Official figures show that car running costs continued to fall in December.
The Office of National Statistics Consumer Price Index showed a drop in the price of fuel, new and used cars and servicing, while the cost of insurance was one of the few to rise.
Car Buying
New car values drop a considerable amount in December falling by 2.1 per cent. The VAT rate cut at the end of November contributed in some part to the decline. However, the figure in the 'real economy' is far higher, with some new cars discounted by 30-40 per cent as dealers struggle to shift stock. In this time Parker's has seen up to 12 manufacturers offering 0% APR typical finance as well as price cuts on a number of brand new cars.
Used car values continued to fall with a further drop of 2.1 per cent in December. Sales of luxury saloons and big 4x4s continue to lose the most money and be the worst affected by the drop in values. Small economical cars have held up well against the fall in values and depreciated the least in the whole of 2008.
Fuel Prices
The average cost of petrol fell by 6p per litre in December down to an average of 89.2p, while diesel dropped by 6.4p to an average of 102.4p per litre.
By the end of December petrol had fallen to its lowest price in three years down to 87.7pp per litre while diesel dropped to its lowest price in two years to 99.7p per litre.
Other Costs
The only motoring costs to go up in December were insurance prices which rose a little by 0.9 per cent compared to November. The cost of maintenance fell slightly in December, down by 0.1 per cent.
