The price of fuel or is there something wrong?

[The_Tonk]

I have recently started out on my own after being paid off from my old job. In my old job I had a company car/van so never paid much attention to the price of fuel. (I did pay for private miles which worked out at 13p a mile)

After viewing loads of vans I got myself a 51 reg 1.9d Citroen Dispatch which ticked all the boxes I needed. However I have had the van now for a few weeks and have found it to be very expensive on fuel. The last couple of times I have put £40 of fuel in which takes it to just below half a tank and I only get around 160 miles before the light comes back on!
Is this normal and just down to the current cost of fuel?
I would of thought I would be getting about 200-250 miles.

Does anyone else have the same van and if so what miles do you get?

So the question is do you thing this sounds right or could there be something wrong causing me to use excess fuel?

 

[King Plumb]

Something not right there I get 200 miles for £50 out my Ford Ranger 4x4 and thats with diesel at £1.49 a litre here on Skye

 

[Resolute]

It all depends, if your stuck in traffic a lot then it isn't gonna be very high.

 

[quality]

It brings it to attention when you have to pay for stuff yourself
Just imagine paying 13p per mile now would seem a luxury

 

[SimonG]

Also depends on how heavy your right foot is, mines getting lighter as the diesel goes up. 140.9 at home yet I was doing a job close to sainsbury's this morning and filled up for 134.9

6p a litre on 50+ litres is better in my pocket.

 

[WaterTight]

:smile5: May I suggest a Suzuki Carry 1.1?

 

[dontknowitall]

When was it last serviced - in my experience a vehicle is 10% less economical after about 10 months, so if it's not been serviced for 2-3 years then this will have quite an impact.

I'd expect around 33mpg with one of those (about 200 mile range). My old Transit Connect gave me about 42mph and my Transit gives me 38mpg but I have a very light right foot and usually wait for downhills until I try to reach 60mph.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

watch how you drive as not usually paying for fuel means bad habits

like harsh acceleration, harsh braking

In a low gear when you could be in a higher one

 

[dontknowitall]

And wear trainers or house shoes instead of wellies and doc martins ... (unless you require the latter to stop quicker) ...

 

[quality]

I suppose I am spoilt as I get an easy 60 mpg without trying

 

[AWheating]

i found it very hard to adjust my driving once i had to start paying for my own fuel, with my old company van i would drive it like a ralley car, if somebody tried to cut me up i would just drive through them because i did not really care but now its my van and my fuel so i drive like a Nun on the way to church but you do notice the difference money wise.

 

[Guest123]

......No, nothing is wrong. Welcome to the "wonderful" world of self employment. Forget all that that has went before, from now on in you'll have to pay a premium PRICE for EVERYTHING!

 

[stevetheplumber]

what you need is a bungy strap hook oend on the door down under your right foot and back up to your lip i guarntee youll improve your mpg
ps this is the public forum version substitute the lip with any tender part of the anatomy

 

[Phil]

Diesel price isn't a major issue for me as I don't travel far and most jobs are within a 3 mile radius.
I reckon £10 a week sounds about right.

 

[SimonG]

Can easy do a 100 miles in a day.

 

[Phil]

I've just checked my speedometer and in 3 1/2 years I've done 27,000 miles which is 7714 miles a year!

I must be one of the lucky ones to work in one area, for now anyway.

 

[dontknowitall]

Any nuns I've seen drive go like dingbats, probably reciting their Hail Mary's at the same time ...

 

[REDSAW]

get a tanker of fuel imported from venezuala, its on offer at the moment @ 8 pence a litre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

think were being robbed imo.@'@

 

[dontknowitall]

get a tanker of fuel imported from venezuala, its on offer at the moment @ 8 pence a litre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

think were being robbed imo.@'@

I appreciate this is a fun comment (it isn't?!!) but by the time you'd paid import duty, diesel duty, VAT, customs and excise administration costs and transport it would make our 139.9p per litre cheap as chips!!

 

[Phil]

A petrol station near me in Bradford was selling petrol at a silly low price for about 2 hours, it was a mistake where they put the decimal point in the wrong place if I remember (eg 13.7p a litre) and the queue was a mile long!