Latest Petrol Rises : How are you coping?

hens00

I have been working from home for the last few months and havent really had to use my car much. However, I went to fill up the other day and was incredibly shocked at how much it cost for me to fill up. The last time i filled up with a full tank was in Feburary and it cost me £45. The other day it was £60!!!

Jem8472

I got a little 50cc bike to go to work on. It costs me about £5 to fill up and lasts about 1-2 weeks.

I want to get a bigger bike but as we are saving for a wedding that wont happen soon. But I am happy on the little 50cc at the moment.

cepheus

Belnahua wrote: »

Pretty bad, I live 50 miles round trip from work. There's no public transport; and cycling isn't an option either.

So all in all, it's costing me best part of £150 a month just for petrol; never mind the roads are so bad here, I get through tyres and suspension like sweeties. Then to make matters worse Mrs Belnahua works 60 miles in totally the opposite direction, with the same problems. So that's about £400 in fuel between us.

I get so sick and tired of the green lobby jumping up and down with glee.

We can't move house, we cannot change job (well not without changing career!), we can't buy a newer car, we can't use a cycle, and there's no public transport, and as we're remote, car sharing isn't viable either.

Belnahua What sort of cars do you drive? Are any the sort of jobs one can do by teleworking?

tomstickland

I'm seeing if I can cut costs by 10% due to more careful driving style.

I believe that the biggest savings are to be made on slowing down.
As an extreme, take for example a motorway junction. From 70mph you could probably roll for a mile to come to standstill at the top of the slip road. Running the engine with no throttle consumes no fuel (overrun). Hence that deceleration distance is free.
I've started slowing down for junctions or slower traffic much earlier.
Say I'm now managing 1/4 of mile "free" for each stop and there are 10 of them each way to work. That's a few miles for free on a 20 mile round trip.
Hence I hope to save around 10% by this and a few other things.

ajwt2

Petrol prices are just crazy. I have given up driving and cycle the 40 minutes to work now instead. Its actually quite nice, so in a way I'm quite happy with this new regime of fuel prices. I can't see it getting any better any time soon, take a look at how prices have changed over the last 12 months or so

hougtimo

tomstickland wrote: »

I'm seeing if I can cut costs by 10% due to more careful driving style.

I believe that the biggest savings are to be made on slowing down.
As an extreme, take for example a motorway junction. From 70mph you could probably roll for a mile to come to standstill at the top of the slip road. Running the engine with no throttle consumes no fuel (overrun). Hence that deceleration distance is free.
I've started slowing down for junctions or slower traffic much earlier.
Say I'm now managing 1/4 of mile "free" for each stop and there are 10 of them each way to work. That's a few miles for free on a 20 mile round trip.
Hence I hope to save around 10% by this and a few other things.

I have also adopted a more careful driving style, ad as you say, utilising overrun. I used to average 38-40mpg but with careful driving I can get upto 95miles from a tenner (can't be bothered to work out what mpg that is). The trips don't work out taking any longer either

Belnahua

cepheus wrote: »

Belnahua What sort of cars do you drive? Are any the sort of jobs one can do by teleworking?

We both drive 1.8 cars, but as I said we cannot afford to buy anything more economical just yet. Although ironically my previous car, a 1.4 used more petrol than this one, as I have hills to climb and the 1.4 was flat out all the time just coping! And of course when I bought them, petrol was 75p.

I get 30-35MPG, yet if I take it on a motorway run, I can get 45MPG out of her, so it shows how bad the roads are!

We're both in support roles where our presence is mandatory on site!

vikingaero

savemoney wrote: »

and I dont get a lot on tips only about a 3rd customers tio which makes a BIG difference to my costs.

I occasionally help my uncle out in his takeaway. As a general rule most people who are working class or live in Council Estates tip the drivers. And most people who live in £500k+ houses never ever tip. Go figure. :rolleyes::D

Elia_2

I'm really, really glad that I changed my car at the beginning of the year, considering what's happening with petrol. I used to have a 1.8 Audi but downgraded to much more efficient Polo. I'm probably saving about £25 a week, and that quickly adds up.

I was tempted to go for a biofuel option, but there doesn't seem to be any available in my area - that wouldn't involve me going totally out of my way at least.

Having said all of that, I can see a time not that far away when even my Polo is going to be too expensive for me to run. Not looking forward to that day...

brownbabygirl

vikingaero wrote: »

I occasionally help my uncle out in his takeaway. As a general rule most people who are working class or live in Council Estates tip the drivers. And most people who live in £500k+ houses never ever tip. Go figure. :rolleyes::D

perhaps their habitual tipping explains why they live in council estates?:T