Forget that I ever existed

williamgriffin

ushjr said:

Scrapit said:

ushjr said:

Lots of questions, I'll try to cover them best I can.

There are 2 things primarily driving the cost of the MOT. One is a minor problem that's expensive to fix the other was an advisory last year which is a lot more serious and probably means the beginning of the end for my car.

The maintenance costs are the only unknown year on year costs. I pay around £200 insurance and £150 tax. It's too old to depreciate now and I can't remember the last time I paid to park it. Last year I paid £192 for service and MOT and that was it. 

I don't finish work till 6pm therefore I don't have time to walk to the supermarket in the evening. The thing with taxi drivers does happen, I read about a taxi driver being jailed for it.

One of my none supermarket journeys by public transport would require 2 train journeys, a bus journey and a 10 mile walk.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I also use my car to take my garden waste to the tip because I would have to pay for it to be taken in the bin collection. I've taken other things to the tip as well. 

6pm is too late to walk to the supermarket?

Yes, it means my evenings are far too short and it would be very damaging to my mental health to spend the whole evening going to the supermarket. What I do is put a pizza in the oven as soon as I get home, it takes me around 20 minutes to drive to the supermarket, do my shopping and drive home in time for my pizza to be ready. It would take nearly 20 minutes to walk to the supermarket alone.

I do hope you never get a puncture on another delay only to return home and find the fire service putting your house out.

You must be rapid in the supermarket to buy so much shopping you can't carry it on foot and be there and back in 20 minutes.

williamgriffin

ushjr said:

Scrapit said:

ushjr said:

Scrapit said:

ushjr said:

Lots of questions, I'll try to cover them best I can.

There are 2 things primarily driving the cost of the MOT. One is a minor problem that's expensive to fix the other was an advisory last year which is a lot more serious and probably means the beginning of the end for my car.

The maintenance costs are the only unknown year on year costs. I pay around £200 insurance and £150 tax. It's too old to depreciate now and I can't remember the last time I paid to park it. Last year I paid £192 for service and MOT and that was it. 

I don't finish work till 6pm therefore I don't have time to walk to the supermarket in the evening. The thing with taxi drivers does happen, I read about a taxi driver being jailed for it.

One of my none supermarket journeys by public transport would require 2 train journeys, a bus journey and a 10 mile walk.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I also use my car to take my garden waste to the tip because I would have to pay for it to be taken in the bin collection. I've taken other things to the tip as well. 

6pm is too late to walk to the supermarket?

Yes, it means my evenings are far too short and it would be very damaging to my mental health to spend the whole evening going to the supermarket. What I do is put a pizza in the oven as soon as I get home, it takes me around 20 minutes to drive to the supermarket, do my shopping and drive home in time for my pizza to be ready. It would take nearly 20 minutes to walk to the supermarket alone.

6pm is very average for a finishing time, no hardship there.
20 minutes to do the shopping with a car. Lets say 18:30 at a push. Pizza, margarita 8-10 mins cooking , something with meat on 12-16. So its now 18:45  10 maybe 15 minutes to eat. 19:00 on the nose. Walk and din dins finishes, what,19:30 latest. Hardly all night. Also, pizza, not the best scoff. Your assessments are a bit away with the fairies.

I need to get home from work too. It also takes me longer than 15 minutes to eat my dinner and the later I eat the longer it takes because of the stress I'm under, can take as long as 2 hours.

elsien said:

Exercise is good for mental health. 

And you only go to the supermarket 2 or 3 times a week. One of which could be at the weekend. So only 2/7 days with a brisk evening walk. 

I go to the supermarket once a week and would never go at the weekend as there would be too many people getting in my way.

Herzlos said:

ushjr said:

Yes, it means my evenings are far too short and it would be very damaging to my mental health to spend the whole evening going to the supermarket. What I do is put a pizza in the oven as soon as I get home, it takes me around 20 minutes to drive to the supermarket, do my shopping and drive home in time for my pizza to be ready. It would take nearly 20 minutes to walk to the supermarket alone.

How long are you spending in the supermarket? 1 mile is going to be ~2 mins in a car, assuming a 30 zone and parking etc. So you must be completing your shopping and getting back in the car in about 6 minutes?
It's really not recommended to put food in the over and then go out - there's all sorts of risk there and I doubt an insurance company would be happy about paying out if you burnt the house down.

You were talking about going to the supermarket 2/3 times week or so, so couldn't you go directly there from work, shop, get a taxi home and then eat dinner 30 minutes later than usual? Or do a bigger shop less often?
If you're eating pizza every night for dinner (like I did in my 20's) then the 20 minute walk might be well worth doing (I wish I had).
You're not going to be spending your whole evening shopping, you're looking at spending at most an extra 18 minutes getting there.

I had a similarish lifestyle for long enough, except I walked home from the train station (about 1 mile, with a small detour to go to a supermarket), it's really not bad once you get used to it. I got home about 7 though, oven on, got stuff done whilst pizza cooked.

Depends on the queue at the checkout, but walking round the supermarket putting things in my trolley takes around 5 minutes. I go once a week, if I was to go straight from the station to the supermarket I would more or less have to go past my home so no time saving there. I only eat pizza once a week when I go to the supermarket to minimise the impact it has on my evening.

You do a weeks shopping in 5 minutes?

So what else is so important you must do in an evening?

gozaimasu

I understand where the OP is coming from. I also rarely take taxis, and if I do, I give them a different address and walk to that address to get the taxi. Likewise if I'm getting dropped off in a taxi, I will get dropped off a local corner shop then walk from there. But I avoid taking taxis. Not because they burgle me, but because I don't like being in a car with creepy blokes.

Don't give up your car OP. It's your freedom and independence. You're 40? or older?

[Deleted User]

gozaimasu said:

I understand where the OP is coming from. I also rarely take taxis, and if I do, I give them a different address and walk to that address to get the taxi. Likewise if I'm getting dropped off in a taxi, I will get dropped off a local corner shop then walk from there. But I avoid taking taxis. Not because they burgle me, but because I don't like being in a car with creepy blokes.

Don't give up your car OP. It's your freedom and independence. You're 40? or older?

Perhaps the drivers feel the same way about you,even the female drivers.

Herzlos

ushjr said:

I need to get home from work too. It also takes me longer than 15 minutes to eat my dinner and the later I eat the longer it takes because of the stress I'm under, can take as long as 2 hours.

Depends on the queue at the checkout, but walking round the supermarket putting things in my trolley takes around 5 minutes. I go once a week, if I was to go straight from the station to the supermarket I would more or less have to go past my home so no time saving there. I only eat pizza once a week when I go to the supermarket to minimise the impact it has on my evening.

That certainly changes things a bit, I'd understimated the mental health aspect of it.
It sounds like you'd be better off keeping the car despite the economic viability of it, due to minimizing the stress/anxiety of doing without it.
So you're down to trying to decide if it's worth repairing that car (which you're already used to) or to replace it with another one (which is an unknown). There's some value assessment you need to make about the cost of repairs Vs the cost of a replacement; though the replacement will almost certainly cost more as long as your existing car doesn't need welding in order to pass the MOT.

I'd also very strongly encourage you to rethink the idea of putting a pizza in whilst you're out shopping - any change to your routine (flat tyre, breakdown, accident, diversion) could burn your house down.

Since you do your best to avoid people in supermarkets, then maybe have dinner first and then go shopping; I find them much quieter at 8/9pm (when everyone is settling in for the evening) than at 6pm (when everyone is stopping on the way home from work). I do most of my shopping at 8am on a Sunday for the same reason

Herzlos

Scrapit said:

Buying a new car will be a complete nightmare mine field.

That's what I was thinking, so it may be better to stick with the same car until it really becomes a money sink to keep it on the road.
Or buy a newer version of the same make/model.

Homer_home

Herzlos said:

ushjr said:

I need to get home from work too. It also takes me longer than 15 minutes to eat my dinner and the later I eat the longer it takes because of the stress I'm under, can take as long as 2 hours.

Depends on the queue at the checkout, but walking round the supermarket putting things in my trolley takes around 5 minutes. I go once a week, if I was to go straight from the station to the supermarket I would more or less have to go past my home so no time saving there. I only eat pizza once a week when I go to the supermarket to minimise the impact it has on my evening.

That certainly changes things a bit, I'd understimated the mental health aspect of it.
It sounds like you'd be better off keeping the car despite the economic viability of it, due to minimizing the stress/anxiety of doing without it.
So you're down to trying to decide if it's worth repairing that car (which you're already used to) or to replace it with another one (which is an unknown). There's some value assessment you need to make about the cost of repairs Vs the cost of a replacement; though the replacement will almost certainly cost more as long as your existing car doesn't need welding in order to pass the MOT.

I'd also very strongly encourage you to rethink the idea of putting a pizza in whilst you're out shopping - any change to your routine (flat tyre, breakdown, accident, diversion) could burn your house down.

Since you do your best to avoid people in supermarkets, then maybe have dinner first and then go shopping; I find them much quieter at 8/9pm (when everyone is settling in for the evening) than at 6pm (when everyone is stopping on the way home from work). I do most of my shopping at 8am on a Sunday for the same reason

8am on a Sunday? Exactly which of the big shops/supermarkets are open at that time?

Money_Grabber13579

I think the OP probably needs to buy a second car, just to park permanently on the drive. Otherwise, whenever the OP has driven to the supermarket, the taxi that has come to pick up their neighbour will see that there is no car at the house and they’ll know that they are out. So they’ll burgle the house.

cymruchris

Whatever you decide - don't leave your dinner in the oven and go to the supermarket again! One small delay on the way home could result in no home to come home to!

If you can get the car welded this year - it'll give you one year's more worth of motoring - and that'll give you sufficient time to find a replacement. Don't wait until you get to the next MOT - start looking in about 6 months time, and then part-ex this one away or sell it for scrap. Go for a model that's at least 10 years newer than your 20 year old car.

fred246

The small independent place I go to for MOTs has one mechanic who can weld. My last car lasted 8 years from when it was first welded to being scrapped. They could never give me a definite quote but would always give a 'worst case scenario'. So they would say "could be up to £350" and then you would go and they'd say "quicker than we thought £100 please". It was only the guy with the tea cozy hat who could weld though. Maybe if you get more quotes from other garages? Would be better if they do MOTs because I was once in the position that I got a car welded at another garage and they failed it on the retest because they said the welding wasn't good enough.