Could it ever be cheaper to drive than to travel by train?

mannaroth

I'm currently a student in a long distance relationship. I live in Leeds and my girlfriend lives in Reading. Travelling to see her costs me £50-£65 depending on what advance tickets are available and the day I'm travelling. She doesn't have a railcard at the moment so her coming to see me costs somewhere around £90. We probably have two, occasionally three, of these journeys each month.

To anyone who's knowledgeable on car costs, can anyone think of a way that purchasing a car and insurance to do this journey would in any way be cheaper over the course of a year? I'm 21 and have had my license for three years, but have not driven or been insured since I passed my test.

wealdroam

It is usually only cheaper to drive if more than one person is travelling.

sharonfrancis

How about taking a coach?

Hammyman

It is nearly always cheaper to drive than go by train unless you are in the OPs position of effectively being a new driver and only using the car occassionally. However I would add from my experience of getting from Reading to Hull that it is probably a good 4hrs quicker by car and how much money do you value that time at?

To the OP, until you hit 25 and have some NCD behind you and would use a car enough to justify the cost, it will be worth just carrying on as you are.

kalaika

£65 per journey, 3 times a month, 12 months a year comes out at a cost of £2,340 for the year. As a 21 year old with no driving history, I'm afraid to say but I think you may find it hard to get insurance on a car for less than that, let alone taking in to account buying the car, tax, MOT, fuel, maintenance, etc.

On a side note, if your girlfriend qualifies for a young persons railcard, I suggest she gets one. The card only costs £28 for the year and you say her ticket is usually £90 so it would probably pay for itself in one journey.

scheming_gypsy

If you're only going to use the car to do that trip every few weeks then hire a car. If you'll be using a car for anything else then tax and insurance etc doesn't matter.


but like Hammyman said, it's usually cheaper to drive. I did a few weeks work in Manchester a few months ago; to get the train i'd have had to have either driven and parked, caught the bus or walked half an hour to Preston train station. Then I'd have to pay £17 return. Or i could drive to my mums in Bury and paid £6 return on the tram.... So instead I drove and paid £3.50 a day parking seeing as it was the cheapest, fastest and most comfortable option.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Indeed as Kalaika has pointed out get her to get a railcard should she be of valid age. But also look at doing the journey via london - Cross country who you probably travel with now dont have any decent advances on a friday - which im assuming is the day you travel - and you may pick up some decent advances Leeds - London - London Reading. May add to the journey time but im guessing cost is king as your students.


Must laugh at Hammyman saying he can do Reading - Hull 4 hours quicker then the train if he is in a car.

The quickest journey time is around 3 hours 50 so he must have a Delorean to arrive there before he left. Even the longest journey is probably 5 hours by train so he must have a really fast car to do it in an hour. :T:rotfl:

Billy-no-Money

By the sounds of it rail is your best option unless you have time to use the coach - I used National Express last Christmas for the first time in twenty years and it was fine (OK the toilet wasn't great but it would do in an emergency) - more relaxing than the train but with a few frustrating diversions off the main route.

At 21 you can hire a car but might have to pay an under-25 supplement - overall I'd guess the cost will be maybe £20 more but if it gives you a bit more freedom when you're together it might be worth it - and you don't have to book as far in advance. I used to do this when I lived in London in my early twenties and was visiting family.

As for buying a car - unless you need one in your day-to-day life I'd steer clear for now. The fixed costs are high at your age, and unless you have a mechanical aptitude there can be unpredictable costs which blow your budget. You do build no-claims bonus but that of course assumes you don't claim! (I'm 47 and choose not to run a car but I've wasted thousands on them in the last 20 or so years )

Hammyman

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

Must laugh at Hammyman saying he can do Reading - Hull 4 hours quicker then the train if he is in a car.

The quickest journey time is around 3 hours 50 so he must have a Delorean to arrive there before he left. Even the longest journey is probably 5 hours by train so he must have a really fast car to do it in an hour. :T:rotfl:

Oh dear. I guess by the comment "the quickest journey time" that you've actually never ever driven it and are merely someone else who thinks that Google Maps journey times bear reality.

I did Howden to MFI's distribution center in Reading near the Gillette factory in a 38 tonne lorry restricted to 56MPH many times over 3 years taking just over 4hrs each way. Hull is only 20 minutes or so from Howden so easily done in a car in under 4hrs at the speed limit.

I was stationed in Arborfield just outside Wokingham when I was in the army so did Reading to Hull quite a lot by train. With the change at Birmingham New Street, again at Sheffield and again at Doncaster it took an absolute age compared to when I used to get a lift back with a mate who lived in Hull.

alanrowell

Hammyman wrote: »

I did Howden to MFI's distribution center in Reading near the Gillette factory in a 38 tonne lorry restricted to 56MPH many times over 3 years taking just over 4hrs each way. Hull is only 20 minutes or so from Howden so easily done in a car in under 4hrs at the speed limit.

Hammyman wrote: »

However I would add from my experience of getting from Reading to Hull that it is probably a good 4hrs quicker by car

So by train it's 8 hours from Reading to Hull?

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Hammyman wrote: »

Oh dear. I guess by the comment "the quickest journey time" that you've actually never ever driven it and are merely someone else who thinks that Google Maps journey times bear reality.

I did Howden to MFI's distribution center in Reading near the Gillette factory in a 38 tonne lorry restricted to 56MPH many times over 3 years taking just over 4hrs each way. Hull is only 20 minutes or so from Howden so easily done in a car in under 4hrs at the speed limit.

I was stationed in Arborfield just outside Wokingham when I was in the army so did Reading to Hull quite a lot by train. With the change at Birmingham New Street, again at Sheffield and again at Doncaster it took an absolute age compared to when I used to get a lift back with a mate who lived in Hull.

Oh dear. It looks like you never even read what you actually wrote so i will quote it and highlight it for you

Hammyman wrote: »

It is nearly always cheaper to drive than go by train unless you are in the OPs position of effectively being a new driver and only using the car occassionally. However I would add from my experience of getting from Reading to Hull that it is probably a good 4hrs quicker by car and how much money do you value that time at?

So as I said. You would need a time machine to do the journey 4 hours quicker by car given that the fastest journey i saw by train was 3 hours 50 minutes.

even the slowest journey time was 5 hours by train. Yet you are claiming that you can do it 4 hours quicker which means you are claiming that you can do Reading to Hull in an hour.

Astonishing claims there. I didnt even have to use google maps or anything - just a train journey planner to show that your talking rubbish.


So again - I will ask - Is the journey from Reading to Hull 4 hours quicker by car then train?

I shall await your answer with baited breath.