Which option will be more economical, petrol or diesel? This is a common question for business owners.
There is no clear answer to this question.
A lot of factors other than the fuel price at the pump, affect which option would be best for your business:
- Size & type of vehicle
- How much mileage you do in a year
- Purchase Price
- Registration Costs
- Convenience
- Noise and performance, etc
Generally diesel vehicles are more expensive to purchase than petrol, which could offset fuel cost savings. Diesel vehicles also require you to pay Road User Charges per kilometre travelled, on top of the per litre fuel cost.
However if you are doing a large amount of mileage in a year (more than 15,000kms per year) a diesel vehicle may be the better option.
It will depend very much on your specific circumstances as to which option would be the most economical for your business.
If you are looking to buy a new business vehicle, AA Motoring provides some advice on this at the following website: AA Motoring
Also the Ministry of Transport website has a downloadable Excel Spreadsheet calculator which can be used to compare petrol vs diesel costs for light (less than 3.5 tonnes) passenger vehicle types.
