The slug browed man does it again - petrol to soar in price!

[MD]

*sigh* Was checking out the exchange rate on the dollar (im off to the US in a few weeks and begging it to go through the roof) and I spotted the news of Shell ditching jobs - and along side is this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8569525.stm

AA predicts petrol to go to £1.20 soon - well I can tell you, its £1.169 here today and on the 1st of April old slug brows is at it again - am I the only one who missed the 3p increase in the duty announced in the last budget?

If I still ran a 2.5i petrol I would be sweating quite a bit given the mileage I have going on at the moment...

This country sucks - as the bet go, someone should bet that in order to boost election chances old slug brow man will 'stop' the increase - putting it on the week after re-elected.

Christ I hate this country...

[kalniel]

Nothing to do with this country - everything to do with garages charging market bearing price rather than reflecting the (relative) lack of raw cost and tax.

Oil is far lower than it's been in recent times, and duty isn't much different, certainly not enough to explain the high price.

[Phage]

No I think he's right. The BBC quote that the forecourt markup is ~4p out of the price.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/...sis/933648.stm

[kalniel]

No I think he's right. The BBC quote that the forecourt markup is ~4p out of the price.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/...sis/933648.stm

In the year 2000.. that's 10 years out of date Current markup is much more than usual - from the article MD links:

"Crude oil has gone up this year, but nothing like the rise in petrol prices. Motorists are being legally mugged at the forecourt by petrol companies."

[shaithis]

Maybe time to trade in the 2.8l

[Phage]

Source ?

[kalniel]

Source ?

Link in MD's post.

This is an interesting figure too (source embedded, from the BBC article):



Duty rises don't have that much of an effect on end price. The article also points to lack of refining capacity as a problem.

[Phage]

Ah - As I suspected Watson, actually not the garages, but the oil companies. I was fairly sure that there's naff all money in owning a service station.

[Neo_VR]

Ah - As I suspected Watson, actually not the garages, but the oil companies. I was fairly sure that there's naff all money in owning a service station.

Yes but how do you explain the sometimes up to 5p difference in fuel costs between garages of the same brand on the same road less than 3 miles apart?.. the "extra" earnings off every tank of petrol will soon add up for the forecort

[Phage]

If it goes to them. Those chains are owned by the refiners.
I think it's being obtuse to blame the forecourt owners for the pricing structrure of the fuel. The money isn't being made by them, it's being made by the refiners. When was the last time you heard anyone suggest that they 'had it made' becxuase they sold fuel on the side of the road. It's prima facie untrue.

[jonathan_phang]

And this is why I need to sell my Leon Cupra R soon and get a sensible car Or at least a super diesel

[MD]

I dont beleive we can blame the forecourts...

The price is what the price is - but the tax is making up 70+% and even now the addition of 3p is totally unfounded - its filling a gap elsewhere in the finances of this screwed up government...

If they fixed the potholes and the roads you wouldn't mind, but 3p on a liter of petrol/diesel and a £30 increase on higher emissions older cars means this is nothing but coffer filling (the old Z4 is £245 for RFL from april 1st, versus the current £215 - although Im actually happy - mine is currently £120 and drops to £90 woo!)

[0iD]

My old V6 is history soon, just can't afford to keep it

[kalniel]

I dont beleive we can blame the forecourts...

The price is what the price is - but the tax is making up 70+% and even now the addition of 3p is totally unfounded - its filling a gap elsewhere in the finances of this screwed up government...

Do you think a tory govt. would decrease fuel duty?

I totally agree with you about RFL, - I think it should be scrapped altogether (or just reduced to an administration fee to cover the database maintenance costs), but duty should be increased - it's the fairest way to tax car usage, which needs to be high enough to actually influence our decisions. At the moment it's not fair that someone who doesn't use their car all that much has to pay the same RFL as someone doing tens of thousands of miles and contributing more to congestion - a tax on what you use sorts all that out, and car travel is still far cheaper than the reasonable alternatives.

[MD]

people have a choice how much they use their cars and trucks - I beleive the system as it stands is flawed but the amounts charged at the moment are fair - I think the whole thing would be justifiable if the money was ringfenced JUST for automotive use - but when its plugging holes in benefit and NHS costs thats pure wrong IMO...

[kalniel]

but when its plugging holes in benefit and NHS costs thats pure wrong IMO...

Maybe, so what would you increase in its place? I guess there's probably an argument to increase VAT further - pretty sure I read several other EU countries have higher VAT even after our resumption of pre-recession level. But that wouldn't do anything to encourage more environmental car usage or alternative transport so how would you address that?