Petrol sales fall 20pc

[Satch]

Petrol sales fall 20pc as drivers feel the pinch

British motorists are shunning their cars following record rises in the price of fuel, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

The IEA, a widely respected body, said that "British motorists are clearly driving less" following a doubling in crude oil prices over the past year.

Petrol retailers have disclosed that fuel sales dropped sharply over the past few weeks and the latest figures appear to show that demand for petrol in Britain has slumped by as much as 20 per cent over the past 12 months.

According to the IEA, a part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, motorists are instead choosing to take public transport as their cars become too expensive to run.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, Eduardo Lopez, the IEA's chief oil analyst, said: "British motorists are clearly driving less. "They are switching to public transport, which is much easier to do in Britain than in America, where people living in the suburbs often have to drive whether or not they want to."

The analysis provides some of the first hard evidence that motorists are realising that they have to change their behaviour in response to the sharp rise in petrol prices.

The drop in demand for petrol among British drivers is greater than that being experienced in other countries. The analysis backs up evidence collected from surveys of motorists conducted by the AA, which indicate that most people are now attempting to cut back.

Luke Bosdet, an AA spokesman, said drivers had become much more conscious of cost "We may be turning the clocks back to the 1970s when working people couldn't afford to drive any more," he said.

"That's the scary part of this. "We know that two thirds of motorists are looking for ways to cut fuel use but what we don’t know is whether they are giving up longer journeys."

.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/11/npetrol111.xml


What surprise: trend to smaller more fuel efficient cars, predatory taxation levels on fuel, economy slowing, less disposable income, etc etc etc. But that also means tax revenues are down, so..............

 

[Gucci]

Perhaps the green brigade will zip it for a bit - 20% is a huge drop

 

[timskemp]

Except tax revenues are not down, due to the 20% dearer price than a few months ago...

 

[Carrotchomper]

To be honest, the fuel price is a small part of this only, but the rising costs have been a good catalyst for me to change my habits.

I actually thought really hard about how much keeping a car cost me, and how little I actually NEEDED to use it.

I've now sold my car, am nearly £400 better off a month in real terms (Excluding depreciation and fuel...) and am using my bike far, far more.

I fully admit this is not for everyone, and accept that I may have to reconsider things if I start working further out of the city. But for the moment, it feels like a very positive step!

{OFF TOPIC!!} And, whilst I was never really that keen on my Honda, it worked out a brilliant buy! Bought for £6750 9 months ago, sold for £6250 last month And at a time when used cars are struggling to sell... Bonus!!

 

[Dieselman]

Except tax revenues are not down, due to the 20% dearer price than a few months ago...

Can you qualify that.? The sale price makes no difference to the value of the duty charged as that is a fixed sum per litre.
The vat changes but that is only 17.5% of the value so has only changed marginally and certainly won't make up an additional 20%.

Say the value of the fuel + duty has risen from £1 to £1.15 then that will make 0.15*17.5% = 2.6p difference.

How does that raise the overall tax value by enough to cover a 20% reduction of duty and lost vat due to reduced sales?

 

[Dieselman]

I've now sold my car, am nearly £400 better off a month in real terms (Excluding depreciation and fuel...) and am using my bike far, far more.

I fully admit this is not for everyone, and accept that I may have to reconsider things if I start working further out of the city. But for the moment, it feels like a very positive step!

{OFF TOPIC!!} And, whilst I was never really that keen on my Honda, it worked out a brilliant buy! Bought for £6750 9 months ago, sold for £6250 last month And at a time when used cars are struggling to sell... Bonus!!

It's good to hear the happy sales story and only £500 depreciation, well done.

As your figures don't factor in depreciation and fuel you should really be adding say another £150 per month, so saving £550 per month given very low depreciation. Just rent a car as/when you need one.

 

[Dieselman]

I note in the article that they refer to petrol sales as opposed to fuel sales. I wonder whether they have counted in diesel sales at all given the prices they have used, if not that will account for the reduction as more people have switched to diesel.
Even if they have counted in the diesel sales there will still be a reduction in volume used because diesel cars give greater economy so use less fuel.

What we really need is total volume of fuel sold.

Even if this is accurate, is it a bad thing. I think not.

 

[Ratz]

Even if this is accurate, is it a bad thing. I think not.

I agree, even if you are not convinced by the CO2 arguement there is no disputing the finite nature of fossil fuels.

I have gone through the same thought process with my car, if it spends most of its time sat on the drive then it's a very expensive luxury with depreciation being what it is. This is now compounded by the fact that I need to commute in to Manchester.

 

[Dieselman]

I agree, even if you are not convinced by the CO2 arguement there is no disputing the finite nature of fossil fuels.

In addition if fuel sales are indeed reducing it must also mean less mileage is being undertaken so less cars on the road. Apparently this has happened in the USA and for the first time since the introduction of cars are they now seeing a reduction of mileage driven

But it ain't over yet. Gazprom believe oil will be $250 a barrel by 2009.

Sobering thought but we've all known this was coming for a long time.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newsw...late=/money/feeds/story-template-reuters.html

My advice to anyone that is finding the current high prices a problem needs to be thinking about their future fuel use now to stay ahead of the game.

 

[nickcc101]

Its all down to the over 60's getting free bus travel (me included). Only joking. Mind you can't remember last time i used the bus.

 

[Satch]

Worth reading this is terms of the existing trends in new car sales. With oil prices ramping up, the trend to much smaller and more fuel efficient cars can only increase.

http://smmtlib.findlay.co.uk/articl...PageArticles/SMMT Annual CO2 report 20081.pdf

Where does the future lie? Very possibly here:

http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/

 

[Dieselman]

Almost certainly not. Hydrogen power will never hit mainstream for loads of reasons.
The Clarity isn't going on general sale, it's a marketing exercise. Only a few will be released and they are on lease from Honda, not sale and there are only 3 refelling points available.

Gimmick.

 

[prprandall51]

If people are driving less, I would be highly surprised if it is because of a shift to public transport unless these people have either disposed of the cars or failed to do their arithmetic.

A large proportion of a vehicle's running costs occur whether the car is used or not: RFL, insurance, part of the servicing bills (which is often an annual event even for low mileages) and depreciation, of course.

A gallon of fuel will still take even one person far further in their car than an equivalent amount spent on Britain's woefully over-priced public transport system. Once two or more people make the same journey, they would be insane to use public transport if the car is at all practical to use.If people are genuinely buying less fuel, they are probably staying at home more.

It would take a trebling of today's fuel price to make public transport look like good value for money (and by then the bus and train companies will have upped their prices because of increased energy costs, no doubt).

 

[Dryce]

A gallon of fuel will still take even one person far further in their car than an equivalent amount spent on Britain's woefully over-priced public transport system.

Depends where you live and where you're going.

Public transport price/quality is variable across the country.

 

[prprandall51]

Depends where you live and where you're going.

Public transport price/quality is variable across the country.

Can you giive me some examples - maybe even one? It might help to restore my belief in government.

I can't remember the last time I found a public transport journey that is available to the public generally (i.e. not an OAP rate or a child rate) that compared with the fuel price. Certainly not the following: London underground or buses. Bus or train services in the south east. Long distance train journeys (Intercity!).

 

[Dieselman]

A gallon of fuel will still take even one person far further in their car than an equivalent amount spent on Britain's woefully over-priced public transport system.

For commuting into cities public transport makes good sense financially.
The cost is about he same as the fuel cost so is substantially less than the total running costs of personal transport, there is no parking cost and no risk of additional costs such as damage.

I think it would cost me about £1.30 to travel eight miles into town on the bus, and about the same in the car for fuel only.
Obviously the car is more convenient.

 

[Inkyskin]

Its not just quality of public transport, its the time it takes to get from A to B for me. To get to my last job by bus it took me around an hour and 30 mins (Including walking to and from bus stops). In the car the total travel time was 30 mins.

Thats the biggest put off for me. Add to that doing a weekly shop by bus, with the missus AND a 2 year old is not easy!

 

[Dryce]

Can you giive me some examples - maybe even one? It might help to restore my belief in government.

West central Scotland/Glasgow.

I did Glasgow-Bridge-of-Allan not long ago for something like £5.70 and that's a 60 to 65 mile round trip.

 

[Dieselman]

Can you giive me some examples - maybe even one? It might help to restore my belief in government.

I thought we weren't talking politics on this forum anymore. Are you attempting to steer this thread into a political rant?
We are discussing people using less fuel, not the Government.

Can you give any examples to back your claims that public transport is indeed more expensive than using your car and back your claim that fuel would have to be at three times the current price for it to make any difference.

I'm just curious because it would appear that isn't the case according to the article.

 

[prprandall51]

How about £200 per person to travel from Guildford to Crewe for a day? Second class, of course. And for that, I will have to stand from Guildford to Waterloo and be squeezed like a cow in a truck from Waterloo to Euston. That's 400 miles round trip - that's £60 in diesel. And frequently there are three of us in the car - ooh, that's £600 for a day out. Bargain.

How about £22 to travel to London from Guildford area and back again on a weekend / off peak? That's a 70 mile round trip - I can do that on £12 of diesel.

How about £3.60 to travel just one tube stop anywhere on London Underground? Even if that is only 3/4 mile? I can do that on 50p of diesel.

I am afraid I don't have many more examples because I assiduously avoid public transport because it is invariably too expensive (and unpleasant) to bother with.

I only have to cross the channel to France to see how public transport can and should be organised.

As for "being political" I blame this and previous governments going back to the sixties for the mess that our public transport services are in. Who else - if not government - would you blame?