costs of running a car

MoneySeeker1

Thanks. My main takeout point from that being re the reversing. I know I've got friends who struggle to reverse out of my garden - one or two of whom it's clearly down to them being "nervous drivers", but there is a more confident one who also struggles. It wouldn't be a problem - but there are nearby neighbours who regularly park in our road turning head and make it a lot more difficult than it should be and I don't hold out any hopes of them becoming any more reasonable unfortunately.

So easy reversing would definitely be a priority to me - because of them.

AdrianC

If reversing out of the garden is that hard... reverse in.

cbrown372

You will need to renew your driving licence shortly as you are approaching 70, not another test but new licence. As for insurance you won't be charged as a new young male driver but an elderly woman who has no driving/insurance history so therefore a new driver and it will be very expensive. I was always on my daughter's insurance from when she first passed her test to lessen the cost but then as time went on and I got older I checked last year and her cost was £40 less to take me off. Best to grit your teeth, get a mask and use your free bus pass. Also get an OAP train pass to get cheaper train tickets.

AdrianC

cbrown372 said:

You will need to renew your driving licence shortly as you are approaching 70
...
Best to ... use your free bus pass. Also get an OAP train pass to get cheaper train tickets.

AFAICT, the only mentions of the OP's age are that she passed prior to photocard licences (1999), and she describes herself as "middle-aged". Seems like you're making a huge leap of logic there...

OP - I'm going to make a slightly left-field suggestion here... electric bike?

MoneySeeker1

I have been wondering re electric bike (though it would be "electric trike" in my case- as I never had a bike - even as a kid - and am consequently unsure about my "balance").

With the weather here too frequently being colder than I'm used to/wet/windy - I'm not so sure about that.

Re "how to reverse - given the neighbours" - and I've certainly seen quite a few visiting vehicles to my house do reverse all the way up the road and it tends to boil down to they drive up frontward (as people should be able to) if they don't know about those neighbours or if they've peered up the road and seen the neighbours aren't blocking our turning head for once.

elsien

It's generally easier to reverse into a drive/parking space and go out forwards than vice versa  - holds true for multi-storey car parks etc as well. More so when there's lots of cars around in awkward places. 

Tea_Pea_Dee

AdrianC said:

cbrown372 said:

You will need to renew your driving licence shortly as you are approaching 70
...
Best to ... use your free bus pass. Also get an OAP train pass to get cheaper train tickets.

AFAICT, the only mentions of the OP's age are that she passed prior to photocard licences (1999), and she describes herself as "middle-aged". Seems like you're making a huge leap of logic there...

OP - I'm going to make a slightly left-field suggestion here... electric bike?

No huge leap of logic.  cbrown372 and a fair few posters from the OS boards know her many back stories. OP is 66 or 67, so unless she is planning on living to 120ish, she is definitely not middle-aged.  OP has a history of denial (in most topics tbh).  She is formerly a poster named ceridwen/moneyistooshorttomention, both PPRd, but acts like the proverbial bad penny. *sighs*

AdrianC

Ah. Like I said... "Seems like..."

Didn't realise there was backstory.

onwards&upwards

Sounds like you should just move back to a city if it suited you better?

onlyfoolsandparking

MoneySeeker1 said:

I have been wondering re electric bike (though it would be "electric trike" in my case- as I never had a bike - even as a kid - and am consequently unsure about my "balance").

With the weather here too frequently being colder than I'm used to/wet/windy - I'm not so sure about that.

Re "how to reverse - given the neighbours" - and I've certainly seen quite a few visiting vehicles to my house do reverse all the way up the road and it tends to boil down to they drive up frontward (as people should be able to) if they don't know about those neighbours or if they've peered up the road and seen the neighbours aren't blocking our turning head for once.

Don't even think about a motorbike if you have been off the road for so long, concentration levels are 1000 times more on a bike, trust me!