Are Rising Fuel Costs Affecting You?

With the National Office of Statistics showing a wage increase last year of 2.4% - the fuel price and the rising costs are hurting the pockets of everyday people and businesses every time they jump into their vehicle. (ONS, 2018)

Figures show that an average UK retail price at the pump was 125.41 pence per litre, modest in some areas, a rise of 4.5 pence per mile within just a couple of months costing the customer an extra £2.40 to fill up a typical 55 litre car. 

With most businesses filling up with diesel fuel to run company vans or larger cars for work, they too are swallowing the cost of rising fuel costs. Within a year, diesel prices have seen the sharpest rise at this time of year in the last 5 years. (Business Motoring, 2019)

Now that is just fuel. And we haven’t even got started on insurance, servicing, MOT’S or tax yet. Worrying I know. Vehicle insurance is increasing for millions of motorists. Within a year, insurance could rise by £50-£75 per driver as an average after a rule change (Guardian, 2019). Average MOT costs increased by 14.47% in 2018 on cars, vans, minibuses & special purpose vehicles (Voice, 2017). Tax. A flat standard rate of £140 (£145 from 1 April 2019) applies to all cars except those with CO2 emissions of zero for which the standard rate is £0. An extra charge of £310 (£320 from 1 April 2019) a year applies to cars with a list price over £40,000 in the first 5 'standard rate years' (AA, 2019). So maybe this is a little less depressing now that the government are incentivising those vehicles with zero CO2 emissions to a zero tax scheme to help keep the planet green. Given that more manufacturers are going this way, this is slightly more encouraging. 

On the whole though, this is pretty depressing. 

From a commercial perspective, vehicles are the second largest cost to a business, with wages being the biggest monthly outlay. Having said that, staff are any businesses biggest and most valuable asset and vehicles are the second most valuable asset to a business. If I asked you, could you operate without your vehicles for work? The answer, I’m sure, would be a resounding ‘No’.

If you flip that on its head, if you think of the cost to you as a business by having your vehicles off the road, even for one day, what impact will that have on your business? The RAC ran a survey that found ‘’telematics reduces vehicle downtime by 48%’’ It goes on to say that the industry average figure for a van being off the road could cost a business up to £750-£1000 per day (RAC, 2016). When you consider all the factors, including the sheer fact that the work cannot be carried out, it can be a painful consequence when vehicles are taken off the road. Not to mention wages & work being carried out on the vehicles themselves, the costs really do rack up. This highlights the importance of maintenance & keeping tabs on different aspect of company vehicles. The solution? Telematics. 

ABAX – Simply Connected is an effortless solution to many of these problems. 

How to save money on fuel costs

Avoiding the sales pitch, an ABAX Triplog can generate MOT reminders, servicing reminders & live odometer readings to help keep you on top of all the potentially tricky items that are typically hard to keep on top of. Immediately, this removes the idea of spreadsheets, laborious manual work & the obstacle of "the guys haven’t told me when the last service was" & "I have no idea what the mileage on James’ Ford Transit is".

The conclusion

In this modern world of technology, although rising vehicle costs may well be something that is completely out of our control, there may well be one thing we can do to combat the issue as much as we can with regards to savings on fuel. The solution? Telematics.