Fuel price increase forcing drivers off the road

Car owners are increasingly leaving their vehicles at home since fuel prices broke through the £1 per litre barrier at the beginning of November.

Motorpoint, UK car supermarket group, surveyed drivers to reality check the established perception that the cost-burdened British motorist will continue to soldier on regardless of increasing costs. The poll shows more than a third of them will not.

The view that the stiff upper lip is beginning to falter is supported by the beginnings of a resurgence in fuel price protests. Hauliers, farmers and motorists staged demonstrations outside oil refineries across Britain in December over the Government's refusal to cut fuel duty. Almost two-thirds of the cost of petrol and diesel is made up of tax, which is set to rise by a further 2p per litre in April.

Paul Winfield, Motorpoint’s operations director, commented: “Motorpoint saves its customers a lot of money on the purchase price of their cars. But more and more of that saving is being eaten up by other costs of ownership that are simply imposed on drivers. These findings show that now a lot of motorists are literally voting with their feet.”

He added: “It is possible to keep fuel costs to a minimum by shopping around. Within ten miles of Motorpoint’s Derby HQ there are 57 service stations. On the day we checked, their prices for a litre of unleaded fuel varied from 99.9p to 113.9p – a staggering difference of 14p in what is supposed to be an ultra-competitive market. From best to worst, that’s a saving of £5.60 every time a car with a 40 litre tank is filled up.”