A reflection on topical news was prompted by the work under way to complete the 2011 edition of the Car Service and Repair Trend Tracker report, of which more anon.

Namely, according to RAC figures out today, the average cost of a litre of petrol is now 133.55p - already 0.02p higher than the average price on March 23 when a 1p/litre duty cut was announced in the Budget. But the potentially negative effect of fuel cost increases on motorists’ ability to spend on servicing and maintenance is probably slight.

Which? Car greeted the recent Budget announcement on the reduction of fuel duty by checking that even at present elevated prices, road fuel is not effectively much more costly than it was back in 1980. The Which? Car team found that the annual cost of fuel for the average motorist had risen only by just over £100 since 1980, because of the improved average fuel efficiency of the vehicles we drive today. (Which? compared the 1980 Ford Cortina 2.0-litre petrol’s fuel economy with that of a 2011 Ford Mondeo 2.0-litre petrol.)

However, there are other, real, deflationary forces at work in the service and repair market, here and abroad. The American Automobile Association’s 2011 'Your Driving Costs' study shows light vehicle maintenance costs have dropped 2.2% year on year to 4.44 cents per mile on average for ‘sedans’, reflecting a trend by vehicle manufacturers to include some portion of scheduled maintenance in the purchase price and extending recommended maintenance intervals.

What is still increasing is the cost of tyres and other products, driven by materials price inflation. But depreciation remains the largest component of the AAA survey’s annual average sedan running costs of $8,776, and it increased year-on-year by 4.9% to account for an annual average $3,728 or 42% of annual holding and running costs for sedans driving 15,000 miles a year.

Toby Procter

Trend Tracker Limited

0870 421 4350

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