Cost of Diesel

dfbemt

Thankfully I filled up before the camper was put away for the winter. Already had half a tank left after I filled up in Cherbourg, paying €1.27 at the time !! Paid €1.439 when I topped up here and put into hibernation.

I noticed that the local stations are all now at €1.519 and 'the experts' are all saying €2 by the end of 2012. That would mean approx €160 to fill up. :eek:

At what cost for diesel will it be prohibitive to own a camper? Things are getting tight

spaceHopper

Know what you are say I try to get way one a month surfing, round trip is 550 600K and is costing about 90 euros, but never mind us what's going to happen to the economy if it stays so high or goes up more it has to be costing jobs

Buford T Justice

spaceHopper wrote: »

if it stays so high or goes up more it has to be costing jobs

How do you figure that?

Betsy Og

Buford T Justice wrote: »

How do you figure that?

Because its a major input cost for business and as a small island nation we are disporportionately affected. So our stuff gets more costly and we cant export the same volume at same profit per unit, so either profit per unit or volume drop, bad for business, companies slim back or go to the wall, jobs lost. Summat along those lines.

SARZY

Seems that a high grade crude oil is needed to produce diesel and that crude comes from the middle east and the Iranians are threatening to block the Straits of Hormuz and seemingly if they do, that will make diesel scarce and then UP goes the price. Thats what the man said on the telly.

As for costing jobs, I dont know, but it would drive prices up and make things more expensive and that, in this place right now, would probably hit sales and eventually cost jobs.

Our troika loving politicos would be happy as the rising price brings more in VAT and as they are only revenue gatherers for Merkozy and that lot, they wont interfere.

Bad news all round.

aujopimur

Leaving a tank of diesel unused is'nt a good idea, you could end up with a tank of gunk.

dfbemt

aujopimur wrote: »

Leaving a tank of diesel unused is'nt a good idea, you could end up with a tank of gunk.

I don't know about that. Can't say if it was in Aidans tips or elsewhere on this forum, but the advice is to fill the tank when putting the camper into storage over winter to reduce the risk of condensation.............. or something like that. I am sure the experts will explain better.

niloc1951

aujopimur wrote: »

Leaving a tank of diesel unused is'nt a good idea, you could end up with a tank of gunk.

It is in fact the best idea.

In a partly filled tank the airspace will allow condensation to form during periods of cold weather. The condensation will turn to water which will contaminate the fuel and settle at the bottom of the tank. The water will facilitate the growth of an algae type substance which will contaminate the filters and fuel delivery system to the engine which will require expensive remedial action.

The best advice for diesel fuelled vehicles is to leave the tank full when laying up for long periods, especially in winter.

Malta1

Agree 100% with above

Totally different matter with Unleaded Petrol though

Del2005

SARZY wrote: »

As for costing jobs, I dont know, but it would drive prices up and make things more expensive and that, in this place right now, would probably hit sales and eventually cost jobs.

99% of stuff is delivered by trucks/vans.

Haulage companies are only just about paying minimum wage to drive 44t vehicles and are struggling. If the cost of diesel goes up there's nothing left to cut so they'll go bust and we won't have any deliveries.

No deliveries = no jobs.

WildWater

dfbemt wrote: »

At what cost for diesel will it be prohibitive to own a camper? Things are getting tight

Getting back to the original question. It's a good question and I'm not sure of the exact answer. I suspect most of us, me included for sure, are not wealthy enough not to be bothered by the diesel cost.

However, I would say that in addition to the core cost it also depends on how you look at things. Since buying our camper many of leisure activities and journeys that we once did in by car we now do in the camper. In this mode the way I look at is that the diesel cost of the camper is just the differential between what it would have cost in the car versus the camper. In such a scenario the questions are can 1) I afford the differential and 2) do I feel it is worth it to pay this differential to have the camper. Thus far, fortunately, the answer is yes to both.

We can also do weekend breaks and longer for buttons. Overnight cost being say a tenner for an SNI location or even free if wild and the food cost is irrelevant if eaten in the van as you have to eat at home anyway. So again the only real cost of the break is the diesel. I don't know about you but there are not many weekend that we would be at home all weekend without the cars moving so again it comes back to the differential cost and the value that you put on being able to get away in your camper.

Also in some ways the camper saves money. We recently had to take a trip to Dublin which necessitated an overnight stay. By going in the camper both the overnight cost and grub costs were at the minimum and well below what the cheapest options would have been if budget hotel etc was involved. In addition, the car journey would have to have been made anyway so the only true diesel cost of relevance is the differential. So the bottom line is that the trip certainly did not cost any more than it would have done without the camper and probably even cost a bit less. Plus we had all the advantages (as we see it) of going in the camper.

But yes as diesel and other costs continues to climb we will have to get more and more inventive about how to cope. I personally will be looking to cut down on lots of other areas of expenditure and unnecessary car journeys etc to keep the camper on the road. And yes I some of the trips in the camper will be shorter distances but they can still offer as much enjoyment.

Bottom line: I don't see myself looking to offload anytime soon. Its still the best thing we ever bought