Petrol / Cars..how much have YOU saved???

steerpike

I think commuting 4 days a week will save me in the order of £200 a month in petrol costs, not to mention wear and tear on the car.

How much are other people saving? Has a car become a necessary evil for you too now that you have discovered the joys of the saddle?

DanielCoffey

I've been car-free for three years now and apart from the cost of fuel, there are also the considerable savings on road tax, insurance, annual service and occasional vandalism (you know - kicked off mirrors or wipers).

My bike is my vehicle, so it is insured (and third party cover too) with CycleGuard.co.uk

helene

I'm actually getting rid of mine as soon as my insurance expires in a month's time . Granted, I live in Oxford where it's hardly a necessity, and my car actually is worth less than my bike... I'm a bit nervous as I've had a car for pretty much as long as I've had my license, and will miss the road trips but I'll also be saving about 80 quid a month in insurance+tax+road-side assistance, and between 100-150 on petrol. ~ 200 quid a month to be put towards another bike/tarty stuff for my current one!

salsarider79

I sold my car November 2006. It cost about £300 a month before it even went anywhere (loan repayment, tax, mot, repairs). With fuel it wouls be about £350ish per month. thats um,...21 x £350 = £7350.
:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: OVER SEVEN GRAND! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

And I have a 10mile commute (sometimes 15miles, just because...) to work and 10 (or 15) back again. Over that time I've been running a singlespeed so have spent less than £100 on parts to keep it going. When my computer broke I was over the 5500miles mark. That makes it more than 5miles per 1p!

Can anyone beat that?

Slow Downcp

I have a company car, but recently started doing the odd day commute primarily just to get an extra 32 miles each day in that I do it. I do have to pay for private fuel though @ 13ppm so I save £4.16 each time I do it. Plan is to eventually do 3 or 4 days a week so I'll be saving £65+ per month. I may buy a Sunday or Enigma through our bike scheme with the money I save :-)

ris

i junked my car when i got the folder, i think it was costing about 135/month in running costs (unsurance, fuel), and then there was the tax, mot and service, which were probably another 1300/year or so. total about 3k.

the folder was 60/month before tax on the cyclescam, and i was paying 80/month for rail tickets. total about 1500/year. admitedly the bike is now costing me nothing, so it's just rail fares.

new bike is about 45/month and my rail cards are halved to 40/month, total approx 1k. once the bike is paid off the reduction in rail use should be a good saving.

all this is let down by my taking my father-in-law's old car last week.

Nick6891

i was adding up the cost of cycling the other day, and it seems expensive, but then i compared it to cost of having a car and it is still loads cheaper than driving, and keeps you fit

jjojjas

interesting topic.
I paid for my commuter bike in 6 months in saved diesel costs alone. I still have a car though. Although I rarely go to work in it I'm not about to try my life without it at the moment. Kids, holidays (too many kids to fly ) and family all over the UK mean the car may not get started for 4 or 5 days in a row, but when it does it hits the motorway for two hours fully loaded.
What I have thought of though is getting rid of the wifes car. Sometimes she cycles to work, so two cars sit on the drive (admittedly not as much as mine though). I think I'd like to just have the one car (financially), but the two is undeniably easier some times. I can't really argue the "cost of ownership" much though as I own them both outright and the insurance cost less than the tax.....and we don't do many miles.....and I service them myself.....
Hmmm..... still seems a waste having two sitting on the drive.... :?

chuckcork

I sold my 500cc motorcycle over 5 years ago, getting married and not using it because I was cycling far more than riding it, it just became a pain to keep it insured, taxed etc.

I haven't bought a car since, and since moving t Co.Cork my monthly mileage has gone from the 250 miles a month of mostly commuting to a touch over 600 miles of commuting a month at the moment and club rides of maybe another 200 miles on top of that a month.

Having not bought a car I have no idea of what money I have saved on petrol, I've rarely filled up my wifes car but not very often, but I know from my logs I have saved around €1500 on bus fares since last year, at the expense of having bought a [email protected] of gear that has cost me over €3000. Of course part of that expense is that I've worn out just about very moving part on one of my bikes and had to replace them as a result (€xpensive!) and bought another bike as well but I'm now set up to ride in just about any weather shorts of a blizzard.

Come winter we'll see!

doog442

im commuting 90 miles a week

my car only does 22-25mpg on my commute

I reckon im saving £70-£80 a month on fuel. The only reason im keeping the car is that i cant fit the golf clubs on the bike.

Nick6891

doog442 wrote:

im commuting 90 miles a week

my car only does 22-25mpg on my commute

I reckon im saving £70-£80 a month on fuel. The only reason im keeping the car is that i cant fit the golf clubs on the bike.

buy a trailer for your bike then you have no excuse haha

chuckcork

doog442 wrote:

im commuting 90 miles a week

my car only does 22-25mpg on my commute

I reckon im saving £70-£80 a month on fuel. The only reason im keeping the car is that i cant fit the golf clubs on the bike.

I've always wondered about that.

I mean, repeatedely the pundits lecture us on ways to save money in a recession, and come up with stupid suggestions like "make sure your not carrying around extra weight, you'll be more energy efficient, so remove the golf clubs from the boot".

Great, except my boot is uh, um, no I'm not going there.

wiffachip

it costs me more to cycle to work - wor lass uses the car and drives all over the shop

fuzzynavel

Unfortunately I spend approx £280 per month on fuel alone....cycling really isn't practical as I live nearly 50 miles from work! I will cycle one day for a laugh but it will take at least 2.5 to 3.5 hours and I will be a sweaty mess by the end..

Slurp

I still keep the car, so cost savings are piddling. All it saves is the one-mile each way daily trip to the station. That would have worked out about 321 miles so far this year. Assuming about 20 miles per gallon, it's a mere 16 gallons->61 litres or about 70 quid (assuming average cost of 115p/l). . Hate to say it, but that doesn't make much of a dent.

What does help is the more than £1,000 year I no longer pay in Tube fairs. It was about £800 when I started cycling four years ago. And since I no longer feel a crying need to get to a gym, that saves about £50+ a month.

DanielCoffey

If you have a huge pile of stuff to lug around regularly and have ground-floor bike storage, you could get yourself a Surly Big Dummy (or equivalent) or perhaps the Xtracycle bike conversion kit - no excuse not to carry the clubs then...

(yes, Surly Big Dummy and/or Xtracycle are available to ship to the UK if you are keen enough)

richk

Actually none. I usually commute by train. During the summer hols, I haven't had a train pass & have cycled every day instead, so that's saved me about £50.

simon_e

jjojjas wrote:

I think I'd like to just have the one car (financially), but the two is undeniably easier some times.

Go on, do it!

You give up some of the convenience it's suprising how you learn to manage - plan your movements better, combine shopping trips to save journeys and so on. You've got two sets of insurance, tax, servicing and depreciation burning a hole there.

I took voluntary redundancy from my old job 4 years ago. I was out at 6.30am, on the road for over an hour each way, always worn out when I got home. The car was logging 18,000 p.a. The pay drop was compensated for by lower car costs and a better quality of life working nearer home. My mental wellbeing, happines and overall fitness all improved dramatically once I started cycling to work. My aged Polo does 4-5,000 miles a year now. Commuting 200 days a year, 18 miles/day at 30mpg = over £500 saved in fuel alone.

Salsarider,

Not sure we're comparable, but my rigid Kona MTB did the 12 miles a day commute for 2 years, a guess of over 4,000 miles. In that time it had a new chain & cassette after 15 months (still on board). Since switching to the road bike for work the 10 year old grips, gear cables, headset and BB have also been replaced, despite it running OK.