Some Practical Motoring Advice

Thank goodness we’ve got the NZ Automobile Association (AA) giving us practical advice on dealing with the end of the era of cheap oil. In this Stuff article, AA spokesman Mark Stockdale suggests that one way to beat the petrol price hike is to use supermarket petrol discount vouchers:

“It’s definitely worth shopping around. You can save a lot of money by shopping somewhere else and picking up your petrol somewhere else with one of the vouchers.”

Sounds great, but hang on, let’s check the math. Mr Stockale says that most vouchers offer on average a discount of 4c a litre of petrol. The petrol tank of my car takes 45 litres. 45 litres x 4c = $1.80. So, I’ve slashed $1.80 off the cost of a tank fill. If I fill my car’s tank every week (I don’t but let’s pretend) then 52 weeks x $1.80…I save $93.60 per year. 

Am I missing something here? Or is this one of those ‘bargains’ that aren’t really bargains? Sorry AA, but $1.80 a week doesn’t seem like “a lot of money” to me. Try giving your members better advice, like leaving the car in the garage and walking or cycling.

>> “Extremely Lame”

Vehicle Emissions Standards vs Vested Interests

 

Question time in Parliament today was soporific. I dozed after listening to Ministers batting off questions on the Electoral Finance Bill, so missed Jeanette Fitzsimmon’s question on vehicle exhaust emission standards. Thankfully there is Hansard for the transcript.

To recap, this was Ms Fitzsimmon’s question to the Associate Minister of Transport:

Q. “Does she expect proposed vehicle exhaust emissions standards to reduce the number of premature deaths from air pollution from vehicle exhausts; if so, how many lives does she expect this rule change could save?”

The Minister’s reply was the expected ‘Yes’. What was more interesting was Ms Fitzsimmon’s first supplementary question, and the Minister’s reply:

Q. “Will the Government stand firm on its proposed schedule for emissions standards in the face of industry pressure from both the Imported Motor Vehicle Dealers Association and, more surprisingly, the Consumers Institute of New Zealand, which both seem to believe that cheap cars are more important than saving lives?”

A. “Yes. The Government will stand firm on its proposal to improve the quality of the fleet coming into New Zealand by ensuring emissions standards are put in place. It is notable that the proposals being put up by the used-car dealers are simply aimed at having every sector of the car industry pay the costs, except those who import used cars. We are far too used to having shonky, old, worn-out, “clocked” vehicles brought into this country and foisted on the public; it is time we had some better-quality vehicles.”

Let’s hope the Government holds the line. For too long, New Zealand has imported second hand, clapped out and polluting vehicles from Japan – we’ve become a dumping ground for wrecks. This scheme benefits used car dealers, while the rest of us pay the costs, such as air pollution, traffic congestion, and declining use of public transport.

Extremely Lame

 

Petrol is now NZ 173.9c a litre, diesel 127.9c a litre. 

As world oil prices close in on US $100 a barrel, and the price of petrol and diesel climbs in New Zealand, the Automobile Association (AA) says that the latest pump price rise is “a disappointing development, leading into Christmas, when people are going to be travelling more”. It urges its members to take advantage of supermarket discount deals.

This is the AA’s stock standard response to rising pump prices. Its lame complaint shows no comprehension of the deep structural factors driving the global oil supply crunch and the shortfall between global supply and demand. These include the approach of maximum global oil production (“Peak Oil”), soaring demand for oil in developing economies like China and India, continuing heavy oil consumption in western countries, and endemic conflict and instability in oil producing regions such as Iraq and Nigeria. These factors mean that the era of cheap oil is upon us and petrol shortages will soon be commonplace.

Rather than encouraging people to cling to their delusions about care-free motoring, the AA should be preparing its members for a future in which the oil supply is very tight and the oil price is very high. It should advise members to buy smaller, fuel efficient cars, and get to work on public transport or by walking or cycling. It should lobby government to boost public transport, cycleways and long distance rail, rather than building more motorways.

Is it realistic of me to think that the AA ostrich might pull its head out of the sand? Probably not. The AA is car-crazy – just look at its website, which currently features a review of the grotesque Hummer, and an article that tells you how to help “your child” buy his or her first car. Expect to hear more plaintive bleating from the AA when pump prices surge again.  

(Photo: Brett Phipps/NZ Herald.)