The cost of motoring....

butterfly72

I know the yearly costs are high but today its really dawned on me as my car is in for a service:


Annual service/MOT plus air con service and work £700 - with 10% discount at independent not main dealer!

Insurance £250 (didn't have time to sort cashback this year)

Tyres: Spent £250 on them so far this year. (I get my fair share of flats)

Tax: £120 i think.

Petrol: Always filling up, am a district nurse and NHS only give me 36.9p per mile for using my own car.

I don't know why I've never added all this together before, its a colossal amount! It seems that there's not much we can do about the high costs either? Anyway, just posted to have a winge really and see if anyones got any tips to reduce costs.

wba31

butterfly72 wrote: »

I know the yearly costs are high but today its really dawned on me as my car is in for a service:


Annual service/MOT plus air con service and work £700 - with 10% discount at independent not main dealer!

Insurance £250 (didn't have time to sort cashback this year)

Tyres: Spent £250 on them so far this year. (I get my fair share of flats)

Tax: £120 i think.

Petrol: Always filling up, am a district nurse and NHS only give me 36.9p per mile for using my own car.

I don't know why I've never added all this together before, its a colossal amount! It seems that there's not much we can do about the high costs either? Anyway, just posted to have a winge really and see if anyones got any tips to reduce costs.

36.9p a mile isnt bad. I get 40p a mile from work, so a trip from Birmingham to Leeds and back usually costs £25 fuel maximum, and i get £96 for the pleasure...

Although my MOT only costs me £20 plus parts (friends and family discount at the garage my old man works at...)

motorguy

butterfly72 wrote: »

I know the yearly costs are high but today its really dawned on me as my car is in for a service:


Annual service/MOT plus air con service and work £700 - with 10% discount at independent not main dealer!

Insurance £250 (didn't have time to sort cashback this year)

Tyres: Spent £250 on them so far this year. (I get my fair share of flats)

Tax: £120 i think.

Petrol: Always filling up, am a district nurse and NHS only give me 36.9p per mile for using my own car.

I don't know why I've never added all this together before, its a colossal amount! It seems that there's not much we can do about the high costs either? Anyway, just posted to have a winge really and see if anyones got any tips to reduce costs.

You've missed out a big motoring cost - Depreciation.

butterfly72

pgilc1 wrote: »

You've missed out a big motoring cost - Depreciation.

Thanks for that I feel even more depressed now!!

How do I work out depreciation?

AlexisV

Depends on what car you have!!!

Wh05apk

£700 for servicing, and £250 on tyres!!!!! what sort of car/mileage are you doing?

Given your job, I suspect you don't have any choice in that you have to have a car?

Lum

You can claim back tax relief on the 4.1p/mile that your work aren't paying you. You need to keep a log of all work related mileage and fill in a form P87. It'll only work out as ~0.8p/mile back though, assuming you're a basic rate taxpayer, so maybe not worth it.

butterfly72

Wh05apk wrote: »

£700 for servicing, and £250 on tyres!!!!! what sort of car/mileage are you doing?

Given your job, I suspect you don't have any choice in that you have to have a car?

I've spoken to the garage and its gone down to 625 now! Thats includes an air con service. As for tyres, around here I have to park half on the kerb and half on the road which doesn't help, plus you tend to pick up nails and screws in the gutters... bear in mind I park up 10 -15 times a day when visiting patients. Its a vauxhall corse.. nothing special and I do a fair few miles.

Thanks Lum, I really must claim that back.

Lum

How many miles do you do? The 40p/mile figure is only for up to 10,000 miles, then it drops to 25p/mile

Do the NHS rates also drop after 10,000 miles, otherwise you may actually owe tax!

And FWIW, I appreciate what district nurses do. Got visited by them twice a day for two weeks when I was on IV antibiotics, would have had to spend a further two weeks in hospital if it wasn't for you lot

Hintza

pgilc1 wrote: »

You've missed out a big motoring cost - Depreciation.

Absolutely if you need a fairly decent and reliable car then your costs (depending on size) will not be far off £1/mile.

whatmichaelsays

pgilc1 wrote: »

You've missed out a big motoring cost - Depreciation.

That's a red herring IMO.

The alternative to a car is public transport - and bus / train tickets depreciate a hell of a lot faster than a car does.

Private cars, in the main, also offer a huge time saving. How much do you value your "free" time?