The average UK petrol price has surpassed 148p for the first time, new figures have revealed.
According to the AA, petrol has jumped to 148.02p per litre on Sunday – rising above the previous record high of 147.72p on 21 November last year.
Pump costs for diesel have piled yet more misery on motorists and businesses owners as they increase to a new record high of 151.57p per litre.
“The cost of living crisis has been ratcheted up yet another notch, tightening the vice on family spending when it faces other pressures from impending domestic energy cost and tax increases,” says Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman.
After pump prices last hit record highs in November, the AA polled 15,335 of its members to gauge the impact this would have on personal and family spending.
It found 43% of motorists are cutting back on care use, other consumer spending or both – hitting 59% for the youngest drivers and 53% for lower-income motorists.
Among the 8,361 people of working age (excluding those aged 65 and above), 10% were cutting back on weekly shopping, rising to 17% among 25 to 34 year olds.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Petrol has unfortunately hit a frightening new high of 148.02p which takes filling a 55-litre family car to an eye-watering £81.41. With the oil price teetering on the brink of $100 a barrel and retailers keen to pass on the increase in wholesale fuel quickly, new records could now be set on a daily basis in the coming weeks.
“The oil price is rising due to tensions between Russia – the world’s third-biggest oil producer – and Ukraine, along with oil production remaining out of kilter with demand as the world emerges from the pandemic. As a result drivers in the UK could be in for an even worse ride as pump prices look certain to go up even more.
“On a positive note, retailer margins – which were the reason drivers paid overly high prices in December and January – have now returned to more normal levels of around 7p a litre. We urge the big four supermarkets, which dominate fuel sales, to play fair with drivers and not to make a bad situation on the forecourt any worse by upping their margins again.”
In recent months, motoring groups have accused fuel retailers of being quick to pass on rising wholesale costs and slow to reflect falls.
However, petrol retailers have argued that their pricing is more complicated, pointing out that their own costs – from things like wages and energy – have also shot up and been reflected in pump costs.
AA fuel price spokesman Luke Bosdet said of the diesel record: “Businesses warned this week that they have no option but to pass on higher costs to consumers.
“The latest jump in the price of diesel, the workhorse fuel of business and haulage, ramps up that inflationary pressure even more.”
WHAT CAN WE DO?
The average driver spends more than £54,000 on fuel over their lifetime, according to a poll taken in 2018. Wouldn’t it be good to cut that bill and, in the process, reduce your impact on the environment?
It’s quite easy to drive more efficiently and cut your car’s fuel consumption. It just requires a different mindset when you’re behind the wheel.
To see how easily it can be done, we did a before-and-after test with two drivers – you can see how they got on in these two short videos.
You’ll pick up some useful tips from those videos. The core advice is: plan ahead, read the road and anticipate obstacles and junctions.
Here are five simple ways to change the way you drive and improve your fuel efficiency. If you want to take your quest for eco-driving even further, underneath you can see some further tips.
1. Read the road
This means looking far ahead and anticipating obstacles or changes in gradient. That way, you can ease off the throttle rather than slamming your foot on the brakes. On slopes, imagine you’re back on your bike, and enjoy gravity when going downhill, using the momentum to get you some of the way if you’re set for an incline.
2. Plan your journeys
Who wants to sit in traffic anyway? If you can, plan your route to avoid busy sections of road, especially at peak times, and to ensure you don’t get lost.
Where possible, make one round trip rather than several short ones to avoid starting the engine from cold too many times – according to fuel-economy.co.uk, a cold engine will generally use twice as much fuel as a warm engine.
3. Slow down
Your fuel costs will increase the faster you drive, so keep speeds reasonable.
According to government stats, driving at a steady speed of 50 miles per hour (mph) instead of 70mph can improve fuel economy by 25%. That said, obviously, you should drive at speeds appropriate to the road you are on.
Similarly, if you break the speed limit and travel at 80mph, your car will use up to 25% more fuel than at 70mph, according to What Car?
4. Accelerate gently – and don’t slam on the brakes
The harder you accelerate, the more fuel you burn through. According to fuel-economy.co.uk aggressively accelerating or breaking can use up to 60% more fuel. Car maker Toyota suggests a good rule of thumb is to take about five seconds to accelerate up to 15mph from a stop.
Also, in normal conditions, coasting to a stop rather than slamming on the brakes helps conserve fuel.
5. Keep your speed steady
On the motorway, this might mean using cruise control. But be advised that cruise control only aids fuel economy when driving on a constant flat surface. Remember, you must remain in control of your vehicle at all times. Even if you’re using driver assistance systems, you are responsible for your vehicle.
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Further steps to greater fuel efficiency
Ditch weight
The heavier your car, the harder it has to work to speed up or slow down. So take out any weighty items that you don’t really need. For the same reason, RAC recommends if you tend to be an urban driver to only have half a tank of fuel.
But perhaps don’t get too carried away with de-cluttering your boot as you’ll need to offload 50kg worth of gear to increase your fuel consumption by just 2%, according to the RAC.
Reduce drag
Similarly, your car will have to work harder against unnecessary wind resistance. So remove roof boxes or bike racks if you’re not using them.
Basic maintenance
Take the time to keep your car well maintained and have your car serviced regularly. Crucially for fuel-efficient driving, this includes keeping your tyre pressure up to reduce resistance.
Turn off the air con or heating
Obviously don’t sit there and freeze, but do what you can as air conditioning and heating put a strain on the engine and can burn more fuel, especially at low speeds. If you open the windows, bear in mind that when you reach 60mph or above, using the air con becomes more fuel efficient, according to Energy Saving Trust.
Go up a gear
Change to a higher gear as soon as its possible and safe to do so. The Department for Transport recommends diesel drivers try changing up a gear before the rev-counter reaches 2000 revolutions per minute (rpm), and petrol drivers do so before 2500rpm.
Don’t idle
If you drive a modern car with engine stop-start technology, which cuts the engine when the car is stationary, you can save on fuel consumption by keeping your foot off the clutch. Alternatively, if your car isn’t fitted with this technology, turn off your engine when you’ve been stopped for a minute or two.
Buy a fuel-efficient car
According to the Department for Transport, the fuel consumption of similar-sized cars can vary by as much as 45%. And by choosing the most fuel-efficient car in its class, rather than the one with the average emissions, overall fuel consumption can typically be reduced by up to 24%.
Do your research
Use the Ageas fuel price tracker to compare average petrol and diesel prices.
You can search online for the best fuel prices in your area – for example at petrolprices.com. Look out for loyalty schemes too. Planning where you are going to stop before a journey might also save and costly diversions.
Hypermiling
Many of the techniques above form part of a practice called hypermiling, which is using fuel-conserving techniques to maximise every drop of fuel. Some hypermiling techniques are extreme and not to be recommended, such as driving without shoes to increase the foot’s sensitivity on the pedals or following closely behind large vehicles to cut down on wind resistance.
Source:
https://www.ageas.co.uk/existing-customers/
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