British motorists pay so much. But how do we compare to motorists in other countries?
MoneySupermarket has researched this topic and found that the UK is the 12th most expensive
country in the world to live in when it comes to the cost of petrol at the pumps, with an average cost
of £1.32 per litre. Motorists in the oil rich nation of Venezuela meanwhile pay a staggering 2 pence
per litre at the pumps for petrol, and just 1 pence per litre for diesel.
Digging slightly deeper into the statistics reveals that British motorists actually pay the highest fuel
duty rates in the whole of Europe, with 59% of the fuel costs for petrol car owners going towards
the tax man and 57% of the fuel bill for diesel owners going the same way. If you took tax out of the
equation, this would mean that British motorists would be paying just 54 pence per litre for petrol
and 60 pence per litre for diesel.
It should be noted that tax does account for approximately 10% less of our total fuel bills than it did
ten years ago as the government fuel duty rises have slowed in an attempt to combat the rising cost
of fossil fuels as supplies continue to decline. However, this is little consolation for struggling British
families.
Just to put this all into perspective, the average petrol Ford Focus owner in the UK will be spending
approximately £1,270 per year on fuel costs to cover about 8,460 miles. However, if this motorist
were to move to Venezuela and drive the same number of miles over the course of the year, they
would spend just £19.23. This is a saving of about £1,250 per year. Given that Venezuela gets its oil
from the state owned PDVSA company, it is unsurprising that their fuel costs are so low, but this is
still a staggering differences.
However, it could be worse. Motorists in Turkey pay the highest fuel costs in the world, and the
same Ford Focus driver in this country would see their annual fuel bill increase by about £365 per
year to approximately £1,635 per year.
MoneySupermarket has put this data into the following infographic:
MoneySupermarket claims that it hasn’t, with the cost of car insurance for the average female motorist actually dropping by 1.9% since the 21st December. It should be noted that male motorists have seen even more substantial drops of 7.2%; pointing to the fact that this is mainly to do with the fact that the cost of car insurance overall is dropping across the UK. Nevertheless, female drivers don’t seem to have been impact as substantially as had been predicted.
One area where the pricing impact has worked as expected is in the young driver car insurance market; with young female drivers between the ages of 17 and 19 having seen their premiums increase by 22.1% (£231) since the regulation was introduced. Conversely, male drivers in the same age band have seen their premiums decrease by 11.2% which is a more substantial drop than had been initially predicted.
However, is it really fair to force female drivers to pay more for car insurance when it is male motorists who are statistically more likely to make expensive claims and get caught speeding or driving under the influence of drink and drugs? This has been an area of massive debate ever since the regulation was announced? Equally, is it really fair to tar all male motorists with the same brush?
MoneySupermarket has summarised all the data around the debate in the following infographic:
New for 2013: Regional Club car stickers from DMB
Priced at £5 per pair, there are stickers available for all Regions (as per the forum). If you would like to see a new region added, please contact GaryJH in the fist instance via the forum.
The stickers are available in:
White
Gloss Black
Silver Metallic
Grey Metallic
Matt Black
Lipstick Red
Cosmos Blue
Lime Green
Primrose Yellow
*a colour chart is available on the order page.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gary and Ash for making this new addition available for all club members – and also to DMB Graphics for their help and support. All orders and deliveries will be through DMB, not ourselves, but please do get in touch with ANY problems or concerns you may have.
]]>So what better time to add these dates to your new 2013 diaries or tablet/mobile phone… show season is with us again!
Events will kick off as usual with Fiesta in the Park (FITP) at Huntingdon’s Racecourse on Sunday 12th May 2013.
Next comes our very own National Day, held again with the help and support of Mondeo Owners, which is to be held on 28th-30th June, with camping from Friday night (28) at Wickstead Park, Kettering.
Our final confirmed date (so far) is for THE Ford owners’ show of the calendar: Ford Fair, which is provisionally booked for Sunday 11th August 2013 (date subject to change by the organisers) held at Silverstone race circuit.
As always – full event details for these and other shows will be posted in our Club Forums, where you will find information on how to attend on Stand with focusowners.com.
Hope to see you there!
]]>This has been calculated by examining thousands of car warranty policies which are held through Warranty Direct for vehicles which have less than 100,000 miles on the clock and are under 10 years old.
It was found that Ford cars on average have the lowest repair costs of any manufacturers, with the average bill for Ford owners being just £223.92. This is almost half the average repair cost which is faced by either Mercedes or Lexus car owners.
Ford vehicles also didn’t perform too badly when it came to overall reliability; with the company being ranked 4th overall on the companies Reliability Index (RI) which takes into account the average number of failures and their severity.
MoneySupermarket.com has put together the following infographic highlighting this data, which will surely encourage more people to consider Ford vehicles the next time they are on the lookout for a new car.
Image source: MoneySupermarket Breakdown Cover
This “twibbon” allows you to change you fb or twitter profile photo:
and you can find more about the work of The Royal British Legion and how it helps the Armed Forces year-round from their website (The Royal British Legion).
]]>The Ford Focus proved to be a popular choice with judges in the first MoneySupermarket.com car of the year competition, with new ST and 1.0 litre EcoBoost models ensuring that the model made it to a creditable 8th on the list in a competition which was largely monopolised by environmentally friendly designs.
The presence of the Fiesta in 10th place ensured that Ford was the only manufacturer to get two different models into the top 10, demonstrating the continued popularity of the brand. Ford’s B-Max, EcoSport, Ka, S-Max, Mondeo and Escape models were also awarded points by judges and helped Ford finish 4th on the list for most points accumulated by one manufacturer.
However, it was the Focus who proved to be the most popular of Ford’s new models thanks to recent iterations which have been launched. The ST in particular was highly praised by judges due to it being “fast, cheap and lairy- everything a fast Ford should be”, with some comparing it to the highly successful RS Escorts of the 1980s.
The new 1.0 litre EcoBoost model also picked up a number of points thanks to its outstanding fuel economy and low road tax prices which have been achieved without too heavily compromising the overall power and top speed. Many judges commented that it really is hard to believe that this version of the Focus is powered by just a 1 litre engine.
Indeed, fuel economy very much seemed to be the most important consideration with the majority of judges at a time when fuel prices continue to cause concern. The overall winner of the competition was the new fuel efficient city car the Volkwagen UP, a victory which is shared with the Seat mii and Skoda Citigo which use the same basic chassis and engine combination.
MoneySupermarket.com has put together the following infographic highlighting the overall top ten along with comments from some of the judges:
Image source: MoneySupermarket Car Insurance
More specifically, the monitor is examining the effect of age, gender and the area in which someone lives on the price that they pay for mandatory cover.
This has been calculated by examining over 21 million car insurance quotes which have been retrieved from the MoneySupermarket website over the past 12 months to come up with general trends. The company has produced the following interactive barometer to give a visual representation of its data and allow people to play around to find out what factors are the most influential when it comes to calculating car insurance quotes. Did you know for example that people in London tend to pay the most for car insurance cover on average?
It must be emphasised that this is all based on averages, and will of course not be accurate for the whole of the population – but why not give it a try below!
source: MoneySupermarket
]]>focusowners.com will also have its own stand, with the following members:
- STDash84
- Challis & Sean
- ea5ty
- FocusDanny
- RobC92
- Batman
- Bernau
If you have missed the deadline, don’t panic! Thanks to ProTune, you can win 2 free public entrance tickets to the show (on the gate price of £20 each).
To enter, find ‘ProTune ECU Remapping UK’ on Facebook or follow the link:
https://www.facebook.com/
The photos are starting to come in from Club Members; this is Ford Fair through your eyes!
Click the links below to see uploads from:
Joescamera
STDash84
Tommy
RSRick3290
If you want your shots added to the list, get them uploaded and I will do the rest (if I miss them or seem to be taking too long, send me a PM saying where your shots are…)
]]>