Wow - £1200+, that's almost as much as it cost me for my biodiesel setup. 30,000 + miles so far on bio, no problems from it at all, just the usual landy problems. When the head gasket was done the mechanic commented on how smooth the engine ran and that the top end was still in good nick.
Aside from the savings, running on biodiesel is much better for the engine - smoother, no smoke. Plus if you use old cooking oil it's far more environmentally friendly - just remember to add a winteriser when it's cold, otherwise you'll be going through a fuel filter every few miles!!
Plenty of small hotels, restaurants etc that are more than happy to let you take their old oil for free, which means my running costs are a bit of time and about 25p/litre all in.
And I think if I'm not mistaken that for HMRC you need to keep records of your production, irrespective of whether it goes in your tank or not, so it should show the date of each batch you make rather than the date you put it in your car.
If you're buying it from someone else you can do a simple 27/3 test on it - dissolving 3ml of biodiesel in 27ml of pure methanol to see how much unreacted oil is in it. It should be clear or with a maximum of 6% unreacted oil. I've heard a few stories of people buying it and having problems with poor quality fuel, but this test should help.
For anyone thinking of getting into bio production/use the vegetable oil diesel forum is essential
vegetableoildiesel.co.uk - Powered by XMB
Oh and don't get a cheapo plastic reactor either - there are plenty of good quality metal ones out there that are more stable. My setup costs were close to £1500, but I save more than that every 12 months.