Escalating diesel prices fail to deter drivers

The threat of diesel rising to a record £1 per litre has done little to stop drivers opting for diesel vehicles, according to the UK’s most established drivers’ survey by Bank of Scotland Vehicle Finance.

Now in its fifth year, the survey shows that diesel models are now the number one choice of vehicles amongst drivers, despite diesel prices in the UK being the most expensive in Europe. Over 70 per cent (72%) of those questioned as part of the 2006 company car drivers’ survey now drive a diesel, compared to just 58 per cent in 2005 and 50 per cent in 2004, and over the past 12 months, 36 per cent of drivers have made the switch from petrol to diesel.

However, the news calls for even greater care to be taken when it comes to managing fuel bills, especially for the company car driver who clocks up the most mileage per year, says Sean Bingham, Director of New Business at Bank of Scotland Vehicle Finance.
"For the company car driver, even with the increase in Benefit in Kind Tax being applied to diesel vehicles this financial year, diesel models are still more tax efficient and still present many benefits with diesel engines being around 25 per cent more fuel efficient than petrol models. However, with rising prices at the fuel pumps, fleet managers should be looking seriously at their fuel policy and if they haven’t got one in place now is the time. With fuel prices differing from forecourt to forecourt, drivers, whether they have company funded fuel or a reimbursement procedure, need to ensure that they are getting the most cost effective solution every time."

The good news for businesses is that for the first time in five years annual business mileage has decreased to 16,170 (see table 1). Previous surveys have seen mileage increase year on year and in 2005, mileage figures reached a staggering 17,488 miles per year. However the results do show that over a five-year period annual mileage has increased by 13 per cent, a move that challenges views held by the Chancellor that business mileage has decreased year on year.

Other results from the survey show:

Congestion and traffic jams may seem like they are keeping us on the roads for longer but the amount of time spent behind the wheel on company business has decreased with only 11 per cent of respondents spending 16-20 hours a week behind the wheel compared to 14 per cent in 2005
Drivers are however spending longer on their daily commute from the home to office, which could suggest that escalating house prices are forcing workers to live further away from the office or rush hour traffic is worsening. This year, almost a third of those questioned (32 per cent) now spend from 6-10 hours a week commuting, compared to 30 per cent in 2005. In addition, 20 per cent of respondents said that the amount of time spent commuting between the home and the office has significantly increased compared to last year
Private mileage, which factors in the daily commute, has increased from 8,860 miles per year compared to just 8,417 in 2005

Sean Bingham comments: "The news that time spent behind the wheel has decreased is encouraging and could, in part, be linked to the increased use of satellite navigation systems. Sixty two per cent of all our respondents say that they use it regularly. However, whilst we are finding more efficient ways of working, we are working longer hours and our core data since 2002 has not seen the same reduction in mileage that the Chancellor is citing. Businesses are still working their staff harder."

DRIVERS THINK SPEED LIMITS SHOULD BE RAISED AND SPEED CAMERAS SCRAPPED. Sixty six per cent of drivers believe that the speed limit on Britain’s motorways should be raised to 80mph and it is women drivers who are pushing the change in legislation. A massive 69 per cent of women, compared to 66 per cent of men want to see the speed limit raised. In total only 14 per cent of all drivers want to see it stay at 70mph.

Sean Bingham comments: "These results come as no surprise as 61 per cent of all respondents regularly admit to breaking the speed limit on motorways and 53 per cent think that speed cameras are a bad idea. The good news is that 86 per cent of drivers think that the speed limit near schools should be 25mph or below proving that they are not speed demons all of the time."