Families pump out €2,700 a year to fuel cars

AT 23c dearer than this time last year, soaring petrol prices will force motorists off the roads unless the Government tackles fuel prices, the AA has warned.

According to the motoring group, average petrol prices have now spiralled to above the €1.50 per litre mark, although some Dublin forecourts are displaying even higher prices.

This will mean that, based on average mileage, already hard-pressed families will have to spend €225 per month or €2,700 per year to run their cars.

The increasing costs cover fuel consumption only and do not include expenditure such as increasing motor insurance premiums, car tax, vehicle depreciation and servicing costs.

The price of fuel is a major concern to Irish motorists. More than 98% of drivers rated rising fuel prices as either “very important” or “somewhat important” in the AA’s most recent Motorists Panel survey. That same survey showed that almost 47% of drivers will reduce the number of kilometres they drive this year because of rising fuel prices.

Director of Policy AA Ireland Conor Faughnan said while rising oil prices accounted for some of the price rise, taxes account for more than 57% of the cost of fuel here.

“It’s been driven, of course, by high oil prices, but more than that, it’s been driven by high Irish taxes. The outgoing government actually applied a succession of extra taxes on top of petrol prices and they did that when oil prices were relatively low so motorists didn’t really feel the pinch. Now that oil prices are going up, we have high oil prices with mega-taxes stacked on top so when you spend your €225 per month on fuel, actually 57% of that goes directly to the exchequer as tax,” he said.

Mr Faughnan said the Government could address the issue immediately by removing the excise duty increases from the last budget.

A similar call was made by the Irish Petrol Retail Association spokesman David Blevings, who said the public needed to be made aware that the retailer has no control over pricing.

“Too often, consumers blame the retailer for price hikes when in fact, they have no control over increasing prices. The reality is that retail fuel prices are under pressure due to the increasing price of refined products on the international market.”

“These are being pushed higher by the tension in the Middle East fuelling concern over continued production and availability of oil products,” he said.

“We understand the public frustration when faced with higher prices but petrol retailers operate on extremely low margins and merely pass on any increases and decreases based on the wholesale prices that major oil companies charge them.”

Mr Blevings called on the incoming Government to introduce a “fuel stabiliser” to reduce duty as oil prices increased.

“There is little sign of the international oil price reducing and the only way forward we believe is for the Government to introduce a fuel stabiliser that would reduce duty as international oil prices increased. This would clearly benefit consumers as over 57% of all fuel sold at the pumps is for taxation,” he said.