Bowser bleeds our families dry

PETROL price increases, combined with living expenses and the cost of owning or renting a home, are running everyday working families into the ground, with some resorting to desperate measures just to make ends meet.

According to a recent report by the NRMA, the price of running a family sedan has skyrocketed in the past five years, with the cost of keeping a family car on the road reaching almost a quarter of the average weekly wage in Australia.

NRMA Motoring and Services president Alan Evans said depreciation and petrol prices meant the financial strain on motorists had never been higher.

One Illawarra woman said running her family cars was costing her young family a small fortune.

Karen Dellafiori works in Corrimal but lives in Dapto, commuting to the Northern Suburbs for work most days of the week.

Ms Dellafiori has four children living at home and said the cost of petrol was a significant dent in the family budget.

"We're spending about $400 a week (on petrol) and sometimes I do the trip between Corrimal and Dapto six times a week " there goes a tank of fuel!" said Ms Dellafiori who, along with her husband, drives a Ford Territory and a Daewoo Nubira. "It really adds up."

Ms Dellafiori said she believed recent price increases were unjust, adding that she knew of three local families who had sold their homes after the combined cost of keeping their transport on the road, along with mortgage repayments, had become too much.

"They just sold up their houses because they couldn't afford it," she said.

The NRMA 2007 Vehicle Running Costs report found that the average weekly running cost for popular family cars such as the Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon, Mitsubishi 380 and Toyota Aurion was $265.97.

Comparisons between existing running costs and those of five years ago also found that the average cost of running a small car increased 33 percent to $174.60 a week and the average cost of running a light vehicle increased by 41 percent to $143.81 a week.

The report also found that the cheapest vehicle to run was the Hyundai Getz and the most expensive was the Toyota Landcruiser Sahara at $413.86 a week.

An NRMA spokesperson said the sale of hybrid vehicles had doubled in the past year.