The rising cost of petrol - options?

newfoundglory

So lets get this straight - you drive approximately 6 miles per day for 5 days of the week, plus you do a 16-mile round trip once during that week. This makes about 46 miles. Are you saying it costs you £40 to do just under 50 miles in your car?

If so, you have a serious problem.

tiff

No, thats not the only journeys I do, as I stated above. Those are my routine journeys and I do some other local trips, cant say my average number of miles but I will make a point of checking this week.

Joe_Horner

Who does the maintenance on your car? If you use a "proper" garage (ie: one that understands cars rather than understands how to plug them in) then it might be worth thinking about trading up to an older model.

As an example, IF you could find a decent early (pre '73) Saab 99 you'd have pretty much the same space, similar fuel economy to what you're getting BUT your (classic) insurance and tax would probably drop to around £150 a YEAR rather than £100 or so a month. There's a saving of around £1k a year straight off - which buys a lot of petrol!

Or choose something a little smaller, stick a tow-bar and small trailer on the back for camping (we tow all over the country with a 1972 750cc Daf) and you'll be quids in. Plus you get to go camp at car shows for a change

Indout96

Even at a modest 35 miles per gallon per a petrol car

Not many older largish cars will get anywhere near 35mpg around town, my wifes 2004 Saab averages around 20 mpg on shortish trips around town, 35 would be motorway crusing.

jaydeeuk1

My Boss had an old saab 9-3 2 litre turbo. Traded it for a BMW M3 which has been better on fuel!

Get shot of the thing, and get a small petrol engine, plenty of choice for £1000 - £1500 or so.

Joe_Horner

tiff wrote: »

Its 3 miles here and we are on the border, and classed as ineligible for free transport. They have walked (secondary school) from time to time but my 11 y/o has a heart condition that is expected to worsten so I am concerned about her regularly walking to school, its 3 miles uphill on the way to school in the morning.

Sorry to hear that, Tiff. Going slightly off-topic, but possibly an option, have you applied for DLA for her? Cardiac problems can qualify.

http://www.hemihelp.org.uk/families/supporting_child/benefits_and_legislation/dla

Even the lower rate of mobility (£19 a week or so) would probably help out with the cost of driving her around, and a higher rate award (about £50 per week) would allow you to apply for the Motability scheme - basically, swap the cash for a new car with servicing, tax and insurance included - or keep the cash but get free road tax on your own car.

Either would also make it much easier to argue a case with the Council

Please remember that, despite some opinions that are floating round out there at the moment (including some Government Government rhetoric), DLA is awarded according to need and there is absolutely nothing shameful about needing help because of medical problems. In fact, if it helps your daughter remain relatively independent in spite of her problems then as far as I'm concerned it's my tax being well spent for once!

The fact that some may try to play the system doesn't diminish the need of those who should genuinely be helped, and the only way to know whether your daughter should be is to apply and see what happens!

vax2002

Diesels are the worst if you do small runs, if you see taxis parked up, they generally keep the engine running if they can, cold starts absolutely eat the stuff.
On The Saab, thats not bad at 15mpg, you must have a very light foot.
Your Husbands advice about quality, well lets put it this way, if the exhaust drops off, like they do because they snap, there will be tears !

tiff

We've just had part of the exhaust done, got a quote for the full thing which was £400+ but we only needed part of it at £160.

Thanks Joe Horner, I will look into it but never considered it as she has been fit and well since she was 2 years old, she's had 2 heart ops and 2 stomach ops so far. They expect her breathing to worsten, she has a leaking valve and a narrowing of an artery which cant be treated by keyhole so they will do the whole thing under one op. Its just deciding when is the right time to intervene. I will look into it though as I have no idea about that sort of thing.

Lum

Joe_Horner wrote: »

The fact that some may try to play the system doesn't diminish the need of those who should genuinely be helped, and the only way to know whether your daughter should be is to apply and see what happens!

Actual fraud rate for DLA is about 0.5% of claimants according to the government's own research. Please try not to believe all the Daily Mail crap* about the majority of claimants being fakers who are just after a free BMW X3 as it simply doesn't work like that and you can't get an X3 for free on motability anyway.

Anyone who has actually had to fill in a DLA form would realise it's pretty damn hard to fake. It took us just under 3 months to fill in all 38 pages and we had to include a 22 page Word document of supporting notes with it. It's one of the most stressful experiences we've been through.

* Not aiming this at you specifically, but people in general

almillar

Why not leave your kids the first 2.5 miles into school and let them walk the last half mile - this wil avoid the worst of the stop-start traffic that is killing your MPG. Also, as above, a diesel isn't suitable for your short journeys.