How much does your car cost to run?

The whole depreciation argument is semantics. If I was doing 100K miles a year I would have to budget more for depreciation than if I did 10K. Look at leasing. Its all packaged up for you into one monthly payment. I am budgeting monthly for my depreciation on my new car by paying for the car on an interest free credit card and paying it off monthly for the term of the card. So I have made it a monthly outgoing, albeit interest free.

About 50p per mile, apparently.

That’s a 2 litre Renault Trafic.

2 cars here – one is a company car, upon which I pay tax and relinquish a car allowance for. Other one is our own, a few months old, bought ex demo and will be kept for 5 yrs plus.

whichever way we work it, each one costs £350/£400 per month, incl fuel/insurance/tax/depreciation/loss of allowance. We try and keep costs down by doing the majority of the miles on the diesel company car and sub 7K miles pa on the private petrol one.

Hells Bells, ’cause I only do 3000 miles a year in a 3.0 Beemer, my cost per mile is £1.14, or £285 a month.

And what can I buy from peugeot’s 3 year all-in except fuel deal close to £285 a month? The incredibly fugly 207 SW…. nice.

So, when you buy a car for ten grand, do you say ‘well this is only costing me six grand cos I can sell it later for four grand?’

And that affects your budget how? Are you continually saving, so as soon as you buy a car you start saving for the next one?

Leasing is different.

So is TJ thinking about getting a car yet? Most people seem to have running costs that are lower than my examples of public transport.

We run 2 cars, which i won’t go into….
But my weekly train pass costs just over 38 quid, and covers 530 miles – less than 8p per mile! Bargain!

DrP

my weekly train pass costs just over 38 quid, and covers 530 miles – less than 8p per mile

Yeah I have no doubt there are examples of public transport being cheaper but it isn’t necessarily the case (and my examples prove it really isn’t in my circumstances) – the three journeys I exampled are the three journeys I most regularly make using public transport – and even then I based them on a single person travelling – the public transport costs multiply when more than one person travels whereas with using your own vehicle the cost only increases fractionally. And I have more freedom to travel at times and on routes/destinations that suit me too. And I don’t have to sit next to someone smelling of urine.

It’s only infrequently that I smell of urine TBH…

DrPee

😆

Z4M – 70.4ppm (3000 miles per year)
Pug 306 HDI – 21.8ppm (7000 miles per year)
330i Touring – 46.4ppm (5000 miles per year)

That’s assuming no depreciation on the Pug or Z4M.

If your car didn’t depreciate you wouldn’t have to save to pay for the next one.

Deperciation is also dependent on mileage so it is not a fixed cost of ownership like MOT or Tax.

Hmmm, just looking into leasing and it seems the monthly payments outweight the cost of owning my own car.

Whats the catch?

Getting a bit naffed off with commuting in bad weather so i just checked how much insurance will be on a 1.6 qashqai (mrs can get a good deal leasing one through work) I’m 34, no no claims bonus. £1200 😯

Think i’ll be sticking to the bike

Deperciation is also dependent on mileage so it is not a fixed cost of ownership like MOT or Tax

Part of it is fixed though. It still depreciates even if you don’t drive it at all. More miles = MORE depreciation though. So perhaps the formulae could reflect that difference in the cost per mile?

And I have more freedom to travel at times and on routes/destinations that suit me too. And I don’t have to sit next to someone smelling of urine.

Mm that has never happened to me in all the public transport I’ve been on. You forget to mention that in a car you can’t read or sleep, or get up and walk about.

Mm that has never happened to me in all the public transport I’ve been on.

It SUITS me.

Ie, it is preferred, more flexible, in suits as I make the decision.

You forget to mention that in a car you can’t read or sleep, or get up and walk about.

Nope but I don’t on trains or buses (and very rarely on flights apart from long haul). I don’t like reading, much prefer to plug in the iPod and I can listen to music in my car.

As I said, it suits me.

Public transport always has an element of compromise as I have a 25 minute walk/5 minute ride/taxi drive to get to the nearest regular public transport.

Do whatever suits you and screw the environment, eh MF? 🙂

(warning.. this post may contain trolling.. still, don’t slag off the entire concept of public transport just because it won’t get you to work very easily, ok? The old ‘people smelling of wee’ rubbish is tiresome and not very helpful)

Mm that has never happened to me in all the public transport I’ve been on.

Actually, my train home from London often smells of takeaways, beer and cheap perfume, mainly ‘cos I’m often heading back when others have already been to the pub for a couple or three and are pleasantly half-pissed.

All right for them, but I don’t enjoy it. As there’s no sensible way to get into London other than by public transport (I could drive, but I’d just explode with rage), and I enjoy my cross-town bike ride, I put up with it. But it’s a real downside of public transport from my perspective

wors – Member

Getting a bit naffed off with commuting in bad weather so i just checked how much insurance will be on a 1.6 qashqai (mrs can get a good deal leasing one through work) I’m 34, no no claims bonus. £1200

Think i’ll be sticking to the bike

Even without NCB that’s an expensive quote at your age unless you’ve been drink driving or suchlike?

Permission to turn this into a cars-as-an-object-of-fun-rather-than-just-a-practical-thing thread?

Even without NCB that’s an expensive quote at your age unless you’ve been drink driving or suchlike?

No points on license, no driving offences, nowt.

mastiles_fanylion – Member

So is TJ thinking about getting a car yet? Most people seem to have running costs that are lower than my examples of public transport. No – cos for any sensible comparison public transport and bikes is a cheaper, easier, quicker and more comfortable option.

One trip I do fairly often is to visit my parents.

Cycle to town ( 10 mins), bike on the every 15 mins train, 50 mins to glasgow, 20 mins cycle to my paretnts. total cost £12.10 return, total time under 1.5 hrs, 50+ miles each way. ( or I can bus and train it for £20)

I can read the paper,have a coffee of a beer on the train and have a pee to relieve the pressure of the beer.

Try doing that in your car. It would cost far more, be slower except in the dead of night, you can’t have a coffee, read the paper, have a beer of have a pee in a car and its nice to be able to have a couple of glasses of wine with my folks. I can even and often do sleep on the train

TandemJeremy – Member

mastiles_fanylion – Member

So is TJ thinking about getting a car yet? Most people seem to have running costs that are lower than my examples of public transport.
No – cos for any sensible comparison public transport and bikes is a cheaper, easier, quicker and more comfortable option.

One trip I do fairly often is to visit my parents.

Cycle to town ( 10 mins), bike on the every 15 mins train, 50 mins to glasgow, 20 mins cycle to my paretnts. total cost £12.10 return, total time under 1.5 hrs, 50+ miles each way.

I can read the paper,have a coffee of a beer on the train and have a pee to relieve the pressure of the beer.

Try doing that in your car

Try going dogging on your bike!!

wors – Member

Even without NCB that’s an expensive quote at your age unless you’ve been drink driving or suchlike?

No points on license, no driving offences, nowt.

Hmmm? Have you tried Egg, Admiral and Tesco and Priviledge? Those have been pretty decent for me although I do have full NCB, I still have some points

I said dogging , not bogging 😉

KT1973 – Member
wors – Member
Getting a bit naffed off with commuting in bad weather so i just checked how much insurance will be on a 1.6 qashqai (mrs can get a good deal leasing one through work) I’m 34, no no claims bonus. £1200

Think i’ll be sticking to the bike

Even without NCB that’s an expensive quote at your age unless you’ve been drink driving or suchlike?

Jeez, I’m only a few years older than you and drive a group 16 BMW in London fully comp, with the missus on it for £450 (admiral)

I said dogging , not bogging

It light of the train benefits post I was thinking that TJ could use it on the cycling leg of his journey to continue with his usual shit…

…or maybe I just wanted an excuse to post a pic of a really shit bike.

[Just so you know it’s not personal, TJ]

26k miles a year at 44 mpg = £3840 in fuel
services £275
mot £50
tyres £375
Insurance £500
Other repairs £500
AA £100
Depreciation £500
Tax £165
Total = £6305 or 24.25ppm

I honestly haven’t a clue. And even if I did, the results’d be skewed completely by whether or not it’s had some non-scheduled replacement part in the time. All I know is, it’s a massive bargain for what it gives me back, so I’m not going to argue with it over pennies and pounds.

Thats a great wee spreadsheet

15p per mile for me. Still more than i want to pay!!

I’m taking a company car shortly so worked out mine the other night to see how beneficial it would be – I guessed my car cost me a couple of hundred a month or so. Was a bit shocked when I worked out it was £360 a month – and that includes a business mileage allowance of about £2-3K a year. 16K miles a year gives 27p a mile.

Worst is the insurance – despite being 26, driving for 9 years (+1 on a motorbike @ 16) having never had a single point, claim or anything and full NCB for those 9 years, i’m paying £1400 a year on a 5 year old car now worth about £4K. Insurance is more per year than depreciation!

Never claimed on my insurance, 37 years old, own a 2.5L Volvo.

My running costs are beyond funny. Getting on for interesting, in a conspiracy theory kind of a way. At least once a week, something else goes wrong with the bleeding thing. Today’s delightful little issue has been the ‘leccy window buttons reversing (polarity). The driver’s window button now controls the passenger window and vice-versa.

And the worst of it is, that if you don’t keep on top of all the little issues, you’re suddenly running around in a banger, no matter how sound the engine is. Off to buy an ’01 Micra 🙁

Looking into a private lease at work via PAYE.

Fiesta 1.6 TDCi ECO Zetec for £227 / month over three years.

That’s everything covered except fuel, so maintenance/insurance/breakdown all in.

Tempted 🙂

allthepies – Member
Looking into a private lease at work via PAYE.

Fiesta 1.6 TDCi ECO Zetec for £227 / month over three years.

That’s everything covered except fuel, so maintenance/insurance/breakdown all in.

Tempted

Me too, I’m wondering if theres a extortionate charge for any damage at the end, what with being used to carry bikes etc… anyone know how the “end” of a lease return process works?

allthepies – Member
Looking into a private lease at work via PAYE.

Fiesta 1.6 TDCi ECO Zetec for £227 / month over three years.

That’s everything covered except fuel, so maintenance/insurance/breakdown all in.

Tempted

Tell you what that looks like a good deal to me, how much is the deposit?

Who are you getting it through?

No deposit, it’s a work salary sacrifice thing through LeasePlan.

Just pay £227/month for three years and that’s it apart from fuel.

Blimey, my VW T5 is working out at 40 p per mile. Thought it’d be much more than that.

Monthly bus pass is £42, for 250 miles roughly. Car hire is £42 for a long weekend, but only done once every few months. On balance, I’m happy to be saving the cash at the moment. Was better when I could ride though, commuting costs one new bike per year 0 🙂