Potentially Saving for a Car - advice on cost?

ChopinonaBudget

Hi,

I've been toying with the idea of buying a car for a while now, but before anybody jumps down my throat at the extent of my debts, I'll explain a few things -

1) I'm not in a position to buy one yet, this I'm aware.
2) When/if I do buy, I'm looking at spending £1200. From what I can gather, this seems to be a sensible amount to spend so as not to end up with a useless heap of c**p, and is small enough to be do-able
3) I will only buy something in the VERY low insurance group as my insurance will be through the roof as I have no no claims bonus after not driving for 7 or 8 years
4) I will not consider buying until a) the overdraft is clear
b) I have made a dent in my
credit card (soon to be 0%)
c) I have made a dent in
loan to Mum
d) Xmas and Jan Tax is done

My problems at the minute are -

1) I have just been refused work due to the fact I don't have a car. This is work I could have taken on in addition to my current 2 jobs as the hours are exactly the hours I don't work
This work pays roughly £25 p/h
2) I am paying £351 per annum for weekly bus passes for my daughter to get the bus to school. This wouldn't change with a car as although I would be able to give her some lifts, she catches 2 buses each way, so the cheapest way for her to use the bus would be to get the pass anyway.
3) BUT.... Out of school weeks, I am paying £2.20 a day for her buses, as it rarely adds up to enough to warrant the £9 weekly charge
4) My bus tickets are £3.40 for a day ticket. I never get enough day tickets to warrant paying for a weekly pass (£15) but most weeks end up spending £10-13 on buses
5) Taxis cost £6/7 to get to work on a Saturday (bus is ok to come back, but I leave to early to get a straight through bus, and without a straight through it takes me nearly an hour to do the whole journey)
6) Taxi to Asda costs £6, on a Sunday £7
7) I end up spending more in Tesco and local Tesco expresses etc as it takes too long to walk to big Asda on a frequent basis, and the buses don't run on Sundays. Even the big Tesco which could potentially work out cheaper due to the extra product ranges, is impossible except for the rare occasion. No sunday bus service, an hour walk, or £7 taxi (each way.)

So......
My question is.....

I need to know how much it really costs to run a small car and whether, based on those figures, it would save me money, cost me money, or I would break even, as I need to know at what point I can get one.

All bets are off if I get offered work by any of the private schools I applied to, as with even 4 or 5 hours a week, I could afford a car within a few months for definite. And would need one to make it viable to get back for private teaching on time.

Ive just worked out that NOT having a car is costing me roughly £900 per annum, not including more expensive groceries.

I can't find a car-cost-per-year online as they all base their figures on new or nearly new cars (hahahahahaha!) and all include depreciation (like I care, I'll drive it until it's dead) So anything I've found in the past has been useless.

The insurance quotes I've been finding have been knocking around the £500-600 mark, so I'm guessing next year I would be looking at £350-£450?

Any help on this conundrum would be appreciated!!!!

Thanks

ani_26

Personally, i view cars as money eaters. If you buy a second hand car, you could buy someone elses problems? I have an old car, and so far this year, i have spent £1300 in total. Car insurance, ( very reasonable at £270,) breakdown insurance, ( essential!), new radiator, alternator, fan belt, wiper blades, plus mot, road tax, and it still needs more repairs before next mot, ( a few hundred more quid.) Apart from that, it's in pretty good nick? Who knows? :eek: Add on the rising cost of extortionate fuel prices and rubber at £150 - £170 a corner, in my case. Need i say more.

I now class a car as a luxury, realistically, i can't afford. I've been in the same position as you. No car = no job. But sometimes it's good to take a step back and focus what is really important and not to work yourself into the ground?

I have already decided, once this car has gone, that's it. No more more car ownership, and i am in a similar postion, with very limited and expensive public transport.

It's a difficult decision when it affects work, but work isn't the be all and end all? Have you considered shopping online and having your shopping delivered? I know you can't get the bargains that way, but?


Ps - I love your username.

Ladybird.

There are a couple of calculators online if you know the make/model you are after and some other details e.g. http://www.whatprice.co.uk/tools/car-running-costs.php

We got rid of my old car earlier in the year. Would probably have been worth about £1k but when it came to it's MOT it needed £700 worth of work to get it though (after sailing through every MOT for years before that) so we sold it for a few £100 to someone who wanted to do it up themselves and sell it on. That's the trouble with cars though, especially older ones, you never know what kind of big bills are lurking round the corner....

ETS I also find that when I do have a car I make so many more trips that I wouldn't have done without one- not having a car definitely makes me plan more carefully in terms of shopping and stuff so probably quite a bit of money saved there too!

unimaginative_user_name

Ani's right about cars. They eat money. You can budget for some expenses (insurance, MOT, road tax) but it's the unexpected repair bills that are the killer.

ChopinonaBudget

ani_26 wrote: »

Personally, i view cars as money eaters. If you buy a second hand car, you could buy someone elses problems? I have an old car, and so far this year, i have spent £1300 in total. Car insurance, ( very reasonable at £270,) breakdown insurance, ( essential!), new radiator, alternator, fan belt, wiper blades, plus mot, road tax, and it still needs more repairs before next mot, ( a few hundred more quid.) Apart from that, it's in pretty good nick? Who knows? :eek: Add on the rising cost of extortionate fuel prices and rubber at £150 - £170 a corner, in my case. Need i say more.

I now class a car as a luxury, realistically, i can't afford. I've been in the same position as you. No car = no job. But sometimes it's good to take a step back and focus what is really important and not to work yourself into the ground?

I have already decided, once this car has gone, that's it. No more more car ownership, and i am in a similar postion, with very limited and expensive public transport.

It's a difficult decision when it affects work, but work isn't the be all and end all? Have you considered shopping online and having your shopping delivered? I know you can't get the bargains that way, but?


Ps - I love your username.

Thanks Ani, that's actually very helpful, I've been out of the loop with cars for so long I really don't have much of a clue how much repairs cost. Buying a money eater is my biggest fear, as my last two cars were heaps of junk, the one only lasted 4 months and I reckon I only drove it for two out of that. Absolute nightmare. I know that due to this, I've got a little bit more awareness of what to a avKoid that I used to have, I hunted for a car a few years ago, and irritated one garage by ignoring his wittering about CD players and air conditioning, and popped the hood, took one look at the horrifically oil stained engine and said no I'm not buying that or anything else you're trying to sell me. But yes, I'm still concerned about buying a dud as I've done it before and paid dearly for it.

The work aspect, I'm in two minds about; I love my job, I genuinely do, and the prospect of working for a good employer doing peripatetic is something I'd love to to, but I'm unsure about buying a car to potentially earn £400 pm where the schedule is so tight I have "ten minutes" to get from one school to another. I'm not sure the stress wouldn't kill me! So I'm actually in part agreement with you there.

Thanks for the comment about my user name!

ChopinonaBudget

Ladybird. wrote: »

There are a couple of calculators online if you know the make/model you are after and some other details e.g. http://www.whatprice.co.uk/tools/car-running-costs.php

We got rid of my old car earlier in the year. Would probably have been worth about £1k but when it came to it's MOT it needed £700 worth of work to get it though (after sailing through every MOT for years before that) so we sold it for a few £100 to someone who wanted to do it up themselves and sell it on. That's the trouble with cars though, especially older ones, you never know what kind of big bills are lurking round the corner....

ETS I also find that when I do have a car I make so many more trips that I wouldn't have done without one- not having a car definitely makes me plan more carefully in terms of shopping and stuff so probably quite a bit of money saved there too!

Ouch! That's a lot of cash!
And yes, money pit cars are my worst nightmare. Thank you for giving me a realistic idea of what I could potential expect with a car, I think I need to work out true runnin costs and worst case scenario to work this one out.

The trips things is the opposite with me; I make more trips now I don't have a car as there is only so much stuff I can carry in one go. So buses mount up because I can never keep the house properly stocked. When I had a car I used to do a shop once a week, and still walk for small journeys; in fact I would often forget where I parked it!

I'll try that calculator later today, thanks looks like it could be useful!

ChopinonaBudget

unimaginative_user_name wrote: »

Ani's right about cars. They eat money. You can budget for some expenses (insurance, MOT, road tax) but it's the unexpected repair bills that are the killer.

Yes, I think this is the 'x' amount that I can't factor in. I hope with all these replies (all warning me about excruciating repair costs!) I'll be able to make a proper valued judgement when I need to.
I think the question is not 'whether' I can buy a car, but 'when', as my earnings more than justify the cost of a car, it's at what point in my debt repayments can I make that leap to buy one to a) make life easier for me and my daughter (she travels an hour a day each way to school at the minute) b) to allow me to get th sort of work I would like (I also have provisional plans on setting up a music scheme for music workshops for schools with a colleague) c) when I can genuinely afford one. (and I do mean genuinely, I absolutely must be able to afford all eventualities, not just initial costs)

ChopinonaBudget

Incidentally, i don't do online grocery shopping as my daughter has a specialised diet and is highly sensitive to gluten. We need to check every label, avoid certain products in brand lines, some brand lines altogether, substitute usual buys with specific brands/items, check for oats (not listed in allergy box) and have a mental list of which products are approved as ok even though they state "may contain gluten" and which have been warned against.
It's easy for us to shop as we know exactly which bands to look to (and by brands I don't necessarily mean 'brands',) but a delivered shop be so full of useless substututions that I would need to go back out anyway!

theoretica

Does your area have a citycar club/zip cars or anything like that? You might find it worth considering, if only for occasional shopping trips.

ChopinonaBudget

theoretica wrote: »

Does your area have a citycar club/zip cars or anything like that? You might find it worth considering, if only for occasional shopping trips.

I've just looked it up, the prices are extortionate!!!!!
Thank you for the idea, but at £5.70 an hour plus 23p per mile, I can only see this being worthwhile for someone who would only use a car maybe once a month or something.

Plus, my nearest one is a half hour walk away (or a £3.40 bus fare), both of which sort of defeat the object.
Thanks though, was worth looking at

amr547

My first car was a 02 Renault Clio for £950. It'd done 48,000 miles when I got it, so I thought it was a good little car. WRONG. In the 9 months I had it, I spent over £700 on repairs and it still needed £900-odd doing to it when I part-exchanged it for a newer car (2010 Toyota Aygo). The Aygo is actually £1000 cheaper on insurance than the Clio, so I've saved a fortune by getting rid of it, even if the new car is financed.

I'd say for £1200 you will get what you pay for. If you can't stretch to any more, I'd suggest buying from a dealer because you'll get some warranty on it, and obviously get it serviced regularly to make sure nothing will be wrong with it.

I'd also check out tax and insurance beforehand as well as its MPG and the types of tyres it'll need. You don't want to find out your road tax is really expensive when it comes up for renewal, or its got a really low MPG, or your tyes will cost £100 each!