How much do you spend on fuel?

[DrFfybes]

With fuel having gone up 20%, there are articles everywhere about people saying they cannot afford to run their cars. However reports say up to 90% of new cars (1.6m last year) and 'over half' of used cars (7.5m total sold last year) are on finance.

The average mileage seems to have dropped to about 6-8k per year, so at average 35 mpg that's 200 gal per year, 900 litres, or at 160p/l about £120/month at current petrol prices. So people are paying £20-25/month more for their fuel on average.

Surely that is a small fractin of car running costs? for many cars that increase is less than the VED.

NOTE - if you have a plug in car of any type, please don't vote.

[pje16]

Do we count insurance ?
and what happens, as with me, you have had a recent one off cost - ie a tyre

[Dod101]

Do we count insurance ?
and what happens, as with me, you have had a recent one off cost - ie a tyre

Certainly you count insurance and the cost of new tyres.

As it happens I keep detailed expenses spreadsheets and although nothing at the moment is 'typical', I spend about 50% of my total costs for running my car on fuel. It will be higher at the moment with fuel prices the way they are, unless of course the costs mean that I will drive less. I am not counting finance costs because I buy my cars outright with no finance. If I had monthly finance costs, obviously the percentage spent on fuel would drop so any figures will at best be rough and ready. I do roughly 10,000 miles per annum.

Dod

[pje16]

Fuel 800
Other costs 1,175
car was bought outright so no finance costs

[redsturgeon]

Are we including the biggest cost...depreciation?

John

[pje16]

you only feel that if/when you sell the car
it is a measure not an actual cost

[88V8]

you only feel that if/when you sell the car
it is a measure not an actual cost

Do you have a doctorate in self-delusion?

V8

[pje16]

Not funny at all
Try going to your boss and asking for a pay rise because you have have more costs as your car is depreciating

Let's see what you have to say now

[daveh]

I've voted 25-50%, but I've not included depreciation in the calculation. Over the life of the car so far fuel is running at 12p/mile and running costs (servicing, insurance, RAC etc) at 13p/mile. However fuel now is running at 16p/mile for the last couple of fills.

Interestingly I'm reducing my mileage by cycling to work on a e-bike (over 3,000 miles per year), but servicing cost for the e-bike are running at 10p/mile, so i'm saving the environment, but not my pocket so much. The e-bike is supposed to be serviced every 1500miles and its already gone through 2 chains (£34 each) 2 cassettes (£134 each) and a front chain ring (£35). I'm hoping if I'm more proactive on changing the chain regularly I can get more miles out of the cassettes (as they are expensive). The other problem has been getting spares. The bike shop has not been able to and I've had to pick them up from online stores, amazon and even e-bay.

[ten0rman]

My car is 8 years old, owned from new, and has done 110,000 miles at an average of 38.7mpg. Currently we are doing about 10,000 miles p.a
Costs are:
Servicing & repairs - £386 pa (taken over yrs 2 to 8)
Tyres - £144 pa (since new)
Petrol - £1800pa. (Calculated on £1.60 per ltr)
Depreciation? Ah well, the car cast £18000 or thereabouts when new. Today's cost? Haven't a clue!

Some notes. The car is a Toyota Avensis petrol estate. It tows a caravan occasionally which drags the average mpg down. The car other then the 1st year has always been serviced by my local independant. Tyres are usually bought from a tyre dealer in my nearest small town, and these days are Michelin Cross Climates with a life of 40Kish rear and 30Kish front. Repairs not many other than what I consider to be normal for any vehicle - batteries, tyres, brake components, and really that's it. Of all the cars I have had, this is proving to be the most economical overall.

ten0rman

[redsturgeon]

I've voted 25-50%, but I've not included depreciation in the calculation. Over the life of the car so far fuel is running at 12p/mile and running costs (servicing, insurance, RAC etc) at 13p/mile. However fuel now is running at 16p/mile for the last couple of fills.

Interestingly I'm reducing my mileage by cycling to work on a e-bike (over 3,000 miles per year), but servicing cost for the e-bike are running at 10p/mile, so i'm saving the environment, but not my pocket so much. The e-bike is supposed to be serviced every 1500miles and its already gone through 2 chains (£34 each) 2 cassettes (£134 each) and a front chain ring (£35). I'm hoping if I'm more proactive on changing the chain regularly I can get more miles out of the cassettes (as they are expensive). The other problem has been getting spares. The bike shop has not been able to and I've had to pick them up from online stores, amazon and even e-bay.

That's very interesting and slightly shocking. Do you oil the chains regularly. If so then I guess there is a strong case for buying only those electric bikes with belt drives and internal gears.

John

[redsturgeon]

https://www.statista.com/chart/27047/sh ... countries/

What % of monthly pay different countries spend on a tank of fuel. March 7th 2022

Greece 5.58%
UK 3.11%
US 1.22%

John

[daveh]

I've voted 25-50%, but I've not included depreciation in the calculation. Over the life of the car so far fuel is running at 12p/mile and running costs (servicing, insurance, RAC etc) at 13p/mile. However fuel now is running at 16p/mile for the last couple of fills.

Interestingly I'm reducing my mileage by cycling to work on a e-bike (over 3,000 miles per year), but servicing cost for the e-bike are running at 10p/mile, so i'm saving the environment, but not my pocket so much. The e-bike is supposed to be serviced every 1500miles and its already gone through 2 chains (£34 each) 2 cassettes (£134 each) and a front chain ring (£35). I'm hoping if I'm more proactive on changing the chain regularly I can get more miles out of the cassettes (as they are expensive). The other problem has been getting spares. The bike shop has not been able to and I've had to pick them up from online stores, amazon and even e-bay.

That's very interesting and slightly shocking. Do you oil the chains regularly. If so then I guess there is a strong case for buying only those electric bikes with belt drives and internal gears.

John

Yes I oil it regularly - wet lube in winter, dry lube in summer, but I probably don't clean it as frequently as I should. The bike shop says I should change the chain more frequently (~every 1000-1500miles as then I'll probably get ~7-8000 miles out of the rear cassette, ie have to change it every 3 chains). I've now got a chain tool to measure wear so the cassette bill may reduce. The problem is the amount of torque that goes through the drive with the motor assist plus human input. I'm trying to be more gentle with the human power application and use lower gears so there is less torque applied.

One problem is it is a top of the range hardtail e- mountain bike so has top of the range Shimano 12 speed derailleur gears, but that means the chain and cassette are not very heavy - very little metal to absorb the wear, and the top of the range parts are in very short supply since the start of the covid epidemic. I don't actually use more than about 8 of the 12 gears so I'd actually be better with a 10 speed as the cassette and chain would be more substantial. I'm also using the bike mostly for commuting so the off-road is just old railway lines or forestry tracks so I don't need as wide a cassette as was fitted (10-55) with the spares problems I had to go down to 10-47 with one cassette and that was actually better, though I'm now back to the original spec as that was all that I could get last time.

Bike shop said Shimano may be bringing out a 10 speed e-bike specific drive train which would be designed to cope better with the torque. If they do that might be the way to go, but I bet it won't be cheap to change (new cassette, chain, chain ring and possibly shifters too) but should reduce ongoing costs.

[redsturgeon]

I've voted 25-50%, but I've not included depreciation in the calculation. Over the life of the car so far fuel is running at 12p/mile and running costs (servicing, insurance, RAC etc) at 13p/mile. However fuel now is running at 16p/mile for the last couple of fills.

Interestingly I'm reducing my mileage by cycling to work on a e-bike (over 3,000 miles per year), but servicing cost for the e-bike are running at 10p/mile, so i'm saving the environment, but not my pocket so much. The e-bike is supposed to be serviced every 1500miles and its already gone through 2 chains (£34 each) 2 cassettes (£134 each) and a front chain ring (£35). I'm hoping if I'm more proactive on changing the chain regularly I can get more miles out of the cassettes (as they are expensive). The other problem has been getting spares. The bike shop has not been able to and I've had to pick them up from online stores, amazon and even e-bay.

That's very interesting and slightly shocking. Do you oil the chains regularly. If so then I guess there is a strong case for buying only those electric bikes with belt drives and internal gears.

John

Yes I oil it regularly - wet lube in winter, dry lube in summer, but I probably don't clean it as frequently as I should. The bike shop says I should change the chain more frequently (~every 1000-1500miles as then I'll probably get ~7-8000 miles out of the rear cassette, ie have to change it every 3 chains). I've now got a chain tool to measure wear so the cassette bill may reduce. The problem is the amount of torque that goes through the drive with the motor assist plus human input. I'm trying to be more gentle with the human power application and use lower gears so there is less torque applied.

One problem is it is a top of the range hardtail e- mountain bike so has top of the range Shimano 12 speed derailleur gears, but that means the chain and cassette are not very heavy - very little metal to absorb the wear, and the top of the range parts are in very short supply since the start of the covid epidemic. I don't actually use more than about 8 of the 12 gears so I'd actually be better with a 10 speed as the cassette and chain would be more substantial. I'm also using the bike mostly for commuting so the off-road is just old railway lines or forestry tracks so I don't need as wide a cassette as was fitted (10-55) with the spares problems I had to go down to 10-47 with one cassette and that was actually better, though I'm now back to the original spec as that was all that I could get last time.

Bike shop said Shimano may be bringing out a 10 speed e-bike specific drive train which would be designed to cope better with the torque. If they do that might be the way to go, but I bet it won't be cheap to change (new cassette, chain, chain ring and possibly shifters too) but should reduce ongoing costs.

Thanks, that all makes sense.

John

[AF62]

Are we including the biggest cost...depreciation?

John

If we are then in one of the cars I use I have driven 8,000 miles over the last year for a cost of

- £50 for fuel
- £100 for a service
- £0 for road tax
- £150 for insurance

Not sure that gives a very representative picture though.

[redsturgeon]

Are we including the biggest cost...depreciation?

John

If we are then in one of the cars I use I have driven 8,000 miles over the last year for a cost of

- £50 for fuel
- £100 for a service
- £0 for road tax
- £150 for insurance

Not sure that gives a very representative picture though.

I assume for some reason that you have deducted appreciation of one of your cars from the fuel cost. Why would you do that?

[JohnB]

I think the premise for the question is wrong. You either ask "how much do you spend on fuel", which is mileage*mpg, or ask "what fraction of the cost of running your car each year is petrol", when depreciation dominates, and few have any clue what that is per year. Insurance also varies hugely.

Petrol price rises will be of minimal impact to the "I'm a young salesman in London who buys a new beamer every 3 years" crowd, and a lot more for "I retired to Devon and bought a small Skoda at 3 years old and plan to keep it for a decade" people.

[bungeejumper]

Depends what you include in the cost of ownership? My ball park:

£1,000 a year for depreciation (I generally buy at two years and offload at nine)
£1,000 for tax, insurance, servicing and repairs
£200 for consumables, gizmos and wear-and-tear bit. Nothing for the last two years.
Normally £800-ish for fuel - last year it was just £150.

BJ

[Lootman]

The question made me realise that I have absolutely no idea. Unlike some others here I don't keep spreadsheets and records of what I spend on motoring (or anything else for that matter).

I drive older vehicles and so depreciation isn't such a factor. I have even sold cars a couple of times for more than I paid for them!

Also my wife pays for the insurance and registration, and I pay for everything else, so that further muddies the water.

[pje16]

Give up on depreciation
how else can I explain it
Oh yeah
If it was a cost why doesn't the tax man allow it ?

Sorry, I have accounts background
"Depreciation is a measure of wear and tear"