Should we get rid of the car?

shar46y

hartcjhart wrote: »

the big part of the depreciation has already happened,

so if we say apx

£700 pa,=£14 apx a week that would probably equate to 2 taxi fairs let alone car hire

at that cost I would keep the car

Ah, I should have said that we bought it when it was just under 2 years old, so somebody else suffered the biggest depreciation but even now I reckon it's losing £1000 per year or something like that?

rexmedorum

I am in a similar situation (minus the kids). I.e. mostly only use the car at weekends now. It is useful to be able to just go somehwere though. Even if renting occasionally would be cheaper we'd probably decide not to do it.

crispy_chris

If I were in your position I would ask myself the question "Am I struggling to afford my current lifestyle?"

If I was, I would get rid of the car.
If I wasn't, I would keep it for it's convenience.

benham3160

As somebody who got rid of my car thinking "I don't really use it" I can tell you it's one of the biggest mistakes I ever made!

Also you never know when you may need a car (emergency hospital visits, getting stuff down the dump etc...) and you'll regret it!

Also if your NCB lapses, you'll have to start all over again!

Regards,
Andy

TrickyWicky

Personally I think if you have kids you'd be mad to consider getting rid of your car. What if you need to get one to the hospital urgently?

What if you need to take them to a friends birthday party or your partner misses the last bus etc. Cars are very useful things to have around. Trust me, I lived without one for 25 years and I'd hate to be without one again.

Billy-no-Money

crispy_chris wrote: »

If I were in your position I would ask myself the question "Am I struggling to afford my current lifestyle?"

If I was, I would get rid of the car.
If I wasn't, I would keep it for it's convenience.

What he / she said.

If it's paid for the fixed ownership costs are relatively low, and if it starts to go wrong so what - you can live without it and fix it at your convenience.

I and my (ex) wife tried living as a zero-car family for a year and it was a worthwhile experience but the things I remember are:

• Long journeys were not a problem, we used the train and the kids loved it
• Short journeys (under three miles) were OK on foot if planned
• Journeys to places like out-of-town retail developments were an absolute pain in the backside - but that was pre-internet so maybe not such an issue now.

If you can park the car off-road and SORN it for a couple of months give it a try (but keep it insured for theft at least). But don't sell the car just yet.

Weird_Nev

Cars cost money. If you can do without one, and don't want one for other reasons, don't run one and you'll save thousands a year.

shar46y

Interesting! The responses on this thread are mostly in favour of keeping the car, but the poll is currently almost equal!

We bought the car outright so we don't have any repayment costs on it. But although we are doing OK financially and (touch wood) have no cash flow problems, I sometimes do look at the car sitting by the roadside and see £££ just rusting away that could be in our bank account instead.

(We don't have a drive so can't SORN it )

Lemoncurd

How long until your children start school?
I could almost have lived without a car when ours were small (I did during the week as we only had one and husband used it to get to work) but now they are at school it would be incredibly hard, need it most days to get to various clubs and friends houses and for transporting their friends too - several times a week we drive a couple of extra children so make use of all 7 seats.

I'm sure you would adapt and find ways around things if you do decide to sell though.

missile

I would suggest a trial separation.

Pretend you have sold the car and do not use it for a month. If you do not miss it then sell it.