Discussion
Have petrol prices tumbled in the UK with the drop in the oil price? Here in the US we've seen a drop of about 26% in the past few months as regular has gone from around $3.80 a gallon to an average of around $2.82 where I live.
A litre of unleaded is basically 46p here now. It was 1.31 when I was in England in September. Even allowing for the huge tax element it should have dropped a fair amount?
A litre of unleaded is basically 46p here now. It was 1.31 when I was in England in September. Even allowing for the huge tax element it should have dropped a fair amount?
Dog Star said:
Stating the obvious - the higher the proportion of tax on your fuel the correspondingly smaller reduction in price you will see, no? The OPs comparison isn't really valid.
Yeah but... I think the tax is 70p a litre? So on the 1.31 61p wasn't tax so if that fell by 25% it should give you a 15p per litre reduction. Vaud said:
The US Gallon is smaller (16%?) to help people feel a tiny bit better.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallon
I converted US gallon to litres so you needn't feel any better. It's still 46p a litre here.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallon
Oops, 45 p now.
IroningMan said:
unrepentant said:
Dog Star said:
Stating the obvious - the higher the proportion of tax on your fuel the correspondingly smaller reduction in price you will see, no? The OPs comparison isn't really valid.
Yeah but... I think the tax is 70p a litre? So on the 1.31 61p wasn't tax so if that fell by 25% it should give you a 15p per litre reduction. And VAT on the fuel duty, too...
oyster said:
unrepentant said:
Dog Star said:
Stating the obvious - the higher the proportion of tax on your fuel the correspondingly smaller reduction in price you will see, no? The OPs comparison isn't really valid.
Yeah but... I think the tax is 70p a litre? So on the 1.31 61p wasn't tax so if that fell by 25% it should give you a 15p per litre reduction. £1.20 now is about $1.93.
That's 13% in USD terms, but only 8% in GBP.
gruffalo said:
Welshbeef said:
Nice bit of political pressure.
Thing is just like the income tax statement the same should be done for fuel and people will realise that so much of the fuel price is tax then even 50% reductions in oil price will not make vast differences to forecourt prices.
Especially when production and logistic costs that are relatively constant are included, the actual crude costs are quite a small part.Thing is just like the income tax statement the same should be done for fuel and people will realise that so much of the fuel price is tax then even 50% reductions in oil price will not make vast differences to forecourt prices.
Roo said:
I was surprised at the fuel price when I was out there in April.
Vegas was just under $4 a gallon with LA being just over.
Back in '02 most places were under $1 a gallon so it's gone up a hell of a lot in the intervening years.
It follows the oil price pretty closely. In CA they tax it more so CA always has the highest prices in the US. Back in '08 we were at about $2 then it spiked to over $4 after the crash (presumably oil futures became a "safe haven") and again in '12. We've been in the $3.50 - $3.90 range for most of this year until the recent drop to the $2.80 range. It's not unusual to see a 10% hike or drop overnight.Vegas was just under $4 a gallon with LA being just over.
Back in '02 most places were under $1 a gallon so it's gone up a hell of a lot in the intervening years.
k. XJFLYER hijacks another thread. 
V88Dicky said:
It's a Catch 22 situation as far as I can see it. Keep putting duty up on fuel and hence increasing the retail cost, and most motorists will either drive less or move into more economical cars, therefore the Government receives less income.
On the other hand, drop fuel duty significantly and the Government's tax take would reduce, although this might be mitigated somewhat by more people buying more fuel and / or driving more.
Isn't it called the Laffa Curve or something?
The original idea of the fuel tax escalator was to reduce pollution and force people into more fuel efficient cars and it worked. Surprisingly it was bought in by the low tax Tories and scrapped by high tax Labour!On the other hand, drop fuel duty significantly and the Government's tax take would reduce, although this might be mitigated somewhat by more people buying more fuel and / or driving more.
Isn't it called the Laffa Curve or something?
Welshbeef said:
Jimbeaux said:
Existing cars are easily and relatively inexpensive to convert to Natural gas. The price of said gas is low. (Speaking of the U.S. What is the downside other than limited availability of stations?
How are diesel cars converted to run on Gas? I've never heard of any such offerings previously plus it would save more £. Jimbeaux said:
Guam said:
unrepentant said:
There are hardly any diesel cars in the US. BMW,VW and MB sell a few but apart from that only the bigger pick ups run diesel. Many gas stations don't even sell it. The Jaguar XE will be the first British made diesel engine car to be sold here although I'm hoping that the new Land Rover Discovery that is due at the end of next year may also have it.
Strange, I just came back from a roadtrip around the NE US drove 2000 miles (approx) in a Big Diesel Toyota SUV from HURTS (and they do). 
Had no issues with finding Diesel anywhere, maybe its a NE thing?
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