Planning on Driving in Germany Soon?

I don't get the connection between Brad's comments and Beatrix's question. Brad didn't say anything about U.S. fuel prices being as high as Europe's. He stated a fact – gas prices are reaching record highs in the U.S. That was about all he said. Now if you want to talk about high gas taxes funding health care, education, public transportation, etc. in Europe, that's a different line of thought (related but different).

Jo, thanks for the info! Definitely something to consider in our planning budget.

Yes, my radio station said we're experiencing highest August gas prices on record here in the US too.

Brad, are you actually anywhere near the USD 8 per gallon that Europeans currently shell out?

Even if more expensive, it still pays out to rent diesel cars. Some of the newer models are incredibly fuel-efficient. I usually rent bigger cars to travel (instead of using my own city car) abroad. I recently used an Open Insignia to go to Italy from Netherlands, including tons of high-speed driving (90-100 mph) in Germany, and it scored the equivalent of 42mpg. Smaller diesel cars are reaching the vicinity of 60mpg.

I just find it a bit weird to talk about a "record high" that is still miles lower than most other parts of the world, Canada included.

Jo, Those are indeed steep prices! The average price for "Regular" in this area is 133.9 / liter at the moment. It's not surprising that the prices increased just before a long weekend or other holiday. The same thing usually happens here, and while everyone complains bitterly and writes "Letters to the Editor" complaining of price-gouging, nothing ever changes. This is one reason I prefer travelling by train as much as possible on European trips. Cheers!

It's all relative...it's high to U.S. consumers compared to what they're used to. And people all over the US, Canada, and all across Europe will always complain about gas prices, so it's really not that weird. I suppose a Norwegian or German might think it's weird for Americans to complain when they pay so much more, but we're not paying 50%, 60%, or 70% in gas taxes either. In Iowa, our combined federal, state, and local taxes make up about 10% of the price at the pump (a tad more when prices are lower). I would be all for paying more in taxes for better roads and bridges that won't fall into the Mississippi River, but raising taxes on gas is a huge political hot potato in this country. Even if taxes were raised for this purpose, our inept government would spend it on something else, like corporate welfare to oil companies. We're not funding everything under the sun through gas taxes like the Europeans are either, so you can't really compare apples to apples. Still, nobody likes a price hike, and saying that one shouldn't complain since they're not paying what a Brit might be paying really doesn't make a lot of sense. I don't think most Americans or Canadians care what someone else is paying in the rest of the world...they care about what they're paying at home (although if they're planning on a driving vacation in Germany, they might temporarily care about Jo's post).