Hello and welcome to the August 2005 edition of the MotorMouth Newsletter.

The jump in oil prices is certainly causing increased pain for motorists at the pump. Recent research suggests that the average Australian household in metropolitan areas purchases 190 litres of petrol per month.

Taking the average price of ULP across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth of 93.2 cents per litre in January this year, then motorists were spending $177.00 per month on petrol. Fast forward to August 2005 at an average price of 116.1 cents per litre, the cost of 190 litres has risen to $221.00.

The increase of $44 means that people have less to spend on other goods and services. And we are yet to see the impact on transport costs and other areas of the economy.

New publication from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

The ACCC has recently released an excellent easy to read booklet entitled: "Understanding Petrol Pricing in Australia." Whilst the ACCC cops plenty of criticism, we thought they had done an excellent job in putting this together. You can view this online here.

Copies can also be obtained from ACCC offices throughout Australia and from the ACCC Infocentre.

Our recommendation to motorists is to keep an eye on petrol prices in their city each week and buy fuel when it is cheap, rather than on a particular day. MotorMouth offers all registered users free access to personalised fuel price daily email alerts. These alerts help users keep up to date with what's happening with fuel prices in their area and city. Learn more about MotorMouth Daily Email Alerts here.

If you have found MotorMouth's free services helpful and would like to tell your friends about what MotorMouth offers, click here.

Until next month...
Alan Price
Acting Marketing Manager - MotorMouth
apricemotormouth.com.au

Ps. Bernadette Murray, who has been driving the success of MotorMouth over the past 2
years, has moved on to take up some new challenges in Brisbane. We were all sorry to see Bernie go and wish her well in her new position.

We are looking for a replacement for Bernie, so if you live in Brisbane and have some PR experience, an affinity with online communications and think you can sell to our advertisers, then drop me an email.

We can be flexible with the working hours for the right person.

This month's winner is Larry from Bald Hills in QLD. Larry's entry - Fuel Saving Tip - Early and Late Starts "I have arranged for the work crew I am incharge of, to work more flexible hours and vary our shift starting and finishing times to save sitting in the traffic. This really does reduce our fuel bills. A clear run home sitting on 90 to 100k's per hour can take half the time compared to driving home in peak hour and sitting there with your foot on and off the gas pedal, and night driving is always cooler. I do about 450 k's a week and save myself half a tank each week. I also keep up with MotorMouth for advice on where to find the best fuel on the way home." Congratulations Larry! Your prize will be sent out to you shortly.

EMAIL IN AND WIN!

Do you have an opinion or comment about a motoring or fuel related issue or story you’d like to share with your MotorMouth users from around the country? If so, send through your contribution in 200 words or less and you could win a prize! Your entry can be positive or negative (but of course not rude). The person whose comment is deemed most interesting each month will be awarded a book (or series of books) to the value of $50 from QBD The Bookshop.

All valid entries will be posted on the Past Entries section of the website so everyone can see what’s on the minds of Australian motorists. So what are you waiting for? Send through your contribution. Remember to add your name, address and phone number to your entry so we can notify you if you are chosen as our winner and send you your prize. Please note, only users who are signed up to receive the MotorMouth Newsletter can win the competition.

These articles proudly supplied by News Limited.
Fuel squeeze on VE Commodore
Petrol prices are driving late changes to the next-generation Commodore. Holden is fiddling with the final make-up of the VE to give the big sedan an edge in economy.
[Read more]

Mazda 2 Maxx Really Zooms
To professional cynics it comes as an appalling shock to find a car company slogan that serves as a fair guide to its products. And it's not Audi's austere "vorschsprung durch technik", or even BMW's "ultimate driving machine". It's Mazda's "zoom-zoom".
[Read more]

It's game on for Mitsubishi's new hope
It may have taken nine frustrating years but Mitsubishi finally believes it has a car to compete against the Big Three's family sedans. The new 380 is the car Mitsubishi is banking on to take it out of the red and into genuine competition against the Ford Falcon, the Holden Commodore and the Toyota Camry.
[Read more]

Beat the bowser with Pug
...Their envy, almost anger, is therefore not surprising when they find out our long-term Peugeot 307 Hdi diesel hatch only needs filling once every two to three weeks...
[Read more]

The average, lowest and the highest Unleaded prices for August 2005 in each city were:

The price leading service stations for Unleaded in each city in August 2005 were:

Brisbane	Service Station IFS Address Rochester Drive Suburb Mt Warren park Average Price for month 104.8
Sydney	Service Station Zoom Fuel Address corner Milperra Road and Victoria Road Suburb Revesby Average Price for month 107.9
Melbourne	Service Station Independent Address corner Burwood Highway and Dobson Street Suburb Ferntree Gully Average Price for month 116.8
Adelaide	Service Station Southern Cross Address corner O.G. Road and Yaralin Avenue Suburb Klemzig Average Price for month 113.4
Perth	Service Station Caltex/Woolworths Address 372 Grand Promenade, corner Lowick Road Suburb Dianella Average Price for month 113.9

The average, lowest and the highest Diesel prices for August 2005 in each city were:

The price leading service stations for Diesel in each city in August 2005 were:

Brisbane	Service Station Ampol Address Middle Road Suburb Hillcrest Average Price for month 111.4
Sydney	Service Station Petrol Point Address corner The Horsley Drive and Market Street Suburb Smithfield Average Price for month 118.3
Melbourne	Service Station Liberty Address corner Footscray Road and Moreland Street Suburb Footscray Average Price for month 117.8
Adelaide	Service Station Southern Cross Address corner O.G. Road and Yaralin Avenue Suburb Klemzig Average Price for month 120.3
Perth	Service Station Yule-Du Roadhouse Address Albany Highway Suburb Bedfordale Average Price for month 119.9

MotorMouth is committed to helping Australian motorists get a better deal on fuel by providing them with free and easily accessible information on fuel prices.

Reproduction of the whole or part of this email constitutes an infringement of copyright. All information published in this email is intended to be used for your personal use only and can not be used for commercial use without the prior written consent of MotorMouth Pty Ltd. For data sales enquiries please contact salesmotormouth.com.au