Give up my car??? would I be mad to??

hartlepoolmonkeyman

Would I be mad to totally get rid of my car?

I have a 10 mile commute to work and generally only use my car on weekends and not very much.

My partner lives and works at the other end of the country so I use the train when I visit her.

If I'm not paying insurance and petrol then I'd be saving £250 a month!

Your thoughts appreciated...

rolf_f

If you don't need a car then getting rid of it would hardly be mad!

However, if you are hardly doing any miles then for a car to cost £250 a month suggests you've either got a terrible driving record or are doing something wrong. A cheap runabout doesn't cost £250 a month. Mine (not exactly a cheap runabout - a 1985 Saab Turbo ) costs about £500 a year for tax and insurance plus up to a couple of hundred for servicing and repair. There is no depreciation so the remainder of cost is petrol. Probably less than £100 a month all in despite it being quite fuel hungry and not the cheapest to tax.

The car is mostly used to transport the bike to different places to start rides

Jez mon

Surely it's more mad to pay 250 a month for something you don't use?

May go a few weekends without using the car, see how it feels.

amaferanga

How do you manage to spend £250 a month on insurance and fuel if you don't use it much? Is that mostly insurance?

team47b

I gave up car ownership 6 years ago, I found it really difficult to start with, I felt stuck, unable to just jump in the car and easily get somewhere.

I use my bikes for everything, shopping (trailer) touring/camping holidays and hospital appointments (nice 45k round trip) cycle to the train station, bikes travel free on local trains here.

The real costs (apart from bike stuff!) of non car ownership are the occasional hire car and paying for home delivery of large items that wont fit in a bike trailer.

I once did a calculation of the real cost of running a car over a five year period including purchase (5k car) and depreciation and it would be cheaper to hire a car two days per month all year than to own a car.

It really focusses the mind on whether a journey is really necessary or not, you soon realise how many journeys are un-necessary. Do you have a good public transport system as a back up?

estampida

so not owned a car since 2004, but there is 1 in the house for asda and the like

the commute for me was not that bad, the problems consist of -

if you have a bad cold it will linger as your body does not rest properly, but minor colds are considerably easier to get rid off as every morning you have a massive hack up on route, clears you right up

Injury's are a real pain but don't crash at the weekend........

The more time on road = more time in danger, not that it is not unsafe but be aware of this fact, and you will see the same d1ckheads stuck in traffic every day so you need a consistent way of dealing with them, if you cant take a little bit of aggro then don't ask them what they are playing at.

Winter was the worst as I left before sun up and have many memories of black ice in car parks I crossed, a front wheel washout like that 8:01 am is really sh1t.

Your food bill will go up, but so will your fitness

And I was lucky that there was a main train station within 2 miles of my house and a station near my work, so I would have an easy day if I was knackered or not feeling up to it, not many commuters have that luxury

I would advise trying the commute for a month or two, and selling the motor in early summer (the right time ) and downsize the type of car (have all summer to find 1)

as you now commute by bike then annual car milage 3000 - 5000 mls, you insurance will drop considerably but 250 a month is way too much

and if you really need a motor you can rent or borrow

Pross

Get rid of it if you really are using it such a small amount. You could hire for a few days a month and still be better off or possibly join a car club if you've got one locally.

greg66_tri_v2.0

The question is not "do I use it enough to justify it?", but "do I have a viable alternative for the times when I do use it?".

Once you can answer the second question with a "yes", you've acquired a large and expensive paperweight outside your house.

MichaelW

I "did the math" and gave up owning a car.
Does your employer have a car leasing or rental company with employee discounts?
Do you have a local car club or a financially-challenged friend-with-car for occasional use.
With rentals, you get to pick the size and shape of your vehicle. I have hired large estate cars, small vans, transit vans as required.
If you want to live car free with a bike, get a backup bike (possible a folding bike for versatility). Ensure that you can fit ice tyres to one of your bikes and get a trailer for heavier /larger shopping loads.

Yossie

We are a 1 car family - it's the delicious Victoria's.

She uses it to get around when not winning Olympic medals - its also used for shopping trips, dump runs, family stuff and carting the sproglets and their associated tat around.

I don't miss having a car at all (sold mine about 15 years ago), however I would make sure that you have some form of motorised transport available (I have a motorbike, but a scooter would suffice) - although you can get around no problem using buses, bikes, trains etc there are sometimes that you just need to be somewhere and you can't be arrzed to use any of the above - ie its night time/raining/you're late/tired/ill/etc.

You can always hire/beg/borrow/steal a car anytime you need one anyway.

If you're a person with no family and your other is in the other part of the country then I don't think you're missing out on much. And the money you';re saving will add up in no time, meaning more to spend on gifts for the other half. And by gifts for the other half I mean ho's and charlie for you.

CambsNewbie

Wish I could give it up but can't. Don't mind cycling to work in the cold but hate the rain. And when I finish shifts at 4am I just want to get home and in bed. Wouldn't want to cycle then.

team47b

CambsNewbie wrote:

Wish I could give it up but can't. Don't mind cycling to work in the cold but hate the rain. And when I finish shifts at 4am I just want to get home and in bed. Wouldn't want to cycle then.

I gave up going to work, then moved to somewhere it don't rain, giving up the car was a bit easier then

CambsNewbie

team47b wrote:

CambsNewbie wrote:

Wish I could give it up but can't. Don't mind cycling to work in the cold but hate the rain. And when I finish shifts at 4am I just want to get home and in bed. Wouldn't want to cycle then.

I gave up going to work, then moved to somewhere it don't rain, giving up the car was a bit easier then

Ive never met you but I hate you!

arthur_scrimshaw

witness protection scheme?

y33stu

I'm selling my car as we speak. I'm the same, £300 a month (its on finance) plus ins and tax etc.. I've started commuting everyday by bike, and I love it. Its only 6.5 miles each way, so nothing hard, but still. I work in the Centre of Newcastle, if I drive, it takes me 45 minutes to drive in then £10 / day to park. If I cycle, its 25 minutes, and its free. No brainer. If the weather is truly awful I'm lucky as I can can get a bus instead, takes 45 mins, and thats £3.50 return. Cycling = Free. The mrs has a car we use on nights and weekends. Speaking of which, if anyone is interested in a lovely Alpha GT - its on ebay here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-ALFA-ROMEO-GT-LUSSO-JTDM-40K-Miles-/230776589084?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item35bb5b4b1c#ht_720wt_1270

team47b

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

witness protection scheme?

You 'aven't seen me, right.

MaxwellBygraves

Not mad at all, go for it!

nevman

Gave mine up 2 years ago-lots of money for bikes now and no regrets
Even discovered something called a bus-still cheaper,provides time to read cycle mag and keeps the rain off when not in the saddle.Try them.

Pross

y33stu wrote:

I'm selling my car as we speak. I'm the same, £300 a month (its on finance)

Have you checked that it is OK to sell the car? I think if it is on car finance it technically belongs to the finance company until it is paid off in full so you could have a chicken and egg situation. It might also show up if someone does an HPI check.

arthur_scrimshaw

team47b wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

witness protection scheme?

You 'aven't seen me, right.

[taps side of nose]

kieranb

well, we're a family of 4. Gave up on our car about 2 years ago. Still undecided if it is better! As pointed out earlier the main problem is what do do when you would normally have used your car - we use zipcar for day to day journeys but we have realised we have changed how we spend our free time. We used to go camping a lot or just out into the countryside for a day, this has changed for the worse. Often here in London the rail network is under repair at weekends and can be difficult to book a car on the spur of the moment when you wake up and see a lovely day ahead. Looking back over our zipcar account we probably spent around £2,000 on car hire (this includes longer hires such as weekends etc - would now use car hire companies rather than a car share company much cheaper). On the plus side we make much less trips to the B&Q/homebase/Ikea places!

y33stu

Have you checked that it is OK to sell the car? I think if it is on car finance it technically belongs to the finance company until it is paid off in full so you could have a chicken and egg situation. It might also show up if someone does an HPI check.

Good point. My plan is to sell it and pay off the finance with the sale. Think that will work? If i explain to the buyer what I'm doing.

Pross

y33stu wrote:

Have you checked that it is OK to sell the car? I think if it is on car finance it technically belongs to the finance company until it is paid off in full so you could have a chicken and egg situation. It might also show up if someone does an HPI check.

Good point. My plan is to sell it and pay off the finance with the sale. Think that will work? If i explain to the buyer what I'm doing.

I wouldn't buy it as if you didn't pay it off I'd be concerned that the car might get repossessed but perhaps I'm being overly cautious?

y33stu

I wouldn't buy it as if you didn't pay it off I'd be concerned that the car might get repossessed but perhaps I'm being overly cautious?

Guess it depends on the buyer. Would be happy to create a contract if it came to it. Just want to stop paying for the bloomin thing as I'm not using it!

Kendal Black Drop

Yossie wrote:

You can always hire/beg/borrow/steal a car anytime you need one anyway.

If you are begging/borrowing a car when you don't own one make sure you get some short term insurance for it though. Not really necessary if you are stealing it though...

I've only used my car once since the end of January, the MOT has now run out so it's not going to be used any time soon either. Unfortunately my other hobbies of climbing and caving rather rely on motorised transport to get me to the desired location.

hartlepoolmonkeyman

Well I have a mazda mx5, I own the car outright and insurance is £150 a month (ouch). petrol if I use the car frequently is 100 a month!

I'm thinking that the wise option might be to sell, get a cheap diesel runabout for the food shop and when it's chucking it down! I got drenched this morning and with decent protective clothing, the 2 punctures I sustained didnt help!

I will see how it goes for the time being! I quite fancy selling the car and getting one of those piaggio mp3 bikes, essentially a trike with the 2 wheels at the front for when the weather is bad enough to not ride or for shopping etc!

tuktuk

Im just about to let my car go, next week infact.

Will save me over £400 a month!

Pross

hartlepoolmonkeyman wrote:

I'm thinking that the wise option might be to sell, get a cheap diesel runabout for the food shop and when it's chucking it down!

I wouldn't get a diesel if you're only going to use it for a bit of running about, they lose their benefits on that sort of journey. Just get a small petrol engine - decent mpg, cheaper to buy, fuel is cheaper and servicing is likely to be cheaper.