HOPEFULLY you remembered to put some fuel in your car before the January 01 fuel price hike of 0.74p.

If you didn’t, get down to you local fuel station before January 04 when the rise in VAT by 2.5% will compound the cost of refuelling.

It’s certainly a shock, realising how far your money fails to go as the clock keeps ticking up on the fuel counter. I got to £65 on my Audi A6 and bailed out: it was three quarters full. What with the £35 in my wife’s Fiat 500 and the £12 in my son’s car that was over £100. Just after Christmas.

I noticed at our local Sainsbury’s supermarket that diesel had risen from 124.9ppl on the 31 December to 126.9ppl by 01 January to include the new duty rise. By 04 January what can we expect? 130ppl? Quite probably.

Clearly, this is this is the way it will be in the future – and don’t forget we can expect another duty increase in April. The cost of business motoring is getting ever more expensive.

So, choose your journeys and travel wisely. If you manage business cars at your company, then ensure staff understand that message too.

Editor’s Blog on the fuel duty rise and VAT increase