Cutting back on using the car! It's soooo expensive!

LJD1_2

Hiya
As some of you know we sold one of our cars last month as we couldn't justify having two cars and it paid off the last of our debt. Two weeks ago I put petrol in the car and zeroed the mileage counter. I've worked out that it's costing about 15p a mile in petrol for the car and this doesn't take into account depreciation, insurance, road tax etc.

I'm totally shocked and it's making me use the car even less which can't be a bad thing. I was just wondering if anyone else knew how much a mile their car used in petrol and if 15p was a lot.

Ok, i'm getting obsessed about saving money xx

hypno06

No, not obsessed with money saving, just trying to be sensible and to stop yourself getting into debt again.

My car works out at 15p a mile just on petrol as well. I know that I have to use my car less, and to my credit (just about) I did walk to the surgery instead of drive this morning, but many of my trips are not economical by bus etc so I think I am saddled with the cost of the petrol, although I am very conscious of it and really do want to cut it down.

custardy

not at all.my car killed its engine and ive decided just to sell it for spares and repairs.
tallying up insurance,tax,petrol,garage rent,repairs etc its a lot of money per month i can put towards clearing my debts.
not huge amounts but still a few £000's.i can get a nice car once the debts are gone

mariagti

i dont know how much my car uses per mile but i have a 2 litre car as stupidly cars are my hobbie.

Its so much more money saving to own a 1.4 or under engined car. Less insurance, tax, petrol and the car is cheaper to buy!

i would like to cut down on my driving during the week but buses are so expensive! and its too far for me to cycle to and back - well i dont actually own a bike anyway!

rog2

I agree with the principle of cutting back on car usage, and I walk wherever possible now (used to drive BMW X5 :eek: ).

The only problem that I find is that the alternatives - buses, taxis, trains etc. are all so much more expensive. We live in the sticks and have a lousy bus service, so we have to keep one car.

rayday2

Our bus service is ridiculous, its two miles ish into town and costs about £1.50 one way you cannot buy a return ticket. So its get wet, take the car or get ripped off. The get wet alternative is not good with a baby!

beeniemac

I moved from 4 wheels to 2 due to the cost (and performance per £)
My bike will do 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and returns over 40mpg I can get to college in 12 minutes rather than 50 too

Tax is also ~£60 rather than £200

LJD1_2

Glad it's not just me who's concerned about the costs per mile. Thought I was becoming a right meanie! We have the same problem with public transport. It takes about an hour to get the bus to the nearest town even though it's only 2 miles away. Normally I don't mind walking but we just get wet everytime we leave the house at the moment. Once my son gets better on his bike I think we'll cycle a lot more xx

Gemmzie

I don't really know what mine works out to - what's the calculation?

It's £35 to fill up and does just under 400 miles to a tank.

thunderchump

about 9p a mile??

HairyHandofDartmoor

We have a 2L but there are 5 of us and we couldn't get up hills in a 1.3! We do try and walk if we can do it in 10/15 mins, and we do only spend about £10 a week on petrol so we can't do that much driving. It costs about £37 to fill up and does about 400 miles to a tank on long journeys, but the stop start of city driving will use it up quicker of course.