How do people rely on their car to get to a 9-5 job?

Herzlos

I live in a commuter town in the middle of nowhere and never really relied on a car to get to work. I could walk to the station in about 20 mins, then an hour on the train.

Now I do drive, because I'm only in the office 2 days a week, but that also means I can schedule maintenance work around the days I'm not in.

Move to somewhere with decent transport links and you'll be able to survive a day or 2 with a car in getting work done. Or get a courtesy/hire car.

If you work near a transport link in London (it'd be virtually impossible not to), then you can almost certainly use that link to commute. You may find that if you live more rural that you'd want a car for shopping, leisure trips and stuff, but that's not going to cause you any difficulty.

YBR

I either use a garage close to work, or work from home. My employer/employment is flexible enough to allow this, all though I realise that does not apply to everyone; all my colleagues do this now.

Previously people have cycled/taken public transport, swapped their car with a spouse for the day, or arranged for a colleague to pick them up at the garage and drop them back.

Ibrahim5

I service my own cars. People say it's too much trouble, but then the arrangements that they have to make when they take their car into a garage are much more trouble.

Goudy

I work some long hours mainly in the week and I tend book my servicing and MOT at the same time.

As the dates for these are pretty much nailed on year after year, I book it up far enough ahead that I can usually guarantee a Saturday morning appointment at the dealers when I know I'm off work.

My other half works a different shift pattern, so works some weekends and has days off in the week and we can usually shuffle cars and appointments between us if plans go haywire and a car needs unexpected attention.

I tend to stay on top of the cars we have, I know when the brakes and tyres are likely to need attention and things like that can be planned ahead on dates that suit.

Again, things can go haywire but there are mobile tyre fitters, mobile windscreen fitters and mobile mechanics if needed and they'll usually come out at home or work.

I had a local mobile tyre fitter out at work recently, I pick up a nail and it only cost me a few quid more than taking it into a tyre specialist.

Bigphil1474

OP, if you have the option - I work at home when the car needs it's service/MOT, and i just book it in with the garage a few weeks in advance, and they come and collect it. They return it when they've finished. It's a dealership but the price all in is pretty competitive with the nearest indy garage. Technically the pick up drop off is free, although I suspect I'm paying for it through the charges, but it makes my life a lot easier.

NBLondon

YBR said:

I either use a garage close to work, or work from home. My employer/employment is flexible enough to allow this, all though I realise that does not apply to everyone; all my colleagues do this now.

Garage close to work was my regular option.  It sometimes meant setting out early enough to drop the car off and walk to work, then working through my lunch break to leave at 4.30 and pick the car up again.

In one job many years ago I used a dealer within walking distance of home where there were so many customers at the same workplace that the garage (dealer) would run us out to the site and pick up again in the evening.

Been working from home since the pandemic so now easy to fit in with local garage.

As YBR sez - not all employers are flexible enough for that. 

Nasqueron

Also not London

Book the service and MOT well in advance, get a courtesy car to drive to work and back - for the price of the fuel used (minimal) it's easier and more convenient than public transport. Drop off car at 8:30 (though mine does open at 8), go to work around 30-40 minutes, leave just before 5 to go collect it. Work are flexible with this. I have previously done the drop off and cycle back e.g. during covid when they couldn't give a courtesy car and in our old office in the city centre, biking back wasn't that much slower than driving in rush hour 

Mark_Glasses

@CliveOfIndia before I moved to London it wasn't an option in many of my jobs

@Nobbie1967 I work in an office

@Aretnap the job I did at the time was very specific with times

@MikeJXE OK

@daveyjp current job is more flexible but not sure if ones outside of London will be

@caprikid1 that's the worry

@ididgetwhereiamtoday OK

@400ixl that's what the handbook said, the car would be about 25 years old now. I didn't think too many people used a lot of their annual leave for car maintenance.

@Bigwheels1111 good idea

@ef79 I lived near a train station but work was nowhere near one

@Herzlos I don't know what the situation will be but all the jobs I had prior to moving to London were nowhere near train stations

@YBR I suppose there's lots of unknown factors

@Ibrahim5 I don't know enough to do it myself

@goudy I used to take it to a different mechanic to service than I did MOT

@Bigphil1474 looks like option to work at home will help

@NBLondon my last job before moving to London wasn't flexible at all

@Nasqueron maybe there are flexible employers outside of London after all.

silverwhistle

I managed without a car until I was 28 and that wasn't in London and included a graduate traineeship moving around the south of England for a year. I did get a cheap 250 motorbike after that, but many people manage without cars. It's more difficult once you've had one mind, and I've noticed how some people depend on them even for short journeys. 

Getting to work is an issue that needs consideration but I'd try not to worry about it beforehand. Get the job first, consider where you'll live then, and afterwards travel will fall into place.

RandomTourist

Now that I am working from home both garages we use are ever so happy for me to bring a laptop, use their wifi and work away until they've done the work. As the phone is switched off my productivity improves drastically!