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What’s on motorists’ minds?
Following June’s EU referendum,
the outlook for both the UK
economy and fuel prices has
become less clear. A recovery in the
oil price in the spring of 2016 means
that forecourt costs have started to
creep back up again. But with OPEC
– the Organisation of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries – seemingly
committed to exerting downward
pressure on oil prices in order to
retain market share through a policy
of excess supply, wholesale prices
– in dollar terms at least – are
expected to remain relatively low.
For British motorists, however,
the weaker value of sterling
following the EU referendum could
feed through into higher pump
prices in the coming months.
That said, the process of
renegotiating trade deals with our
European partners and of actually
leaving the EU is likely to take
many months and involves a high
degree of uncertainty making it
extremely difficult to speculate
about future economic conditions.
In the 2015 Report on Motoring, the
RAC called for greater transparency
over how retailers set prices for
petrol and diesel.This was due in part
to the fact that diesel vehicle owners
had failed to see any benefit from the
diesel wholesale price falling below
that of petrol in the second quarter
of 2015: during this period, average
diesel pump prices remained
stubbornly higher than petrol, in
the RAC’s view, for no good reason.
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RAC Report on Motoring 2016
“Fuel has been plummeting for a year so it’s no
surprise that pump prices have fallen down the
list of priorities for British motorists.
But with the Chancellor claiming three-quarters of every
pound spent on the forecourts, it won’t take much for that to
change. I’d expect to see fuel prices rocket in motorists’ list
of concerns next year if the impact of Brexit really bites.”
GRAEME PATON
Transport Correspondent
The Times