Official figures for October show that the cost of owning a car continued to fall, after a Summer of escalating costs.
The Office for National Statistics Consumer Price Index showed falls in the cost of used cars, fuel and insurance.
Car buying
According to the report, used prices fell by 2.1 per cent in October and are down 10.5 per cent in the last 12 months. While luxury saloons, expensive coupes and convertibles and big 4x4s have seen thousands of pounds of value wiped off, smaller and more affordable hatchbacks have fared much better as buyers move into more cost-effective cars.
New car prices officially rose by 0.2 per cent in October. However, with few buyers paying list price few any new car, the figures don't reflect the huge amount of discounts available. Supply is far outstripping demand and dealers are having to offer unprecedented deals to shift a huge stockpiles of cars being stored at unused airfields up and down the country. Parker's has seen a wide range of offers on 58-plate cars and even a 'buy one, get one free' scheme.
Fuel Prices
The falling world oil price has continued to drive down the cost of petrol and diesel at the pumps. The average price of a litre fell by 7.1 pence and diesel fell by 7.0 pence per litre. October also saw the cost of a litre of petrol fall below the £1 per litre level for the first time in 12 months. This was partly due to an ongoing price war between Britain's biggest supermarkets.
November has so far seen further price drops as crude oil slipped to its lowest price level in almost two years.
Other costs
Insurance premiums dropped slightly from last month by 0.2 per cent while the only noticeable rise came in the form of car maintenance which rose by 0.6 per cent.
