If you live in the country, there’s a chink of daylight for your hard-pressed wallet with news that the Government may be able to cut your motoring fuel costs by 5p a litre.

Although there’s lots of good things about rural life, buying petrol isn’t one of them. Not only do you have to drive long distances to find a petrol station but it’s unlikely to be one offering a discount price.

Riding to the rescue is the unlikely shape of Government - representatives have started talks to offer a pilot scheme for drivers in areas including the Hebrides, Orkney and the Shetlands in Scotland as well as the Isles of Scilly off Cornwall to reduce the amount of fuel tax they pay.

Unfortunately, the move will have to be approved by the European Commission but if Brussels approves then drivers in other areas where isolation contributes to the cost of living could also benefit through an extension of the scheme.

Although buying a tax disc is the same price wherever you live, ongoing costs for a vehicle are often higher away from towns where there is competition from a number of garages and spare parts are easily obtained.

However, there is one aspect of driving costs where country-dwellers do actually have an advantage and that’s in buying cheap car insurance.

Because fewer vehicles are stolen and there are fewer accidents, lower insurance premiums are generally available for rural residents compared with their city counterparts.

Labels: cheap car insurance