Motoring News » Motoring Costs

Motoring concerns high on voters list of concerns

Alan — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:51:08 +0000

A new survey from the AA suggested that a few motoring issues may play a big role in the way people vote in the upcoming General Election. According to AA members, on the list of their top three concerns is the costs running and owning a car.

Out of the nearly 15,000 that were surveyed, 53% stated that motoring costs are first on their list of concerns, with another 41% stating they were concerned about how much it would cost to drive. Although parking, taxes, and parking prices were their highest concerns, 51% were also worried about illegal drivers followed by drivers that are under the influence of a substance.

Other issues that were commented on heavily by those surveyed were traffic congestion at 25% and road conditions at 30%. However, there were a few issues that stood out according to area and age groups such as the fact that those over 65 were more concerned about illegal drivers than those in the age group of 18-24.

Those in the North East are more concerned about the high costs of motoring even though they have some of the lowest fuel prices in the UK over those in Northern Ireland who have some of the highest fuel prices to face.

In terms of election manifestos, AA members reported that they believe road safety education and free school busing should be part of the school curriculum although they are not too sure of removing traffic lights or creating left turns on red.

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Petrol prices at highest level ever

Alan — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:32:29 +0000

As the General Election gets closer with the pound looking even worse against the dollar and import costs continuing to rise, Lord Mandelson has been attempting to get his opponents to stop making the currency look worse than it is.

Petrol prices in particular are a sore issue for Lord Mandelson, as the poor condition of the pound is causing motorists to face even higher prices at the pumps.

At the moment prices are hovering around a record topping 120p per litre, which is even more than in July of 2008 when there was at least a global explanation for why oil was priced so high.

However, with crude oil now trading at around forty percent less than its 2009 peak of $87 and most countries experiencing less harsh petrol prices compared to Brits, people are starting to wonder just how much the diminished pound may be to blame.

The truth is that the rise of oil is not entirely the fault of the pound, but a large portion of it is, which means that we are being forced to pay almost twice as much because of the conversion from the dollar.

Outside of this factor, consumers are forced to pay more for petrol due to higher taxes as the Government has inched up its petrol duty by another one pence, up to 57.19 per litre, which was the fourth rise in just an eighteen month time period. As if this is not enough, two more increases are slated to come prompting the Forum of Private Business to ask the Chancellor to suspend any future increases.

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£100 council parking tickets

Alan — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:27:26 +0000

Ministers are thinking about allowing councils to issue local parking tickets to violators of around £100.

The Scottish Government stated that if the fine is increased from the normal £60 cap it may reduce the amount of parking that occurs illegally in congested areas, and help to better fund the costs of parking enforcement.

The only areas that the change would affect are those that have their own parking attendants, which includes Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen.

The public is allowed to consult on the new proposal up until the month of June starts.

Motorists that choose to park in illegal parking areas at the moment face a penalty of £60 since they are ticketed by a council warden instead of a police officer. If the fine is paid within two weeks, then the fine is reduced in half to £30.

Most local authorities are expected to only charge £80 per ticket but if drivers continue to break the law the level could go up to £100, although the half off discount would still be in effect for drivers who pay their fine within two weeks.

Included in the proposal is the declaration that is now much harder to fund parking enforcement schemes because salary costs have increased by double, and the amount of appeal cases and their costs has also doubled over the last three years.

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Chancellor not as kind as he implies on fuel costs

Alan — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:22:55 +0000

Fuel prices that were supposed to have a big rise in April, but will instead be staggered over the rest of the year in order to gently ease consumers into the cost of rising inflation according to a statement that the Chancellor made this week.

However, motoring groups are not happy with the statement since they claim that petrol prices are still likely to hit record highs next month of up to £1.20 per litre, which has not been aided by the fact that the Chancellor has withdrawn his subsides for biodfuel production.

Fuel duty was set to increase by around 3p next month under a plan outlined in last year’s budget, but instead come April they are due to go up by 1p, then one more pence in October, with the final raise occurring in January.

Darling commented that the staggered raise should help the pressure on family incomes and business incomes during a time period when they are already struggling with other price increases.

The previous 2008 budget states that fuel duty will rise over the next three years by inflation. However, driver’s reacted to the news in anger because taxes in general are already much higher in just an 18 month time period.

Currently drivers are paying over 117 per litre which is close to the highest fuel prices seen in July of 2008 at 119.7.

The AA estimates that their removal of the biofuel subsidy will also add another 1p to gas prices over the month of April leading to fuel prices of around £1.20 per litre.

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Petrol on its way to new high

Alan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:03:12 +0000

Britain seems to be moving back towards the record high petrol prices of 2008, according to the AA. A year ago the average motorist was paying about 90.7p per litre; the current average price is about £1.15. AA said that the average cost of petrol for a two-car family is running about £50 a month more than in the same period last year.

Rising costs have been exacerbated by a series of tax rises over the past 12 months. April last year saw a 1.84p rise in fuel duties and another rise of 2p in September. In January this year there was a 2.5 percent rise in VAT, which meant another rise in petrol costs of about 2.5p. On top of all this, another rise is scheduled for the first of April; that one would bring the price up another one percent plus inflation.

Both AA and RAC spokesmen have expressed concern that the rise in petrol rates will stretch many families’ budgets to the breaking point, and possibly even trigger another recession. Motoring strategist Adrian Tink of RAC said that the government should rethink the additional rise, since when it was budgeted last year the cost of petrol was still well under the £1 per litre mark.

The rising prices are already causing strain on businesses and families alike, and the reminder of record highs in summer 2008 is not welcome. AA research has also indicated that motorists in the U.K. are being hit about five times harder than those in neighbouring European countries.

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Royal parks to have parking fees

Alan — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:28:05 +0000

Margaret Hodge, the culture minister, has given her approval for two Royal Parks to have parking charges within London.

Now motorists that want to park in southwest London at Bushy Park or Richmond Park will need to pay £1.50 if they want to park for an hour. Politicians and residents have fought against the proposals stating that the tax will wrongfully misuse free green space.

Shadow minister for London, Justine Greening, stated that it will ruin the park, as the charge will make it too expensive for families with children that need to bring their cars for prams and to assist pensioners.

The Royal Parks deputy chief executive, Colin Buttery, stated that with a maximum charge of £3 per day at Richmond Park, and £2 per day at Bushy Park, the charges are the same as one might pay for coffee and are favourable to charges at other like amenities.

Additionally, the speed limit within the park will be reduced from 30mph to 20mph and private hire cars will be allowed into the parks.

The parking fees will become active at the end of the year if the parliament approves. The income generated will be used to help maintain roads and car parks.

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Budget will give electric vehicles a big break

Alan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:54:00 +0000

The pre-budget report 2009 has been released showing that in the coming year there will be much more emphasis and support from the government for those who choose to use low carbon emitting transportation options. It also reports that starting in April; Excise Duty rates will be altered for motorcycles.

Among the expected changes to tax laws made in April of 2010 are a few tax breaks for those that make use of electric transportation.

All electric cars that are used as company cars will be exempt from the normal Company Car tax for the next five years, and all electric vans will also be exempt from paying the standard Van Benefit Charge for the same time period.

Additionally electric vans will come with a 100% allowance when purchased so long as they conform to the State aid rules.

Public transportation options will also be improved with £30m allotted to support better low carbon transport options across the city with the implementation of an expanded Technology Strategy Board low carbon vehicle competition.

Other benefits will also change such as the fuel benefit charge which will increase to £18,000 from £16,000 in an effort to encourage people to become more fuel efficient.

VED rates will also change for those who drive motorcycles with the two lowest bands remaining frozen but the third tier increasing by two pounds and the fourth band going up by four pounds.

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Motorists cut back to save on costs

Alan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:50 +0000

Motorists are reducing their driving costs in an effort to reduce overall expenditures by using their car less, according to the RAC. The organization reports that many people are now choosing to own just one vehicle per family, or downsizing their personal vehicle.

The cost of motoring for the average Briton fell by about 5% in 2009 according to the RAC, which averages about to be about a £2.30 savings per week for motorists.

The RAC stated that the savings come from an average drop in fuel prices although it is hard to see the fall as fuel prices fluctuated widely throughout the year.

Since last year the RAC estimates that petrol prices fell overall by about ten percent. In particular, diesel fuel fell about 14%.

However, even though the price of petrol fell, the RAC found when it conducted a survey that most car owners still believed that the cost of owning a car had had actually increased, with 45% of those questioned stating they altered their motoring habits to adapt to the increase in costs.

Out of those who responded in this group, 20% said they switched to only using one car in the household, and another 25% stated that they now drove a smaller car.

The report showed that women were twice as likely to have chosen a smaller vehicle in the last year, which can save a motorist up to £750 a year depending on the difference in the downsize

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M&S Money reduce car loan interest rate

Alan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:22:50 +0000

M&S Money announced that those who are looking to purchase a new car using the M&S Car Buying Plan can now enjoy lowered personal loan rates, from 9.9% APR down to 8.7% APR.

The Buying Plan is a good choice for motorists who want to defer a certain fixed amount of their loan.

After deferring a certain amount of the loan, consumers can then choose whether they would like to make monthly payments on the loan, or pay in back in a lump sum at an appointed time. Consumers can also choose to sell the car after a certain period passes, and pay back the debt.

The new initiative by M&S Money is aimed at encouraging consumers to purchase new vehicles, in the same way that 10% cash back incentive rewards were offered in the past summer of 2009.

After a loan is paid off, consumers are able to receive payment based on how much interest was accrued during the lifetime of the vehicle loan.

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Government may charge for the use of roads

Alan — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:11:19 +0000

The Government climate change advisory body recommended this week that there should be a road pricing charge nationally, on top of the fuel taxes and environmental taxes in existence to further encourage motorists to choose other transportation options.

Until the latest statement by the committee, it was commonly believed that if a pay as you motoring charge was added, the road and fuel taxes would disappear. However, the Committee on Climate Change believes that by adding road pricing, over 5.6m tones of CO2 could be saved per year by 2020.

The Committee stated that the fuel tax should remain, because it gives people motivation to purchase an electric car, versus a traditional vehicle.

On the other hand, the Environmental Transport Association believes that action needs to be taken towards tackling CO2 emissions and climate change, but that it would be better to tax people on the carbon they give off, instead of for road usage.

An ETA spokesperson stated that while people need to take responsibility for the CO2 emissions they produce, it is unfair to tax motorists upwards of £600 for every tone that is produced, while major commerce only has to pay £6 a tonne.

According to the spokesman in this type of unfair system, everyone would lose.

Currently road usage is free, but tax is charged on fuel. On the other hand, those with electric cars are not subject to any taxes, including potential road charges, due to the fact they do not give off any climate damaging gases.

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