Plan for first buyer

giddypenguin

Remember the ongoing costs of your car and bike, MOT, insurance, tax, servicing, fixing, and of course petrol... will seriously eat into what you are saving now.

dimbo61

Please forget the bike and get a small, modern car C1, or VW up or Fiat Panda.
It may not be cool but it will have room for 2/3 friends and be cheap to run.
I work as a Paramedic and see too many young bikers come off there bikes.
Think 50MPG same as big bike and £20 road tax

hazyjo

dimbo61 wrote: »

Please forget the bike and get a small, modern car C1, or VW up or Fiat Panda.
It may not be cool but it will have room for 2/3 friends and be cheap to run.

Oops, lost a bit, so adding again.

Or get a smart car like me and you won't have to act as taxi driver! Only room for one passenger.


Even with £30pa tax, and insurance that was under £200pa at the time (and I was doing less than 500 miles a year for a couple of years!), it was still working out at around £40 per month, excluding petrol (over £30 a time now to fill the tank in a smart). That was taking into account the cost of the MOT and yearly service (not allowing for any work/maintenance that will need doing most years).

Do not underestimate the cost of running a car/bike! Especially at your age. It'll be THOUSANDS a year just for insurance.

Jx

dimbo61

Well done on saving £15K at 20 years of age on that income.
Keep saving and look for a better paying job.
Buying a house costs a lot of money but so does paying all the bills every month on your own

Errata

dimbo61 wrote: »

Please forget the bike and get a small, modern car C1, or VW up or Fiat Panda.
It may not be cool but it will have room for 2/3 friends and be cheap to run.
I work as a Paramedic and see too many young bikers come off there bikes.
Think 50MPG same as big bike and £20 road tax

Motorbikes are known as donor cycles for good reason.

TightMike

Thanks for all the replies, I've 'thanked' most of the replies, I'm not sure whether I have a 'thank you' limit? I'm new to this forum, can you tell?

Errata wrote: »

Motorbikes are known as donor cycles for good reason.

Yeah, biking has that stigma attached to it by the public. Did you know biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding (I was going to add a BBC link but new posters can't)? Yet many parents are quite happy to pay for their precious little daughter's riding lessons.

dimbo61 wrote: »

Please forget the bike and get a small, modern car C1, or VW up or Fiat Panda.

I would never forget the bike, I love it/them too much. Maybe get a bike and a small car? Anyway yeah my plan was to get a small car that's reliable, cheap to insure etc. £2500 is my budget which will include insurance, so the car would probably cost £2000 which should get a decent-ish car.

dimbo61 wrote: »

I work as a Paramedic and see too many young bikers come off there bikes.

But you don't see the thousands of bikers that return home safely at the end of the day. I appreciate what you're saying, but you're judgement will be slightly bias if all you ever see is dead/injured bikers.

I understand it's dangerous, I never leave the house on the bike without full gear and have done the BikeSafe and IAM courses for exactly that reason. Anyway I could argue with you all day But I don't want to go too much OT.

hazyjo wrote: »

Okay, you're probably into bikes and want one rather than need one, but why not just get a car? The bike can wait a few years, surely...

Jx

Good point, I've thought about this quite a bit. I already have a bike, but if I moved out it would mean I probably wouldn't be able to get a new one for another 2-3 years obviously because I can imagine money would be tight, so my thinking on it is that I should save up for a new one while I can, before I move out and I'll have very little excess money to save up for one. If that makes sense?

giddypenguin wrote: »

Remember the ongoing costs of your car and bike, MOT, insurance, tax, servicing, fixing, and of course petrol... will seriously eat into what you are saving now.

Very true. I already have a bike that I pay all the costs for, and a car which I pay some of the costs for and I can still save £500/month. I'm guessing when I buy my own car I'd probably be able to save £400. For my age I can already get insurance dirt cheap however I live in a decent area, if I moved the prices would probably increase somewhat. Also my dad used to be a mechanic so he does the servicing with me peering over his shoulder trying to learn so servicing and fixing is 'free'.

dimbo61

Please don't get me wrong I love motorbikes and have been there done that having owned several over the years.
I have spent a wonderful 2 weeks on the Isle of Man watching the manx grand prix but I was also working as a Paramedic.
I used a bike to get to work for years and have the arthritis to prove it.
What I am saying is that buying your first home is expensive and then you need to buy everything for a new home. Look on ebay, freecycle, BHF and other charity websites and shops.
Beg, borrow and ask if friends and families have any items they are going to throw out.
Check out the local shops and places like IKEA.
Buy a good bed with storage underneath