeze.
However, for once the doom-sayers were incorrect, so while motorists could still see petrol prices going up for other reasons, it’s not going to be additional tax that’s the cause – at least for now.
It’s perhaps prudent at this point to remind ourselves that we already pay 57.95 pence in tax on every litre of fuel we put in our vehicles, which is a larger sum than practically anywhere else! With this in mind, we can stop short of actually considering this measure generous. Still, every little helps!
IMAGE CREDIT: Flickr
Jul 8, 2015
The latest UK budget is currently underway and the first big news for motorists concerns car tax, or Vehicle Excise Duty, to give it the official name.
Chancellor George Osborne has stated that the UK has added only 300 miles of road to its motorway network in the past 25 years, and highlighted the need for additional investment – something that will already be painfully clear to anyone who frequently uses the nation’s road network during peak periods.
The first way Osborne plans to find money to spend on new roads is by overhauling the vehicle excise duty system. This is currently based on emissions, with some owners of particularly “green” cars not having to pay any car tax at all. Under the current system, Osborne states that by 2017, 75% of new vehicles won’t be liable for the tax in their first year.
This is now set to change, with car tax being reintroduced for all new vehicles from 2017. Tax levels will still be based on emissions, but with changes made to account for “new technology,” according to The BBC.
Once the system is changed, there will be three different vehicle excise duty bands for new cars, named as “zero emission,” “standard,” and “premium.” Tax on new cars will apparently average £140 per year.
As always, published detail will reveal more once the budget announcement is over and we will provide more updates here.
Jul 3, 2015
Diesel drivers get a really raw deal in the UK. After years of encouraging people to switch to diesels, the government has now had a change of heart and is taking the opposite stance. Diesel owners in London’s Islington borough are being particularly penalised, by being charged to park outside their own houses, as we reported earlier in the year.
To top it all, diesel costs more than unleaded in the UK, with prices the opposite way around for almost everyone else in Europe.
Now, to add insult to injury, The Daily Mail has reported that wholesalers are actually charging fuel retailers less for diesel than than they are for unleaded petrol. This brings into sharp focus just how ludicrous the UK price difference really is.
According to the report, wholesale prices for diesel have sat between one and three pence less per litre than prices for unleaded throughout all of June. Despite this, diesel drivers typically pay four or five pence more at the pumps.
The RAC now describe diesel drivers as being “demonised” due to emissions and say that owners of diesels deserve to be “treated fairly.” They add that by rights, the price of diesel should drop by around five pence per litre in the next fortnight, though they don’t expect this to happen. After monitoring how these things tend to pan out over a long period, we don’t hold out much hope either.
Jun 29, 2015
Anyone who frequently drives on the UK’s busy motorways has (probably far more than once) been frustrated by drivers with a tendency to favour the middle lane. It seems to be the “lane of choice” for many motorists, although technically speaking it should only really be used for overtaking vehicles in the “slow lane.”
To quote the Highway Code: “You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear.”
You may be unaware, but in 2013 “road hogging” was decreed an offence in the UK, usually punished with a £100 on-the-spot fine. Now, a driver from Wigan has actually been convicted of the crime and fined nearly £1000 including court costs, according to a report in The Daily Mail.
The driver, Ian Stephens, has described the penalty as “extortionate” and argues that he was overtaking slower vehicles. However, police say he caused multiple vehicles to swerve out of his way, and that he had ample chance to move into the correct lane.
The offence took place in August 2013, and Stephens was first summoned to court in February 2014. However, he was “unable to attend” due to work, according to the report. Cynics will perhaps wonder if the fine would had been quite so punitive if the driver had attended court when first requested.
Mr Stephens intends to appeal the court’s decision.
IMAGE CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons
Jun 18, 2015
A recent clampdown on drink driving in Scotland has resulted in 185 motorists being caught over the limit in just two weeks. This represents 1 in 40 (2.5%) of the people breathalysed, according to an article in The Scotsman.
Scotland has tougher drink driving laws than the rest of the UK, with the legal limit set at 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. This is broadly in line with many EU countries, but more strict than elsewhere in Britain, where the limit is set at 80 milligrams. As we revealed last month, the Police Federation are keen for this lower limit to be implemented across the whole of the UK.
The large number of people charged highlights how easy it is to fall foul of the law with the lower limit in place. A similar campaign last year found 1 in 55 drivers over the limit, so it seems likely that people are being caught out by the lower limit, implemented last December.
As the report states, the 50mg limit can mean that just one drink is sufficient to cause an individual to fail a breath test. The local police are promising that there will be plenty more checks and discouraging people from drinking anything at all before getting behind the wheel.
IMAGE CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons
Jun 10, 2015
A recent survey, carried out by Santander and reported on by The International Business Times, has revealed that petrol in the UK is the seventh most expensive in the world.
It’s certainly a rather depressing statistic, but it may cheer you up (at least slightly) to know that there are other European countries paying more for their motoring.
Norway, for example, is the most expensive place in the world to buy petrol. It currently costs £1.52 per litre on average, over 25% more than it does in the UK.
People in The Netherlands, Italy and Denmark also pay more to fill their tanks than Brits, according to the figures.
Another interesting facet of the study is a calculation of how much the average monthly fuel bill works out to as a proportion of average disposable income. Based on a 37.8MPG car travelling 12,000 miles each year, the figure for an average British earner is 9%. In Italy this rises to 15%.
Moving to the edge of Europe, these comparisons become more extreme. In Turkey, petrol costs £1.39 per litre on average, but fuelling a car typically costs 39% of disposable income.
Across the top ten most expensive countries, only Switzerland does significantly better than the UK according to this metric. There, petrol is £1.17 per litre on average, and monthly disposable income is significantly higher too, making the cost of fuelling a car account for only 4% of it.
While nobody would reasonably deny that “rip off Britain” is a fair concept, it’s worth remembering that in several other countries, motoring takes up a far more significant share of monthly income.
IMAGE CREDIT: Wikipedia
