Thinking About Getting Rid of My Car

jimjames

Definitely worth looking at the current value of the car on somewhere like WeBuyAnyCar or Motorway before you just hand it back, you could have a decent amount of cash difference between the PCP value and the sale price.

sheslookinhot

tacpot12 said:

The camper van is likely to be another expensive ornament. Most poeple don't use them as much as they expect to and end up selling them on (sometimes at a profit!) to the next wide-eyed retiree with dreams of parking up in picturesque parts of UK...

Not for me it won’t. I’ve plenty of plans to travel in Europe and UK.

BeatrixKiddo

HarryDavies01 said:

Have you looked at selling your car via Motorway or similar? They will pay off the remaining finance plus you may get some money back depending on the valuation/condition of vehicle?

Ah, no I haven't... I wasn't aware of this. Thank you very much.

BeatrixKiddo

ComicGeek said:

Assuming this is PCP with the balloon payment, and not an actual lease?

I'm currently selling my car. Current offer is £10k more than the balloon payment, which means that that the car has only lost 7% in 3 years from list price - and I didn't pay list price & got 0% finance. Crazy figures.

Don't just hand it back without checking prices first, great time to sell a car without buying a new one. 

Ah wow, really?! That's incredible! I will definitely have a look. Thank you so much. 

BeatrixKiddo

Grumpy_chap said:

BeatrixKiddo said:

Hi guys, 

I have almost come to the end of my car lease, and just have the balloon payment of £4600 left. For a variety of reasons, I am seriously considering either handing my car back in June at the end of the period, or paying the final £4600 and then selling it. I have environmental considerations (despite it being a very economical little car), I am worried about the recent petrol crisis, and I also want to improve my health by exercising more. I currently use it every day for work Mon-Fri, and most weekends, but there's honestly very few places I ever go where I couldn't walk/cycle/bus, or train/coach/hire car etc for the odd longer journeys I make.

I'd love some advice or feedback from anyone who has taken the leap to do this, or if there's anything I'm fundamentally missing in my decision. At the moment, I'm figuring I'll save the finance payments, insurance, tax, petrol and service/MoT costs, so likely around £300+ per month (£3600 per year). Even with bike maintenance, train/coach tickets and bus fares, I really don't think it would cost anywhere near what I'm spending right now. The major drawbacks I can think of are having to deal with inclement weather, working around the times of trips available and not having the flexibility and spontaneity available to me at the moment. It's also worth mentioning that I live and work in a town so the public transport links are very good overall, and my fitness is also pretty good. I'd love to know what other people think! Am I mad, or it is a viable decision? TIA  

You have until June before the lease ends, so why not put yourself through a trial period of not using the car before that date arrives?

Either stop right away and run to the end of the year, or start January 1st and simply don't use the car. Doing this in the midst of winter is probably the best as it will capture the periods when the weather is the worst and the temptation to take the comfort is the greatest.

If you find there are journeys when you "must" use the car, you can note those events and assess the extent to which using a hire car is a viable alternative for those events.

Make it a month without using the car and you can probably do this relatively easily.  Especially as when you actually return the car, it will be an easier start from middle of summer with light mornings and light evenings.  

On the other hand, if you've taken the car out several times before the end of the first week, this is not the option for you.

Finally, there are middle-ground options.  Give the car up, and you can also buy another.  Or, if you find you can 95% give the car up, and the occasional hire car won't work for whatever reason, you could go for a smaller, older, cheaper and more economical car for the occasional use but still gain 90% of the gain in terms of fitness, budget, environment.

Good luck in making your change and keep us informed on what you decide to do and how it all works out

Great idea. Thank you so much for this suggestion. It might be tricky forking out for both temporarily, but it would definitely help me make a decision. Thank you! I will  

BeatrixKiddo

DrEskimo said:

I take it it was a new car?

In which case, the next year's depreciation will be much less than the years you've just paid (wrapped up with interest in your payments).

What is the car worth today, and what would it cost you (if anything) to finance the balloon?

It may not cost a lot to keep the current car and have it paid off in interest (if you have savings this will be zero) and depreciation.

@DrEskimo, it was indeed a new car. A Toyota Aygo, bought in 2019. I love it, and it's a perfect little runaround, but as per my reasons in my post, it's just something I'm considering. I'll definitely look into your suggestions. Thank you

ButterCheese

I did this for a year in 2014; it is doable, but lots of things are harder and take longer and more effort. 

Commuting to work on a bike is not fun in the cold/dark/wet.  You need to have somewhere at the other end to change clothes or dry them out during the day.  You will have far more showers and do more washing of wet/dirty clothes from walking and cycling everywhere.  You will need good lights and will always be charging/replacing batteries.  You need to be a compitent cyclist to cycle anywhere, but it's much worse during rush hour.  Not to scare you, but the sheer stupidity and ignorance of some drivers is unbelievable.  It is not a nice experience and actually made me give up cycling for good becasue I was nearly knocked off twice, and was arriving at my destination more stressed than anything else.

Buses sound like a good idea but a buss pass cost me more per month than I'd use in fuel.  And buses are still affected by roadworks and traffic jams so weren't reliable for me. 

Shopping; you can do a little each day but this soon gets tiresome.  If you need to do a big shop and can get delivery slots then fine, but otherwise it's Taxis and they cost a fortune.

I'm not sure of your relationship status and if you have children or not, but that's the other issue as well.  If you want to visit anyone far away then it's a real pain.  I physically couldn't get to some places on time so had to hire a car for a weekend which sort of defeats the object.  Taking kids anywhere on the bus or train means paying for everyone's ticket as well.  And with our trains it cost 5x as much as driving there.

Maybe try it for 3 months and see how you go, but I can see why this country (especially outside of the larger cities) is not geared up to non-car ownership at all

BeatrixKiddo

ButterCheese said:

I did this for a year in 2014; it is doable, but lots of things are harder and take longer and more effort. 

Commuting to work on a bike is not fun in the cold/dark/wet.  You need to have somewhere at the other end to change clothes or dry them out during the day.  You will have far more showers and do more washing of wet/dirty clothes from walking and cycling everywhere.  You will need good lights and will always be charging/replacing batteries.  You need to be a compitent cyclist to cycle anywhere, but it's much worse during rush hour.  Not to scare you, but the sheer stupidity and ignorance of some drivers is unbelievable.  It is not a nice experience and actually made me give up cycling for good becasue I was nearly knocked off twice, and was arriving at my destination more stressed than anything else.

Buses sound like a good idea but a buss pass cost me more per month than I'd use in fuel.  And buses are still affected by roadworks and traffic jams so weren't reliable for me. 

Shopping; you can do a little each day but this soon gets tiresome.  If you need to do a big shop and can get delivery slots then fine, but otherwise it's Taxis and they cost a fortune.

I'm not sure of your relationship status and if you have children or not, but that's the other issue as well.  If you want to visit anyone far away then it's a real pain.  I physically couldn't get to some places on time so had to hire a car for a weekend which sort of defeats the object.  Taking kids anywhere on the bus or train means paying for everyone's ticket as well.  And with our trains it cost 5x as much as driving there.

Maybe try it for 3 months and see how you go, but I can see why this country (especially outside of the larger cities) is not geared up to non-car ownership at all

Thank you so much @ButterCheese, this is exactly what I was after. I have a Son who is in Y10 who despises exercise so I'm also hoping it might improve his fitness too! He is begging me to leave it another 18 months until he leaves school, so that is one option. I am fortunate to work at the school he goes to, and there is a school bus which would work out at £250 per term, so that's much quicker, easier and cheaper than relying upon the local buses. I've looked into it more since my post, and it would also take me 2-3 buses with either a 30-min walk on top, or over an hour to make a 5k journey, so public buses aren't really an option. I would happily cycle most of the time, but these are good points.

I am also considering an electric bike or scooter. Luckily our local council has recently invested a lot of money into implementing cycle lanes on all major roads, so I think I'd be okay, but thank you very much for the heads up. I have cycled a few times in the school holidays when I've needed to pop into work and it's been okay, but I agree - some drivers are a nightmare!

 I live 5 mins from a large Tesco, so that's not a problem, but I would look at getting shopping delivered once or twice a month, I think. I'm insured on my Mum's car, so I am sure she would let me borrow it if I really needed/wanted to. 

MacPingu1986

Definitely agree with the poster who suggested trialling this out for a month whilst you still have your car to see if its practical. If it isn't - you've still got the car so nothing lost.

What I'd say is that once you start looking at alternatives to driving, you often find that some of the alternatives aren't actually the barriers you think they are. I made a conscious effort to use my car a lot less in 2019 - I still have it, but it barely moves once a month now.

Everyone's circumstances are different of course - but I'll share my experience...

Pre-Covid almost all of my commuting to work is on my bike (9 miles each way) - it rains a *lot* less than you'd think and some reasonable winter cycling kit sorted me out fine. Rechargeable bike lights are nice and cheap today - I simply plug mine into my work laptop for 20-30 mins a day to keep them topped up. We have showers at the office at work and I left my work shoes and suit at work so I just had to bring a shirt, travel towel and basic change of clothes in my backpack. The best part of it was I was racking up over an hour of exercise a day just doing the commute - and even when wet and windy it was a nice way to de-stress at the end of the day. If you're trying to get fitter and struggling to find the time, building it into the commute would be my no.1 tip for anyone.

For shopping - I have a big backpack that I can fit plenty of food into, if you want to do a big shop for the family, getting panniers or a cheap bike trailer and you can carry absolutely loads of food. I remember cycling back from the supermarket last Xmas Eve with a giant stalk of sprouts strapped to the webbing outside my backpack!

BeatrixKiddo

MacPingu1986 said:

Definitely agree with the poster who suggested trialling this out for a month whilst you still have your car to see if its practical. If it isn't - you've still got the car so nothing lost.

What I'd say is that once you start looking at alternatives to driving, you often find that some of the alternatives aren't actually the barriers you think they are. I made a conscious effort to use my car a lot less in 2019 - I still have it, but it barely moves once a month now.

Everyone's circumstances are different of course - but I'll share my experience...

Pre-Covid almost all of my commuting to work is on my bike (9 miles each way) - it rains a *lot* less than you'd think and some reasonable winter cycling kit sorted me out fine. Rechargeable bike lights are nice and cheap today - I simply plug mine into my work laptop for 20-30 mins a day to keep them topped up. We have showers at the office at work and I left my work shoes and suit at work so I just had to bring a shirt, travel towel and basic change of clothes in my backpack. The best part of it was I was racking up over an hour of exercise a day just doing the commute - and even when wet and windy it was a nice way to de-stress at the end of the day. If you're trying to get fitter and struggling to find the time, building it into the commute would be my no.1 tip for anyone.

For shopping - I have a big backpack that I can fit plenty of food into, if you want to do a big shop for the family, getting panniers or a cheap bike trailer and you can carry absolutely loads of food. I remember cycling back from the supermarket last Xmas Eve with a giant stalk of sprouts strapped to the webbing outside my backpack!

This is fab! thank you so much @MacPingu1986. Lots to think about. It also makes me wonder why I drive home every evening after work only to walk to the gym to work out for an hour! Good point re: the winter kit and rechargeable lights. A few other people at work also commute via bike so it must be feasible