Working out fuel costs

Giraffe76

Hi all,

We are thinking about driving down to Spain from our house in the midlands with our dogs but wanted to know the best way to work out roughly the cost of the fuel please

Kind regards mark 

flaneurs_lobster

Depends on route - ferry/train to France or ferry to Spain.

singhini

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

We are thinking about driving down to Spain from our house in the midlands with our dogs but wanted to know the best way to work out roughly the cost of the fuel please

Kind regards mark 

My approach would be to find out your cars mpg and then multiply that by the cost of fuel.

So if your car does say 40 mpg and a gallon of fuel costs say £6.00 (4.5L in a gallon and say litre costs £1.33)

£6.00 / 40 = £0.15p per mile

TELLIT01

RAC does a fuel price comparison chart  https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/advice/european-fuel-prices-petrol-and-diesel-prices-in-europe/

martindow

You need to also take into account any motorway tolls for the route you are taking, unless you are plannning a leisurely drive down on traditional roads.

Nebulous2

I've done a short crossing and then driven to Spain, though not very far South. I've also done a long crossing to Spain, either both ways or one way with a short crossing back. Fuel in France is cheaper than in the UK and in Spain it is cheaper still. We got diesel as low as 1euro20 this summer, just over £1. We tow a caravan, which greatly reduces mileage. 

This summer I did just over 4000 miles in 4 weeks at 27.3 mpg. I had budgeted £1000 for fuel and came in at around £900. 

Driving through France from Calais will take 2-3 days unless you really hammer it, and depending on the route costs me over £200 in tolls. 

As a result the long crossing to Spain is less time consuming, less driving and comparable in cost. 

The main reason for us going through France is that we now have plenty of time, and we really like France. We do it because we want to spend time there, eat smelly cheese, drink French wine and visit some tourist attractions.

In other words the journey has become part of the holiday, rather than something to endure on the way to somewhere else. 

Mands

Giraffe76 said:

Hi all,

We are thinking about driving down to Spain from our house in the midlands with our dogs but wanted to know the best way to work out roughly the cost of the fuel please

Kind regards mark 

Please ensure your dogs are adequately protected against leishmania if you are heading to an area where it is endemic. Should they become infected the treatment costs will far exceed your fuel costs.