giving up the car

mustrum_ridcully

rev_henry wrote: »

The thing about public transport is it costs PER PERSON rather than just however much petrol. Taxis are the exception to this as you pay 20p extra per person full stop. I generally find the car about the same/a little more than the train in petrol, but as soon as you add a passenger the train makes 0 sense, especially as you already have the car and will pay for insurance, mot etc anyway.

OP you could even SORN your car when the tax and insurance runs out, then you won't be paying anything towards it really, do this for a month or so and see how it goes.

Train fares can be total con at times (or all the time depending on where you're going).

Coach companies can be VERY cheap, in particular megabus. I did a quick search for Cardiff to London (deliberate - bridge tolls are a nice example of hidden motoring extras ) and you can get a return adult ticket for £2. That's for both day-return trips and multi day trips. However £6 return seems to be the most common price.

To go by car: £5.50 toll (or whatever it is at moment), £30 petrol, £1 overheads. Lets assume you find somewhere to park for free outside the congestion zone (yeah pretty darn big assumption I know). I'll ignore public transport costs in London as they might be needed for both car and bus.

At £2 the car can't compete, at £6 you'd need a big car with 7 people on board to be cheaper (and hope you get decent mpg).

seafarers_wife

my car costs are extortionate so not sure wether to thank you or :mad: at you for making me look at them lol.

insurance £800 a year (rounded up by £15)
Car tax £155 a year
diesel budget £150 a month averaged out over the year (get 480 miles out a tank and a tank costs between £48 - £56 dependant on price)
car loan £256 (another 2 years to run)
then servicing and mot which we budget £100 a month

so yearly running costs of car is £7092. each day it costs £19.50, 4 weekly bus ticket would cost £89 and it would take me 2 hours each way to get to work rather than the 30/40 mins each way it takes me at the moment.

going to visit immediate family on bus is £15 each and a 5 hour each way bus journey due to connections (done it once and never again) and its 30 mins in the car.

going to visit either set of parents i just wouldnt contemplate doing it by public transport as to get to mine i would be about 7 hours travelling due to connections and to get to oh's well i wouldnt even attempt it!

on reflection our running costs are extortionate but at the moment for us its worth it for the convienience, we are not getting further into debt to pay for it, and every year our running costs will hopefully continue to decrease by not paying as much for insurance. we will re-evaluate the size of car when this is on its last legs but at the moment the maintenance side of things is pretty non existent and the surplus thats builiding up in the car account will be used towards a new car when the time comes.

Strider590

Hammyman wrote: »

Where did you get the figure of £80 from? Even with finance for a £5k loan, doing 600 miles per week mine JUST costs me £80. Take off the finance and knock the mileage down to a more reasonable 300 per week and its £30 a week - maybe £50 if you had a petrol car.

Based on figures from either the RAC or the AA, it was an article on the website around 12 months ago.

I did the math and worked out (with budgeting £500 a year for repairs), than my car was costing something like £85 a week.
I paid cash for it, so have no outstanding finance/loans.

optimus_primera

I have often considered getting shot of the car,(purely for financial reasons) and yes on the face of it, it was an attractive prospect,no car tax,Mot, insurance, running costs etc.
On the down side, i live in a village, and work in town about a 7 mile car journey, usually about 10-15 minutes in the morning, on the bus its about a 25 minute journey into town, then about a 15 min walk to the industrial estate where i work,and then of course, you have to take into account what time the bus is you need to catch. so i can add about 2 hrs to my day with travelling to and from work.
Plus i am a fitter,so sometimes i have to carry my tools around.
We had to survive like this earlier this yr when i was between cars, and it was a nightmare,for me the sheer convenience outways the finance concerns, it a matter of needing the car.

diable

but the thrill of summer evenings scooting around on B roads makes up for the cost................... especially when in the company of a beautiful woman.......

optimus_primera

diable wrote: »

but the thrill of summer evenings scooting around on B roads makes up for the cost................... especially when in the company of a beautiful woman.......

Does your wife know you do that???

[Deleted User]

thanks all , some good thoughts in all of that.
i suppose the thing i picked out was the cost of public transport being per person.
all the journeys can be done while the kids are at school , it is just those 2 bus journeys a week.
i think i will see what happens when i MOT it in january , as i just have this horrible feeling it is going to start becoming a cash cow

i am going to visit a friend in wales on tues and have bought a family railcard . should be interesting as i am so used to driving everywhere - it might make me say never again

also - one last question - doesn't the cost of parking sometimes make the journey cheaper by public transport, especially if you were going to park somewhere for the day ??

rev_henry

mummyof5 wrote: »

thanks all , some good thoughts in all of that.
i suppose the thing i picked out was the cost of public transport being per person.
all the journeys can be done while the kids are at school , it is just those 2 bus journeys a week.
i think i will see what happens when i MOT it in january , as i just have this horrible feeling it is going to start becoming a cash cow

i am going to visit a friend in wales on tues and have bought a family railcard . should be interesting as i am so used to driving everywhere - it might make me say never again

also - one last question - doesn't the cost of parking sometimes make the journey cheaper by public transport, especially if you were going to park somewhere for the day ??

Oh yes the family railcard's fantastic. My parents used it a lot when I was younger, must have saved hundreds.

Well, it depends where you park obviously but it could do yes. I won't pay for parking on principle, instead driving round a bit to find somewhere that's free. But with 5 kids I imagine you park as close as you can.

[Deleted User]

i don't actually go far with the kids in the car as we live in town so walk most places already !
and i only usually have the 3 youngest with me as the others are older and fend for themselves !

wba31

optimus_primera wrote: »

Does your wife know you do that???

was gonna say - I dont think my better half would be happy with me going out with another woman like that... :rotfl: