To run a Car or NOT to run a Car ? ?

GARDENPETE

Just been putting the car through the usual expenses, Mot, Insurance, Breakdown cover & a full service. Got me thinking about an article a while ago through the AA, who suggested that if you did less than 6 to 7 thousand miles a year then it was not worth running your own car ! It would be cheaper to use hire cars & taxis.

How about that for a money saving idea to put up on the Forum and see if it can be done to SAVE you the money ?

Will be most interested in your comments, thanks for your time, keep up the Extremely good work you are doing.

Take care,

Peter

derrick

I know someone who only does about 60 miles a week (3720 anually) He bought a P reg car 2½ years ago for £800,full MOT,high mileage,full service history 2 previous owners. Road fund licence £165 per year,MOT £40? per year, insurance £150 (average,fully comp for him) petrol @ 30 mpg, (£4 per gal) £496 per year, this totals £2553 over 3 years, £851 for 1 year, £16.36 per week, you could not hire a car for a day for that amount and you have the car on standby all day every day. Breakdown cover would add about £30 per year (Autoaid) making the weekly figure £16.94

Admitted that does not cover any repairs that may come along, but he is adamant that he is better off this way than using taxis or hire cars and to be honest on those figures I agree, although your figures may be different depending on insurance and initial cost of car, but savings could be made by purchasing a car under 1100cc therefore reducing the road fund licence.

For 6000 miles per year the approximate cost re the above fgures would be £22.21 per week over a 3 year period, and the longer the car lasts the cheaper it will become.

Bossyboots

I must admit for general use, my car costs me more than the bus. However if you add the time factor in I would lose over an hour a day commuting and that is if everything works out. I also use my car for taking relatives to hospital and giving other people lifts so when mine was written off earlier this year I was persuaded that I should replace it. I am still considering whether this was the right decision and it may yet end up with my OH having the car and us getting rid of his.

Hermia

I think a car is worth it even if it does cost me more than the bus. I'm in a job where my boss can send my anywhere in the borough at any time. Having to use the bus would be a nightmare, I'd be late for everything. There's also the safety aspect. I live in a rough area and my experiences of using the night buses or trying to find a cab at night are quite scary!

I pay approx. £10 a week on petrol. Public transport would cost me £13 for a travel pass and another £10-15 if I used taxis on a Saturday night. Obviously there is insurance, tax etc. which is expensive. But, I'd also have to pay out for public transport whenever I go on holiday or visit another part of the country. The last time I visited a friend on public transport it cost me £35 on the train (the cheapest fair I could get) and another £10 on taxis - yikes!

tomstickland

You can buy perfectly good cars for £800. You can even buy roadworthy cars with 12 months MOT for £400. Basic servicing is very simple and you can do it yourself. Find a motor factors and parts are much cheaper than anything a garage charges. Don't take out breakdown cover. I've not had it for 4-5 years now and I did 25K per year, including Scotland and back a few times.
Lots of short journey's kills a car, so if you're using for endless 1-2 mile trips then I'd consider walking instead.

Savvy_Sue

tomstickland wrote:

Lots of short journey's kills a car, so if you're using for endless 1-2 mile trips then I'd consider walking instead.

Walking's wonderful if you haven't got anything to carry and 40 minutes to spare.

We run one car, usually go into work together then one of us drives home while the other gets the bus, but we work different hours and DH has lots of evening meetings. Earlier this year we replaced a gas guzzler with a small and economical car and are saving a fortune!