Petrol Cost Cutting Article Discussion

southeastshopper

MBNA credit card holders can use the MBNA "lifestyle" website to purchase Sainsburys vouchers at a 6% discount. You can then use these to pay for fuel (at Sainsburys, of course.)

http://www.mbna.co.uk/lifestyle/ (search the forums for the required "entry code", or just take a really obvious guess - chances are you'll be correct first time...)

At the current petrol price, that's around 5p/litre saving - so no need to wait for Pipeline card to sort its act out...

These "lifestyle" people run similar rewards schemes on behalf of other things too - I got access via joining up as a new Southern Electric customer at one point.

Only thing to be careful of is that some credit cards are starting to treat voucher purchases as a cash transaction (i.e. hideous interest rates from the moment of purchase, compared to a normal goods transaction) - I don't know if MBNA are one of those.

Mark_C

Please could someone answer these questions I was asked yesterday:

Why, if the $-£ rate is so favourable and Oil is priced in $s, are petrol prices going up almost weekly?

Why does unleaded petrol cost more per litre than diesel in many forecourts recently. Are the fuel companies recouping the costs of the fuel contamination saga earlier in the year?



Finally on a personal note- Martin, please change the language of your word processor to English(UK)! TIRES for goodness sake

Conor_3

30111987 wrote: »

very true, however its also true that brakes are much cheaper to replace than a gearbox :cool:

Yes..all sound advice back in the 1960's when build quality and materials were far worse.

I can guarantee you'll never have to do that.

One of the wagons I drive has done over 1,000,000 km on the same gearbox. If that can do over a million km and throughout that time use engine braking to slow down a 44 tonne lorry without knackering the gearbox, I'm sure a car is equally capable of managing to do a good 100,000 miles with no problem.

I own a 86 Ford Capri. That's had 21 years of engine braking. It's done over 100,000 miles and the gearbox is as sweet as a nut.

Conor_3

Dalavich wrote: »

Shame about Pipeline Card seeming a dead duck! I was hoping for that one.

It was obvious that wasn't ever likely to happen. Hauliers can't get that on bunker cards even though they go through 10,000's of litres per week in a company.

Savila60

Sorry for being tiresome (geddit?) but in the UK we write "tyre" - in the USA it's "tire".

Thanks for the advice. I always rely in Petrol Prices website and e-mail alerts. Really valuable information!

The_Undercover_ADI

Some very good advice above.

As long as you plan everything around the gas pedal (apologies for the Americanism here - all driving instructors call it gas - it's quicker to say than accellerator) then you can work things out - the gas pedal is pushing money through your engine - the sooner you get off it, the less petrol you'll use.

Try to drive as smoothly as possible, and change smoothly and early up through the gears and things should work well. Watch out for driving in too high a gear (5th at 30mph is often slightly too high, and may use more fuel, certainly in most diesels it will), and avoid harsh braking.

As mentioned - plan not to stop at roundabouts or when passing narrow areas etc - slow early and look for a gap to fit into - smoothly pootling into a gap on a roundabout in 2nd will use much less fuel than setting off in 1st.

Also as mentioned - a big bonus can be gained by just being patient - most people drive at around 70-80 on motorways (using up to 30% more fuel than at 60), and above 30 in towns. Just to make the point that going this quick is pointless - a driving instructor calculated that to save 5 minutes crossing Stafford you would need to raise all speed limits from an average of 30 to 67!! Imagine trying to get that fast through a town - and imagine the fuel you'd burn!

Have a look at https://www.ecodrive.org. If you work for a company, consider getting some fleet training - a trainer costing £200 for a day could save you up to 15% on your fuel bills for the year - and could train 4 drivers over that day - with company drivers doing 25,000 miles each per year this could save you.......well I'll let you do the math!!!!

curiouser_2

This is probably a really naive question but can anyone please tell me how the same brand of petrol station can justify charging more for fuel in another station a couple of miles down the road?

ender4

I have a question that hopefully someone knows the answer to.

When filling up with petrol, once you hear the clunk which tells you the tank is full, i normally press the nozzle another 5-10 times to get a bit extra in. Martin's petrol article implied that filling anything after the clunk, goes into an overflow, and is wasted? is that true, or am i mis-reading the article?

Am i wasting £'s of petrol by doing this?

epninety

The theory is that the pump shuts off when the fuel level reaches the end of the filler nozzle, and that car manufacturers design their cars such that this gives a full tank without possibility of fuel slopping out of the breather or past the filler cap seal on corners etc.

In practice, most modern vehicles are very well sealed and there are often filters to limit even petrol fumes getting out of the breather pipe (which is there to allow the fuel to expand and contract with temperature). In the USA, some cars even pressurise the fuel tank for a few seconds to check for leaks before allowing engine start.

When filling, the level you get at the first click depends on the pump flow rate, the 'frothiness' of the fuel, shape and size of the tank, angle of the filler nozzle and probably lots of other things up to and including phase of the moon. Some cars fill very nicely up to first click, some you'd struggle to get 1/2 a tank in.

So in short, you're unlikely to be wasting fuel by topping off, and it won't even help you get more accurate mpg measurements (the other reason often stated).

On my Land Rover, the filler neck is large so you can see the effect of filling with different fuels. Using Shell diesel, at first click the tank is almost completely full - you could only squeeze a couple more litres in. Using Total, at first click the filler neck is full of foam, and I can get another 10-15 litres in by filling slowly (on a 45 litre tank).

I like a head on my pint, but not on my litres :rolleyes:

vikingaero

Conor wrote: »

Yes..all sound advice back in the 1960's when build quality and materials were far worse.

I can guarantee you'll never have to do that.

One of the wagons I drive has done over 1,000,000 km on the same gearbox. If that can do over a million km and throughout that time use engine braking to slow down a 44 tonne lorry without knackering the gearbox, I'm sure a car is equally capable of managing to do a good 100,000 miles with no problem.

I own a 86 Ford Capri. That's had 21 years of engine braking. It's done over 100,000 miles and the gearbox is as sweet as a nut.

I engine brake at times to allow finer control of the car and to preserve the brakes on long descents. I'd rather use the gearbox rather find that I have brake fade when I need the brakes the most.

Brakes cheaper than a gearbox? Only if you're outside the warranty and don't change your car every 3 years.