Petrol price- how high before you sell your low mpg car?
Discussion
Just wondering whats going to happen to all the 4x4s and large engined car prices if all the reports of petrol prices rocketing are true. The special stuff will keep its value I'm sure, but what about the mass produced models and school run 4 x 4's?Already costs £50 to fill up a 1.4 corsa as one ph'r pointed out.
So whats the max you would pay before you gave in?
So whats the max you would pay before you gave in?
Edited by amir_j on Monday 15th March 19:18
Not strictly in keeping with the thread, but I worked out that petrol would have to be £8.38 a litre for the one mile journey from my home to my local town centre to cost as much in my BMW as the bus fare currently costs. Of course, diesel would go up too, so the car would still be cheaper!
Due to the way my expenses work I have kept detailed records for the last 2 years (even down to a 99p bottle of screenwash). My Omega 3.0 has averaged 29.58 mpg and I have made a total profit on the car of £863 over the period (yes I have included depreciation).
According to my current spreadsheet my break even point is 117.0. Above that and the £863 will start dropping. Fuel is currently 115.9 .
There are two ways of looking at this.
1. Once it gets above break even I have to have a firm word with my employer as I will be effectively losing money every time I visit a customer
2. Take it on the chin, as the car has made me money as long as it remains in profit then I should just keep going. Only when the overall value reaches £0 do I need to do something.
In reality it will be a combination of the two. I will be asking for a bit more on my expenses to reduce the impact but if fuel keeps rising I will also start to take the hit on the bottom line.
If it accelerates too fast towards £0 I will have to replace the car as I am not going to pay for the privilige of doing business miles.
According to my current spreadsheet my break even point is 117.0. Above that and the £863 will start dropping. Fuel is currently 115.9 .
There are two ways of looking at this.
1. Once it gets above break even I have to have a firm word with my employer as I will be effectively losing money every time I visit a customer
2. Take it on the chin, as the car has made me money as long as it remains in profit then I should just keep going. Only when the overall value reaches £0 do I need to do something.
In reality it will be a combination of the two. I will be asking for a bit more on my expenses to reduce the impact but if fuel keeps rising I will also start to take the hit on the bottom line.
If it accelerates too fast towards £0 I will have to replace the car as I am not going to pay for the privilige of doing business miles.
Edited by bigdods on Monday 15th March 20:11
MitchT said:
Not strictly in keeping with the thread, but I worked out that petrol would have to be £8.38 a litre for the one mile journey from my home to my local town centre to cost as much in my BMW as the bus fare currently costs. Of course, diesel would go up too, so the car would still be cheaper!
Is that bus season tickets though? As on the day tend to be twice a monthly passEdited by amir_j on Monday 15th March 20:30
Be carefull guys, hes blatently form the government trying to work out how much they can screw us this week 
The cost to change cars (and finding someone else to buy your car) would mean it would have to increase dramatically. I'd say £1.60 think about changing, over £2 probably seriously look into changing.
The cost to change cars (and finding someone else to buy your car) would mean it would have to increase dramatically. I'd say £1.60 think about changing, over £2 probably seriously look into changing.
Cost to change is likely to be far greater than any savings to be had by getting a more efficient car, unless you are covering a huge amount of miles pa. My daily commute is an 80 mile round trip. If petrol gets above £2/l then I'll be leaving the 335i at the station and getting the train to work - even though it'll be a bit of a b
h getting to the office at the other end.
h getting to the office at the other end. amir_j said:
MitchT said:
Not strictly in keeping with the thread, but I worked out that petrol would have to be £8.38 a litre for the one mile journey from my home to my local town centre to cost as much in my BMW as the bus fare currently costs. Of course, diesel would go up too, so the car would still be cheaper!
Is that bus season tickets though? As on the day tend to be twice a monthly passEdited by amir_j on Monday 15th March 20:30
Rocksteadyeddie said:
Not possible.
Higher petrol prices = better opportunity to get a bigger engined car.
I hope so! Shirley there is a point when it pays to get a second car and run the drinker as a weekend play thing? I'm sure I worked out once that minus initial purchase cost (quite a big part of it I know but we'll ignore that for now) that running a 50mpg car say, with the additional insurance/tax implications, and keeping a 25mpg car for weekend blasts, against running a 25mpg car daily, would see you save the insurance and tax for the first car in saved fuel.Higher petrol prices = better opportunity to get a bigger engined car.
When we had the price sillyness last year, which we are fast approaching once again the amount of traffic on the roads plummeted and my fuel consumption was about 5mpg more on average (it also made me realise how much traffic I actually sit in each day). I also wonder at what point the price of petrol forces people off the road that the cost per mile reduces?
I haven't done the maths, so the numbers probably don't stack up. Just thinking aloud really
I haven't done the maths, so the numbers probably don't stack up. Just thinking aloud really
If it continues to rise at it's current rate (117.9 at local garage, 2p per week increase everywhere), I'll be chopping in the Focus ST (avg low 20s mpg) for a Mini Cooper S.
Booked a test drive for Friday so shall see how it goes.
The only thing is that the ST is three months old so I'll be taking a bit of a hit on depreciation.
Booked a test drive for Friday so shall see how it goes.
The only thing is that the ST is three months old so I'll be taking a bit of a hit on depreciation.
I get 20 - 22mpg because of the nature of my commute (going over this everyday stop start 
)
I do however relatively little mileage, circa 10k per annum in both cars so the consumption doesn't really bother me.
If my circumstances changed and I did a lot more miles then I may consider a more economical car, rather than the price of fuel being the deciding factor.
) I do however relatively little mileage, circa 10k per annum in both cars so the consumption doesn't really bother me.
If my circumstances changed and I did a lot more miles then I may consider a more economical car, rather than the price of fuel being the deciding factor.
Edited by Urban Sports on Monday 15th March 21:34
ben_h100 said:
If it continues to rise at it's current rate (117.9 at local garage, 2p per week increase everywhere), I'll be chopping in the Focus ST (avg low 20s mpg) for a Mini Cooper S.
Booked a test drive for Friday so shall see how it goes.
The only thing is that the ST is three months old so I'll be taking a bit of a hit on depreciation.
A complete arse raping!Booked a test drive for Friday so shall see how it goes.
The only thing is that the ST is three months old so I'll be taking a bit of a hit on depreciation.
Taita said:
ben_h100 said:
If it continues to rise at it's current rate (117.9 at local garage, 2p per week increase everywhere), I'll be chopping in the Focus ST (avg low 20s mpg) for a Mini Cooper S.
Booked a test drive for Friday so shall see how it goes.
The only thing is that the ST is three months old so I'll be taking a bit of a hit on depreciation.
A complete arse raping!Booked a test drive for Friday so shall see how it goes.
The only thing is that the ST is three months old so I'll be taking a bit of a hit on depreciation.
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