Biting The Bullet

As expected there is a huge hue and cry about the increase in the fuel prices, especially in my Cari forum. Well I posted a response on how to bite the bullet there in order to deal with the increase in petroleum prices which I think would be good to also be shared here. Well if you feel it is good advice to save some dollars in your pocket, please feel free to use the tips.

Popular stop: Vehicles waiting to fill up at a petrol station in Kampung Baru Wednesday night.

1st no need to modify whatsoever to you car, that will only increase your kerb weight and reduce aerodynamics unless you can hire Sauber to streamline your car. Car manufacturers had designed your car to Goldilocks's niceness, so why you need to modify your car? But if you still want to modify your car go ahead, but this means you have the extra money to do so so you should also have the means to pay for the extra gas.

Swamped: Motorists inching their way to two petrol kiosks at Jalan Baru in Prai after the announcement by the Prime Minister Wednesday.

2nd do try different brand of fuels to see which can give you more mileage for your car. Even though it is said to be not scientifically proven, but drawn from my more than twenty years of driving experience I must say that I do notice that different brands will give different mileage for different cars. In fact sometimes the effect is that a different brand can give better mileage for long distance travel than town use. One clear example was that when I drove my Waja previously, I use a different brand for town use and another brand for long distance travel but the same effect I do not get with my Innova, so I have just stuck with one brand for this vehicle. So it can be worthwhile for you to check which brand can give you better mileage in this case.

3rd no need to switch off your air conditioning if you still insist to be a speed freak like one fool driving an Aeroback that cut me off today. Drive according to the speed limit is enough as that is why it is called cruising baby because the vehicle's cruise speed is the speed that is most economical.

And lastly, do not forget to claim the RM650 when you renew your road tax from 1 July. If you think about it, this is the fairest way for the government to distribute the fuel subsidy to the citizens. An easy example is my household where for my Innova I use around 500 ringgit of fuel a month so this increase will be 500 x 40 percent or 200 ringgit. However my wife's Viva fuel bill is 200 ringgit a month so 200 ringgit x 40 percent means 80 ringgit extra a month. So when you deduct the rebate of 50 ringgit a month, I actually pay an extra 150 and my pays only 30 ringgit extra actually. So from this example you can actually see that the government is actually the small car owners more than those who can afford large capacity cars. Therefore for people like me who still want to use larger cars, we must bite the bullet and pay the extra fuel bill and get less subsidy in terms of percentage.

Half empty or half full?: Azhan Sharom showing the difference of how much petrol one can buy with RM1 Wednesday and today at a petrol station in Kuala Terengganu.

THINK ABOUT this before you think you want to join in any protest of this fuel price increase. Are you really gonna protest for the little people that actually do not pay that much more that they do currently (RM30) or will you be actually protesting for the fat cats that is can actually afford cars of more than 2000cc like the MERC, ESTIMA, ALPHARD, BMW, ACCORD,ALTIS and those in the same league. So before I finish again another reminder, before joining any street protest have a look first at the vehicles the organisers are coming in with.