So, in this interesting story the papers are advising people so save money by filling up their tanks at independent stations, why is admirable, and a great change to outright complaints!
Apparently, petrol is 3c cheaper per litre at place like Gull. Which means that you can save $1.80 on your average 60litre fill. A very smart move there. There’s no point being loyal to any particular station when they’re basically funnelling money to big corporations. The bastards.
But what makes me wonder is this… filling the car from empty will still cost you $124!!!
So someone tell me why they drive at all? Aren’t you just outright being gouged? I opted to just save the $124.
Tell you what, this is exactly why we moved to a slightly more expensive rental in town, and sold the cars. Not only are we saving money by not paying for parking, warrant of fitness and registration (up to $4k a year, per vehicle), but no throwing good money after bad with petrol costs.
Don’t feel jealous though! Move into the city! Plenty of room for everyone.
And, the more people whinging about the boy racers the better…
15 June, 2008 at 11:39 am
I’m puzzled by the running around after a saving of $1.80 here or $1.40 there too. The basic cost lies in running a car at all. I have found that it is very hard to manage with children and without a car – that’s just the reality of the ways our cities are structured, and the reality of how much walking small children are up for.
So having decided to run a car, then you need to work out how to use it effectively. Sometimes it’s worth taking the bus instead, or walking, or making sure that you complete three or four errands in the course of one car trip. Resolving to have one carless day a week, or maybe even two, makes a much bigger dent in your petrol bill than a standard supermarket fuel voucher. And the best move of all? Getting out of that ego-aggrandising FWD (I was going to use rather more crude language there, but it’s just rude to do that at someone else’s place), and getting into a small runabout, especially if all you are doing is running about town.
15 June, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I agree petrol or gas prices are skyrocketing with no end in sight.
Everyone one in the world needs to take lessons in conserving their efforts of not spending more gas. Ride bikes, use the mass transit, walk and just don’t go in your just to drive.
Regarding price gouging, it is really the institutional investors running the prices amock. See this article in my blog:
http://qualitytw.blogspot.com/2008/06/are-institutional-investors.html
15 June, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Someone once calculated, many years ago that if you were driving less than 300 miles per year, then it was probably cheaper to use taxis. I wonder what the calculations would say now!
15 June, 2008 at 7:32 pm
With you all the way on living in town and walking or using public transport. I (and my two siblings) grew up without the family having a car until I was 19. Admittedly in London, so good public transport. But holidays were spent up in the Lake District, involving a 1 hour across town to the railway station, 3 hours on an inter-city express train, and 2 hours on a little trundly diesel (still faster than NZ trains). We loved them – great adventures to play hide and seek up and down a 12-carriage train and get to know the guard. Not sure how much the other passengers enjoyed us hiding in between their seats or in the luggage rack above them, but hey, it was the 70s and people seemed more tolerant of kids then.
So, depending on where you live, it is entirely possible to do without a car.
15 June, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Because I am, let’s face it, overly anal-retentive about this stuff, I’ve been keeping detailed records of all spending by category for several years now. And it is clear that owning my car is quite the luxury.
Merely owning a car sets you back a couple of grand a year adding up registration, WOF, insurance and maintenance. You can add another couple for depreciation. Once you add the actual cost of petrol, it starts looking pretty good to take the bus, hire taxis whenever it rains and at the supermarket, and hire a car when you go on holiday.
One of the subtle hooks of car ownership is that you pay large lumps spread far apart, so individual trips appear to be free, even though when properly costed they are not.
16 June, 2008 at 7:37 am
regards cars being necessary when you have a family, i’m not convinced. cars make things easier when transporting kids, but that’s only because people often situate their living arrangements around the use of an auto.
so people often live further away from their work and their children’s school/activities because they have built cheap personal transport into their assumptions.
the other thing people seem to do is assume that they have to transport their kids everywhere. we walked to school every day when i was a kid. then, when school was further away we biked.
but these days children are taxied everywhere “because it’s safer”. it’s not safer. the world is just as dangerous as it was back then.
16 June, 2008 at 7:39 am
@stephen. we save a minimum of $4k per year by not having a car where we live.
and that’s without the cost of petrol and other consumables for the car.
when we need a car we hire one. last february we travelled the south island in a hire. cost us about $500 all up. so i’m thinking we’re at least $3.5k all told!
money in the bank right there.
16 June, 2008 at 7:40 am
@deborah. right on.
jesus i hate 4wds. totally and completely pointless in the city.
16 June, 2008 at 10:40 am
Cities and suburbs appear structured around driving these days. When I was a kid our school was 4 blocks away – the kindy 2. Now schools are being merged etc so they are futher away. That said when my kids are older I expect them to walk or ride their bikes to school (My oldest being only 5). We are considering moving closer to the school though as its a 45 min walk one way just now with pram and 3 year old in tow as well. My partner bikes to work everyday as its only 10 mins away and we’ve been getting by on $30 a fortnight in petrol until recently.
16 June, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Doubt i would ever move to the city
I love having a garden
i love having native bush behind my house
I love the sound of tui’s in the morning
I love hanging my washing out on the line and letting it air dry.
I could go on about how much living in the suburbs adds to my all round happiness as a person.