How bout those gas prices?

Wow I remember my firs car and filling up for just 88 cents a gallon and that was not that long ago. Now gas prices are over $4 a gallon where I live in California and the talk is that it will reach $5 by the summer.

It's a good thing I can walk to work but I feel bad for struggling families who have to fill up every week.

How much is gas in your area and how are you coping?

$3.50 a gallon here and I hadn't really noticed until it became a news item.

You think you've got it bad? Try filling up in the UK.

£1.38* a LITRE at my local, for unleaded. Granted our fuel is of a higher grade than yours, but ours is still a rip off. I filled up my tank on Sunday, and it cost me £77 for just over 50 litres.

*About $8 a US gallon.

Chuckoir said:

You think you've got it bad? Try filling up in the UK.

£1.38* a LITRE at my local, for unleaded. Granted our fuel is of a higher grade than yours, but ours is still a rip off. I filled up my tank on Sunday, and it cost me £77 for just over 50 litres.

*About $8 a US gallon.

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It's worse than that it's about $9.40 per gallon - more for diesel - frightening

Chuckoir said:

You think you've got it bad? Try filling up in the UK.

£1.38* a LITRE at my local, for unleaded. Granted our fuel is of a higher grade than yours, but ours is still a rip off. I filled up my tank on Sunday, and it cost me £77 for just over 50 litres.

*About $8 a US gallon.

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Yea, I was paying ~$5/gal in the UK.. in 1990(ish) I want to say it was about $3.20/gal when I last filled up here.

I filled up at $3.86 yesterday. I will definitely be biking to work this summer.

mrplow said:

It's worse than that it's about $9.40 per gallon - more for diesel - frightening

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Is that a UK gallon?

I was working off US gallons (which are smaller - heh), for a fairer comparison for our Stateside Chums.

EDIT: Or did you mean it's $9.40 for a gallon of diseasel? In which case, that is frightening. The price of diesel these days is a joke. When it's pushing £1.50 a litre, I don't feel so bad for killing the planet in my tank.

I would say that the average American needs to drive more miles to get to:

- work
- school
- grocery store
- department store
- visit family & friends
- etc.

...than the average person in the UK or Europe...and that the UK & European public transit system is better than here in the US.

Unfortunately...the United States is a very BIG place...and everything is spaced out so much...that driving a car long distances is necessary to do just about anything. Most jobs, schools, grocery & department stores are not always located near "good housing"...so lots of driving miles are necessary.

So although fuel is more expensive on a per gallon basis almost anywhere outside of the US...the annual "fuel costs" for the average American (due to more miles driven) may be very similar or greater than in other countries.

The average American drives somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 - 15,000 miles/year (probably a lot higher for some folks)...at $3.50/gallon for fuel....driving a vehicle that gets 20mpg...that's an annual fuel cost of $2625.00.

If we talk $9.00/gallon outside of the US (driving a vehicle getting 20mpg)...then a person outside of the US would have to drive more than 5,833 miles/year to have annual fuel costs higher than $2625.

So my question is (for folks in the UK or Europe)...how many miles (converted from km possibly) does the average person drive/year? I'm sure there are folks that drive quite a bit...but what is a realistic number of miles driven/year for the average person in the UK or Europe?

- Nick

For insurance purposes, insurers say the average is 12,000. Although in 18 months I've done 22,000.

5,833 miles in a year, is not a lot. By anyone's standards.

Oh, and public transport here is expensive as well..... Due to high fuel costs.

Edit: I suppose I should add, that roughly two thirds of the cost of fuel here, is Government tax.

Chuckoir - yeah, i meant diesel

I do 14-16k miles a year on average (no need to convert from Kilometres - still use the imperial system in the UK for road use).

Like Chuckoir says the insurance average is 12k, which I'd say is a pretty fair average for the people I know.

And public transport in the UK is pretty good in bigger towns and cities but is expensive and patchy out of town.

Ok...if the average person in the UK and Europe are driving 12,000+ miles...then the average fuel cost is certainly MUCH higher for the average UK or European person...than the average US driver.

Hopefully the average UK vehicle is getting better fuel economy (mpg)...than the average US vehicle. This would certainly make a difference in the annual fuel cost calculations.

I think that income taxes are a good bit higher in the UK as well (compared to the US)...so I hope that the government subsidized benefits (education, healthcare, etc.) are top notch...to help offset things a bit!

- Nick

I just filled up my Pilot. 18.38 gallons at $3.39/gal= $62.30. $^*# %##!U$$@ $@#@$U*%&$)!!!!!!!!

If US gas prices ever go up to Europe's prices(which is near impossible), I will take a bus or buy a motorcycle.

As for now, these prices were in line for what I expected to pay for my car before I even got it.

Have owned the Pilot now for ~7 months and am just now about to reach the 12,000 mile mark.

I'll tell ya what...if there's one thing driving up gas prices, it's the MEDIA. I think by reporting that "gas prices are increasing" it basically gives the oil companies the okay to increase the prices, know what I'm sayin'?

By the way, how many consecutive years has it been now that they've been reporting that gas could be as high as $5 a gallon by the summer? (And how many times has it actually happened? ZERO.)

It's been worse.

dauber said:

if there's one thing driving up gas prices, it's the MEDIA. I think by reporting that "gas prices are increasing" it basically gives the oil companies the okay to increase the prices, know what I'm sayin'?

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I completely agree with you!

pigoo3 said:

Unfortunately...the United States is a very BIG place...and everything is spaced out so much...that driving a car long distances is necessary to do just about anything. Most jobs, schools, grocery & department stores are not always located near "good housing"...so lots of driving miles are necessary.

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It's just as bad here (if not worse). With a population 1/10 the size with just about the same amount of land, distances seem much larger.

I would care but I don't own a car and I pay a small fee for public transit (approximately $36/mo.). Have fun with your gas suckers.

Anyone know, off hand, how much gas/fuel/oil the US imports, as a percentage of its consumption?

EDIT: Well, in 2010 it was 49%. Interesting, I thought it would have been less.

Vansmith that is the way to go! I pay around 25 dollars a month for gas now so I see myself paying around thirty or so a month with these new price hikes.

vansmith said:

It's just as bad here (if not worse). With a population 1/10 the size with just about the same amount of land, distances seem much larger.

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I think that there's a statistic that something like 80% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US/Canadian border. So a lot of Canada goes undriven...(is that even a word)??.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

I think that there's a statistic that something like 80% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US/Canadian border. So a lot of Canada goes undriven...(is that even a word)??.

- Nick

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Undriven is a word now!

Yeah, I think that's the statistic. Regardless, there are much fewer urban centres so people generally have to drive further to get to one (which is of course where business and major entertainment is concentrated). Either way, we both have longer distances to travel than our European brethren.

And.. thank goodness for Canada being our largest supplier of oil. I would hate to think how much the cost would be per gallon if they weren't. That's another good reason why we need to build the pipeline from Canada to the Gulf!