Fuel Prices How bad is it affecting the average Aussie?

[DirtyDawg]

Just a curiosity question after I read that Rangie5lt can only afford a once a month 4wd outing and the fact my local fuel station has had a 400% increase in drive offs this month.
As for me personally its a tax deduction so I really don't care what it the price is but there must be a lot of people hurting as even their hobbies/interests are being shut down due to family budget constraints..
For example My Apprentice gets a $10 per day fuel allowance, last year got him 10lts a day which was more than ample to work and play now it nets him 7lts which just makes the work run if it increases to the $2 per /lt as expected by Xmas he will have to fund extra from his meager $250 per week salary. How many others will suffer I wonder..?

[hiline]

i'm in the same boat as you ............tax deduction [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

so it really doesn't effect me much either

and if it did i would just charge people more for their jobs :wink: :wink:

so they would suffer not me 8O [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] :wink:

[RR5L]

Whilst you run your own Business or are a contractor and can write your fuel of legitamately thats great. Those who work for wages would be feeling it. Time will come where three options could be exersiced hit the boss for a payrise find work closer to home or catch public transport.

I know I would love to find work closer to home, it annoys me losing any where from 1-2 hours a day just travling to work depending on traffic.

I guess that where i like owning a rice burner for the daily driver and the Rangie for weekends. Even on Gas it still has a healthy appitite :wink:

[matbor]

Will this be australia soon....



I know that I don't notice the $90 odd a week that goes missing into the fuel tank, the thing is when u average the fuel cost out over a year it isn't that bad !!! Also if i wasn't spending it on the disco I would spend it on something stupid anyway !!!

Anyhow my girlfriend has just got a job near me so i think we will be taking her car to work from now on, she was a nice new mazda3 [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

Matt.

[UncleHo]

G'day Folks.
I can only dream of being able to have it as a tax deduction :roll: but being one of those "well off" pensioners that Little Johnny boasts of, I am realy hurting [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img] seeing that the last pension increase was about 2years ago $3.20 per fortnight, and I was paying 84 cents a litre then :roll: And my closest shop is a 6klm retrurn trip, if I could ride a bicycle that would be my current ride [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

[maggsie]

The fuel prices are creating a myriad problems. Already people are turning to welfare agencies for help just to fund their fuel costs. Escalating transport costs will impact severely on regional areas creating a vicious circle for the people and businesses that are transport dependant. Also spare a thought for the "Grey Set" who are driving around the country, they will travel less and again the tourist areas will feel the pinch from reduced numbers.
The only winners are the greed driven oil companies ( and I work for a US based one!). The worst aspect is that there is little choice, pay the price or don't drive the car!
The gap between the 'have and the have nots' is becoming wider.

[JDNSW]

I am effectively a self funded retiree trying to run a drought stricken farm on my pension - and even though some of my fuel is tax deductible, you have to make a profit first! And that is a good way off with wool prices the lowest they have ever been in real terms, and the drought continuing.
But to put the fuel prices in perspective, they have increased a lot less than some other costs :- for example, with the council merger forced on this area my rates have gone up 60%, rental on leased (non-existent) roads, up 1400%, insurance up, red tape costs up, medical costs up, and so on.

Running a vehicle, even now the fuel cost is typically well under half the total running cost. NRMA figures a week or two ago give the cost about $200/week for a Commodore or Falcon, with about 20% of that fuel. This prompted me to look at my own costs (I have complete records). For the 110, over fourteen years it has averaged $159/week, or 36c/km, with fuel being 19% of this or 7c/km. If youjust look at last financial year it is $174/week or 41c/km, of which fuel is 10.5c/km or about 26%. Recent fuel price increases will have raised this to maybe 30-35% of total costs. But the point is that the fixed costs (Capital cost, depreciation, insurance, rego) are almost always well over half total costs. The thing that bites about fuel price is we get reminded how much it is costing every few days.

[eXit]

the price of fuel atm is killing me [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]

i'm a second yeear carpentry apprentice and get a MASSIVE $11:22 a day in travel allowance. that get's tacked ontop of my MASSIVE $366:00 b4 tax wages. my travel allowance increases if i have to travel more than 50klms from the gpo here in town. my current job is 51klms away [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]

it's a bit hard for me to catch public transport to and from work for 2 reasons.

1. u try lugging tools on public transport ( and i have alot of them )

and

2. the public transport system in tassie SUCKS !!!

you offten hear sydney ppls whinge about their trains... AT LEAST THEY HAVE TRAINS!! yeah we have busses, they are overpriced, poorly scheduled and most STOP running around 6:00pm ffs [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]

we have the tdi disco and a 1964 Mk1 cortina on SI reg. so we can only use the cortina 52times a year. this is going to have to go back to full registration soon, i'm using it too much now and i'm going to run out of days soon [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img] so that's an extra expence ( Special Interest registration is 1/2 cost of normal reg due to reduced insurance premiums )

i alternate what veh i take to work according to the wife's requirement that day. the cortina runs on Prem ULP only so fuel price is the same for both.
the cortina cost me $60:00 this week and the disco $50:00 that's just under twice my travel allowance for the week >(
my travel allowance used to cover my fuel costs for the week, even with out of town jobs >(

as a result of these horrible fuel prices, the meager funds i had available to perform basic maintenance on my cars has dissapeared into the tank >(. both my cars need tlc atm (service...filters..etc..)and fuel efficiency is starting to become affected.

if fuel prices go up much more I'm screwed. i mean what do i do?

do i choose to go to work? pay my mortgage? pay bills? or feed my family? one of them will have to go.



X

[landrovermick]

Hi there - I filled up last night 83 litres of diesel for $114.00. but with my fuel voucher i got a whole $4.00 off. - i feel sooo lucky..... if a bloke could swear in these forums i would.

Makes me feel like being that bloke in the move falling down and going to the HO of a couple of oil companies....... jack the price up 50% and give them a 4c/litre discount....... assholes !

On top of that all the petrol drives are going off - FFS diesel has been over $1.25 for friggin ages- welcome to my world I say!!

i guess the up side is that mrs shopping torlley - school bus 4x4 drivers may get off the roads, bringing less focus on the rest of us.

OK thats me off the soapbox - good thread Nige !

Mick

[cols110]

If it continues you will probably end up like we are in Europe, driving smaller cars. Our 110 rarely gets used for day to day travel, its really just a toy now. I&#96;m lucky and can cycle to work, and my Misses car is a VW Golf, with the TDI we usually get around 60mpg, so with that sort of economy the price of fuel is&#96;nt affecting us to much, the big thing is where I used to think nothing of using our 110, I now think do I really need to drive it, or can we use her golf.

But soon it wont matter to much, we&#96;re on the move to Dubai in a few months, so it&#96;ll be back to V8 driving. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]