Oil Slips, Petrol Sticks

Although the price of crude oil has dropped over 25% since it July ’08 price, oil companies have only reduced prices at the pump by 5%, research from motoring companies reveals.

AA spokesman Luke Bosdet said "The industry says it takes four to six weeks for [a fall in the crude oil price] to work through to the pump. Yet here we are six weeks on and the petrol price has gone up and the oil price is now down by 25%.’"

But, we shouldn’t be getting our hopes up of a huge drop in prices. With fuel tax and VAT being a major part of the pump price, the equivalent reduction would only be a further 1.5p from the litre, as calculated by the AA.

4 Ways to reduce Petrol Costs

1 - Shop around. Keep an eye on prices as you drive around and make sure you fill up somewhere with the lowest price available. Yesterday, I saw two petrol stations next to each other advertising 113.9 and 110.9 per litre.

2 - Do you really need that car? Walk on short trips - it will do you good. If the school run is only half a mile, why are there so many cars parked there? And do you really need a 4X4 to get to school? It could save you vehicle tax as well - think about it next time you change your car.

3 - Share trips. Some work places have organised lift share schemes. If yours doesn’t get them to start one. Even just lift sharing with one person could halve your bill.

4 - Drive smoothly. Hard accellerating and braking cost more fuel, while driving too fast can also burn off more fuel. Some sat nav systems come with traffic alerts to help avoid jams - there’s a good choice in Comet, which are reduced at the time of writing (basic model with traffic information is £59.99).

6/9/2008 (filed under lowering bills)

September
16th More Premium Bond Winners

November
21st October Sales Increase
12th Stamp Duty Holiday Failed
7th 2% Off House Prices

October
20th Sell Your Home, For Free!
14th House Prices Still Have Another 10% Drop
8th Mortgage Rates Cut
8th Coordinated Rate Cuts
2nd Northern Rock Swamped By Savers
2nd Biggest House Price Fall Yet

September
30th Irish Banks 100% Safe
29th Power Giants ’Ripped Off’ Customers
29th Santander To Buy B&B Savings
29th Lloyds Fixed Rates Increased
28th B&B To Be Nationalised
26th More Banks Raise Cost Of Borrowing
26th Rate Cut On The Horizon
26th House Prices Fall £45 Per Day
25th Post Office Savings Safe To £80k
23rd Straw Attacks No-Win No-Fee System
22nd London Asking Prices On The Up
18th Oil Down 40%, Petrol Up
15th Don’t Pay For Banking
11th Barrat Helping House Prices
10th OPEC Forces Fuel Price Up
9th House Prices Could Drop 25%
9th Credit Cards Soon To Be Extinct
7th House Prices Will Not Lift Until 2010
7th Brown’s Triumph - a £50 a Year Fuel Levy
5th Sterling 30 month low
5th Energy Profits Up
4th No Interest Rate Change
4th Halifax - Worst House Price Drop Ever
4th No Change To European Interest Rates
3rd Rampant Inflation Curbs Hopes of Rate Cut
3rd Britain Only Leading Country In Recession
2nd Tories Would All But Scrap Inheritance Tax
2nd Stamp Duty Threshold Raised, For Now

August
28th Biggest House Price Fall For 18 Years
27th Landlords Struggle to Pay Their Debts
26th Fixed rate mortgages rates drop
22nd Halifax Closing A Quarter of Branches
22nd Bank Must Cut Interest Rates
21st Interest Rates Could Be Cut
19th Fastest ever increase in rentals
18th BCC Wants Interest Rates Cut
16th Repossession orders up by 24% on last year
13th Rate cuts unlikely
7th Bank Holds Rates

July
23rd August Interest Rate Rises?
14th Cheaper Extended Mortgages - Cost More Eventually
10th House prices fall £3,600
10th Interest Rates on Hold
7th Interest Rates - Which Way Now?
4th Mortgages harder to come by