Car / BR question...

Experiment626

Right, i'm 27 and i'm not driving yet...please don't ask the reasons, it's embarrasing enough to be this age and not have a car, lol!

However, just before christmas as part of my bonus, my boss offered to send me on a residential driving course to pass my test, this would both enable me to drive the works vehicle and also gain a little independence for myself.

I haven't taken the course yet, but am going to over the next month or so. My problem is that i'm on a fairly low income (under 10k after tax), have big debts (around 20k) and am considering bankruptcy sometime soon.

However, for what I am currently paying per month for a workmate to come pick me up & train/bus fares to see my girlfriend each weekend, I could afford to be running a car, a very cheap car, say around the £200 mark.

The thing is if I do go BR, would I be allowed to keep the car as I can claim it's needed for travel to work and also it would be needed to see my girlfriend, which although the OR might not consider a necessity, it most definately is!

Just worried it may look odd that i'm 27 then suddenly pass my test and get a car just before I go BR!

shameless-about-money

The car will not be a problem in br, so go ahead and buy one!

A car becomes a problem over £2K or so.

Experiment626

That's something of a relief, I hadn't bothered getting a car for ages as I thought I didn't have enough money to run one, then it occured to me the other day that if I did have a car then the money I spend on public travel would become available to me, a very late and slightly dumb revelation at that!

Obviously tax/mot/insurance are all fixed yearly costs, however how much are you allowed to add per month for petrol, repairs, etc?

tight_jock

I would agree with shameless about you being allowed to keep a car if it is shown to be essential for work.

But not about the vehicle`s value.

The value of a vehicle and whether you will have to run a cheaper one is entirely at the discretion of the individual OR and this varies from place to place.

shameless-about-money

Petrol would be an average of actual costs depending on the distance you have to drive to work and back and for leisure, which could come to £10 per week or a lot more!

Repairs would be about £40 per month.

shameless-about-money

tight_jock wrote:

I would agree with shameless about you being allowed to keep a car if it is shown to be essential for work.

But not about the vehicle`s value.

The value of a vehicle and whether you will have to run a cheaper one is entirely at the discretion of the individual OR and this varies from place to place.

In practice if the OR takes a vehicle they have to replace it albeit with a cheaper car.

If the car is only £200 to start with it would cost the OR more to send it to auction, etc, than it would in realising any money!

The figure of £2K is used in practice as being the highest figure for a vehicle that would not interest the OR due to costs of selling, etc.

tight_jock

Experiment626 wrote:

Obviously tax/mot/insurance are all fixed yearly costs, however how much are you allowed to add per month for petrol, repairs, etc?

For running a vehicle you need to add Insurance, roadside assistance, tax, mot and maintenance and fuel at a sensible figure. I would also build in a small sum within maintenance for emergency ie tyres or breakdown repairs.Don`t just split the cost of an annual service into 12.

tight_jock

shameless-about-money wrote:

In practice if the OR takes a vehicle they have to replace it albeit with a cheaper car.
If the car is only £200 to start with it would cost the OR more to send it to auction, etc, than it would in realising any money!

The figure of £2K is used in practice as being the highest figure for a vehicle that would not interest the OR due to costs of selling, etc.

They only have to replace it if it is deemed to be essential. If the BR can continue to use public transport or a bike then the car may be taken. As the OP is currently using another arrangement it could be argued that it is possible for them to continue with it and not have a car.

I had a car taken with a value of considerably less than £2k. As I said before, these decisions are entirely at the discretion of the individual OR`s office.

Experiment626

Wow, there's a lot more to consider than I thought.

In regards to the person who currently picks me up for work, he will be moving house within the next couple of months and this would mean I am no longer on his way to work, would this be a reasonable cause for needing a car for work, I actually think that my boss factored this into the offer of the driving course.

Is roadside assistance allowable as an outgoing, I thought this might be considered non essential?

What would be a sensible amount for maintenance/emergency repairs, this is a whole new area for me you see.

Toomuchdebt

Would a journey to 2 schools that takes over an hour and a half one way if I walked with no public transport going to both schools(one bus goes half way, the next goes part way to one school, no buses from one school to the next at all) count as needing a car(for 4 kids?)

PS Sorry to hijack your post!!

shameless-about-money

In practice you would add £40 per month for car repairs/tyres etc.