English Petrol Prices

by Sarah
(Norwich, England)

I don't mean to sound rude, but English petrol prices are far far worse than American prices at the moment, we are currently paying 1.20 per litre (about 12 dollars to the gallon) of standard petrol and 1.30 (about 13-14 dollars per gallon) for high octane petrol.


I have read in the papers recently that most of this is tax, but even still, with our almost 200 (450 dollars) a year road tax, and servicing (160 dollars) costs (especially mechanical labour, 30 (65 dollars)pounds an hour average) running a car here is almost impossible.
Also coupled with the fact that I am 17 and being a girl I think I get ripped off at most garages because I don't know any better...
My insurance costs 950 pounds a year (about 2000 dollars :(... )
I have recently just had to buy a new car, (2000 pounds- 4000 dollars) as my first car literally just fell apart, but now with the recent fuel crisis it has become so expensive, even with my new more economical Zetec fiesta... (does about 45 mpg on average)
Is there any possible way to do this in England? would I really be able to realistically do this myself, or am I better of waiting a while for it to hit mainstream car dealers?
Ive seen a couple on Ebay for sale, but what about insurance?
I desperately need something! I'm even considering going back to a moped if things don't get any better.
at current, the government is predicting petrol to rise to over 2.00 (4.50 dollars) pounds a litre... which would mean my 30 litre tank in my fiesta would cost over 60 (125 dollars) pounds to fill up, and wouldnt even last the week with the amount i have to use my car...
when i started driving (1 year ago.... 1 YEAR AGO...... 1 YEAR *HYPERVENTILATES*) petrol cost 80p a litre.......................... that says it all really
*bangs head on keyboard*
Its pathetic that the governments (all of them!!) let things get this bad, and let us get this dependent on fuel. I feel trapped. I have to drive to work :(

Hi, Sarah -
I hear you, girlfriend.
I don't think the petrol prices are going to come down any time soon.

Insurance:
Yeah. Terrible everywhere.

Doing it yourself:
I'm not finding a lot of conversion support for you in your area, which makes it harder. That's not to say you can't do it, but...you know those guys at the garage that ripped you off because you were a girl and didn't know any better? Well, you might be needing their equipment for your conversion project. They've got the big crane thing that yanks out your heavy gas engine. Hoist, I should say.

Couple of links for you: EV-UK, an electric car association in the UK, and Alternative Vehicles Technology, a conversion company that might be able to give you some information closer to home.

Best of luck, Sarah!

Regards,
Lynne