This New Year (20110) will be the most expensive ever to use
your car.
Petrol prices had been increasing steady as the cost of a barrel of oil has been driven up by market forces, however there has been a recent hike in prices after fuel duty and VAT were both increased, adding a whopping 3.5p to the cost of a litre of fuel.
VAT on fuel
VAT is applied after fuel duty, resulting in a double taxation on petrol prices. With the average price of a litre of petrol reaching 125.9p (5th Jan 2011) the VAT charge is now a whopping 21p per litre. i.e. if petrol prices did not attract VAT, then prices would be nearer the £1 a litre mark
Fuel Duty on Petrol
However much we may compain about VAT it is, unfortunately, nothing compared to the Fuel Duty that us Brits pay. This is current an unbelievable 58.96p on every single litre of petrol sold in the UK. Take this off, and the VAT and petrol would be a much more reasonable 45p per litre, a fraction of the price that poor motorists have to pay at the pump.
More Fuel Duty and VAT rises to come?
The government is planning to raise fuel duty twice more this year, and VAT will be charged on top of that fuel duty rise don't forget. All in all you can expect to see petrol prices rise by 7p this year through VAT and Fuel Duty taxes, and who knows how much more will be added due to the price of oil rising....
Is it time to start walking?
Two years ago a typical 55 litre tank of unleaded petrol would have cost just £48 (at 86.9p/litre), whereas this year it is
likely to cost you 45% more at £70 (121.9p/litre).
Although it is hard to avoid the nationwide increase in prices, Whatgas.com
points out that the smart motorist can still make savings if they know where to
go. “We frequently receive reports of petrol stations within a few miles of each
other selling fuel with a 5-10p/litre difference.
Whatgas.com is
the UK’s most popular community-sourced fuel price website, and is also
expanding to include coverage of petrol stations overseas. It is completely
free to use and allows searches by browsing an interactive map, or entering an
address/postcode for the area of interest. Our interactive map is viewed over 1
million times a year by UK residents.
The whatgas.com
map can also be freely embedded into your own website using just a
couple of lines of HTML, allowing visitors to browse petrol stations and prices
without leaving your site. It can by scaled and coloured to match your theme,
and is particularly suitable for hyper-local or regional online media. For
assistance in embedding the map and example HTML, please contact webmaster@whatgas.com.
Whatgas.com are
happy to provide statistics or expert comment to journalists to support their
story. Please contact webmaster@whatgas.com or call 07590 692847 with your
enquiry.
For those offering a service or product to motorists (such as new cars, car
insurance, breakdown services or motoring magazines), whatgas.com provides
an ideal platform for a highly targeted promotional campaign. Please contact webmaster@whatgas.com to discuss your
requirements.
