Reducing motoring costs when driving 20,000 miles per year

Ultrasonic

knightstyle wrote: »

Have a look at an older car with LPG conversion. Half the cost of petrol plus the engines last longer.

Are you sure about the fuel costs being half what they are for petrol? I thought the saving was rather less than that. LPG price is more than 50% that of petrol, and the mpg when running on LPG is lower than on petrol isn't it?

I'm not saying LPG is necessarily a bad idea, just that I think you're overstating the savings on offer. Plus of course you need to factor in the conversion cost, and loss of boot space.

Edit: tank range may also be an issue.

ian103

Are you getting a car allowance as well as the mileage?

motorguy

Ultrasonic wrote: »

It's probably worth pointing out that this is 7 years OR 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Yes.

Ultrasonic wrote: »

I don't think any nearly new 1.9 TDi engined cars exist, they stopped selling them a good while ago didn't they?

Yes - i had put "If you're not buying nearly new, i'd be looking for a 1.9TDI Volkswagen / Skoda"

Ultrasonic wrote: »

I think the good news for glothy though is that cars are capable of covering MUCH larger distances than most people seem to think. Take the car in this thread for example:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4925584

Yes, although that car had three turbos at approx £1000 a time, plus probably other major repairs. High mileage diesels = high maintenance these days.

Ultrasonic wrote: »

As well as running costs, a key factor for me in choosing a car to cover 20,000 miles per year in would be how comfortable it is to drive. A second factor would be how good the sound system is.

Probably the bigger the better. I'd a passat before for doing big miles and it was great. Golf is excellent too, much smaller / lighter and i think you'd feel it on long journeys.

Ultrasonic

motorguy wrote: »

Yes - i had put "If you're not buying nearly new, i'd be looking for a 1.9TDI Volkswagen / Skoda"

Oops, somehow missed that critical 'not'!

Not sure I'd totally avoid diesels though. A new £1,000 turbo every 100,000 miles costs 1p per mile whilst fuel savings will be much more than this.

motorguy

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Oops, somehow missed that critical 'not'!

Not sure I'd totally avoid diesels though. A new £1,000 turbo every 100,000 miles costs 1p per mile whilst fuel savings will be much more than this.

I used to motor trade and diesels 06->09 get a particularly bad name. Floating flywheels, turbos, pumps, injectors, DPFs all can give problems and you're looking a significant bill each time. Probably 90K to 150K is the most expensive time. I know of some main dealers who will no longer stock diesels that are out of manufacturers warranty.

My "gut" feeling is that manufacturers have got most of the main issues resolved now so the latest generations of diesels "should" be better.

Also, diesels are particularly sensitive to not being looked after properly, and of course you wont know how a previous owner has treated it - scant servicing and ignoring warning lights are common - then "get rid" when theres a big bill looming.

Hence why i'd suggest new or nearly new and pile on the miles, or drive an older (2006 or before) diesel such as a Golf 1.9TDI that doesnt have a floating flywheel, DPF or such prevalent injector / turbo problems.

Lum

Been in the OPs situation. Crappy company making me use my own car, doing 60k per year and with an age/appearance requirement on the vehicle.

Ended up running two cars, one that was actually quite nice and pretty that was used for traveling to head office, or to a customer site if I knew the boss was going to be turning up too. The other was an old L reg VW Passat 1.9 TD (not even TDi) that I picked up for £700 with 250,000 miles on the clock.

If it broke down then I'd at least have the other car, fortunately it never did and was only taken off the road because vandals decided to smash every window on it.

Ultimately the only real solution is to quit that job and go and work for someone decent, though I'm well aware that this is a lot easier said than done, ended up stuck at that place for six years.

If there's no age/appearance requirement then two old bangers, preferably with diesel engines, is the way to go.

Stoke

Good time to get an old diesel in my opinion.

Consider a Polo/Golf SDI, especially 5 door. Big practical car with very good fuel economy.

Ultrasonic

motorguy wrote: »

I used to motor trade and diesels 06->09 get a particularly bad name. Floating flywheels, turbos, pumps, injectors, DPFs all can give problems and you're looking a significant bill each time. Probably 90K to 150K is the most expensive time. I know of some main dealers who will no longer stock diesels that are out of manufacturers warranty.

For the benefit of the OP, I assume by 'floating flywheel' you mean what I think would more commonly be referred to as a Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF), right? My point re. turbo costs above was following on from the faults with the other car I linked to, you have far more experience of the issues with higher mileage diesels than me and I accept you point re. the risks of higher mileage diesels. I wouldn't normally, but I am tempted to think that the OP may not be too badly served by a new diesel car lease/PCP option.

Hence why i'd suggest new or nearly new and pile on the miles, or drive an older (2006 or before) diesel such as a Golf 1.9TDI that doesnt have a floating flywheel, DPF or such prevalent injector / turbo problems.

I'm totally with you on older diesels having fewer things to go wrong, but FWIW I'm fairly sure a 2005 Golf 1.9TDi would have a DMF - my 2005 Octavia 1.9 TDi does. Plenty of people choose to replace them with SMFs when they fail though.

WobblyDog

20000 miles a year isn't a lot. I used to drive that sort of business mileage in my own middle-aged Fiesta. I don't think it had much of a long-term impact on the car. The standard mileage rates (45p then 25p) more than covered the additional fuel, tyre costs and more frequent servicing.

I would try it for a while and see how it goes. Provided your car is fairly small and doesn't have high mileage-dependent servicing costs, I wouldn't worry too much.

Ultrasonic

WobblyDog wrote: »

20000 miles a year isn't a lot. I used to drive that sort of business mileage in my own middle-aged Fiesta. I don't think it had much of a long-term impact on the car. The standard mileage rates (45p then 25p) more than covered the additional fuel, tyre costs and more frequent servicing.

You also need to factor in the higher depreciation, which I think was at least part of the OP's concern. This may still be covered by the 44p/20p per mile they will be paid but depreciation is a potentially significant factor.