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Ditching the Car


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I'm now within walking distance of my work and my missus works from home, so the motor has become a bit of a luxury. Have always resented anyway what a money-pit it is.

Only issue would be the ferrying around of the kids to their activities. Taxis and public transport are available however.

I've calculated that, all in, the car is probably costing £5K a year. Multiply by 20 and the savings from ditching it could actually help me retire early. FOMO is there though, especially for the weans.

Anyone got rid? Any thoughts?

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55 minutes ago, Buttocks Brown said:

I'm now within walking distance of my work and my missus works from home, so the motor has become a bit of a luxury. Have always resented anyway what a money-pit it is.

Only issue would be the ferrying around of the kids to their activities. Taxis and public transport are available however.

I've calculated that, all in, the car is probably costing £5K a year. Multiply by 20 and the savings from ditching it could actually help me retire early. FOMO is there though, especially for the weans.

Anyone got rid? Any thoughts?

I got rid around Covid time. It's expensive, stressful and unhealthy.

I found it hard getting used to not having personal transport at first, no point denying that. Public transport is terrible, unreliable. Taxi's are expensive. I settled on walking nowadays because it keeps my waistline trim, saves me money, connects me with my local area very well and is reliable. I sparingly use hire cars, public transport, taxis and my Co-Wheels membership

If you can't cope with the elements, this might not be for you - it's the toughest part, that and the perception that your world has shrunk. My advice is not to use the car for 1 week as a trial just to see how you like it. Then do it again for 2 weeks. Overall I would recommend, but think you have to go into it with your eyes open.

Edited by 2426255
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1 hour ago, Buttocks Brown said:

I'm now within walking distance of my work and my missus works from home, so the motor has become a bit of a luxury. Have always resented anyway what a money-pit it is.

Only issue would be the ferrying around of the kids to their activities. Taxis and public transport are available however.

I've calculated that, all in, the car is probably costing £5K a year. Multiply by 20 and the savings from ditching it could actually help me retire early. FOMO is there though, especially for the weans.

Anyone got rid? Any thoughts?

I’d also consider the cost of public transport against that 5k saving and your time, a half hour journey in the car could be 2/3 times as long on a bus (depending on where you live) 

I personally despise taxis and think they’re a rip off 

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I think you could think about it and think about it. The best thing to do is just try it, test it - see what what works for you as everyone's situation is unique. You don't need to sell the car to do that. That's what I did and just haven't gone back to car ownership so far. You might try it and be like, f**k doing that and then that's the issue settled.

Edited by 2426255
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2 hours ago, Buttocks Brown said:

I'm now within walking distance of my work and my missus works from home, so the motor has become a bit of a luxury. Have always resented anyway what a money-pit it is.

Only issue would be the ferrying around of the kids to their activities. Taxis and public transport are available however.

I've calculated that, all in, the car is probably costing £5K a year. Multiply by 20 and the savings from ditching it could actually help me retire early. FOMO is there though, especially for the weans.

Anyone got rid? Any thoughts?

I've done the most back of a fag packet cost imaginable for mine, but if you can save on any of these:

i) my current road tax is about £170 - £180 a year - as tempting as HAHA V8 GO VROOM VROOM is, some of the road tax rates are brutal. Did a bit of fantasy shopping and was surprised how low the cash price is on some cracking looking Jaguar XKR's (some of which look in decent nick and aren't even *that* old, really) are at the minute... then clocked the road tax is £500 - £600 a year. Ouch.

ii) an oil service, MOT and maybe the odd bits (brakes n' tyres) I generally budget about £200 a year - I'm fortunate to be doing very few miles at the minute + the 2 years during lockdown. If you're running an unreliable shitbox then that changes things, past a certain point you have to cut your losses.

iii) insurance fully comp is about £380 for a full year I'm getting quoted now. This has unfortunately gone up across the board afaik. Can only advise to do the usual and shop around, never auto-renew etc. If you're unfortunate and don't have a clean licence, at-fault claims history etc. then idk how to unfuck it I'm afraid.

iv) petrol/diesel is obviously the biggest and heavily mileage dependant. If you need to do the travel then ultimately unless you're walking/cycling, you're still going to have to pay something to get there.

I'm heavily considering getting an E-Bike at some point tbf, having that option for shorter commutes to the train station for work etc. would be nice.

v) can't help with regards to finance etc. with having the actual car itself. Can only suggest trying to get the most bang for your buck - a friend of mine is a mechanic and has said once or twice that the Dacia's that come in for servicing etc. are surprisingly well put together given they're technically just cheap Clio's. Badge snobbery is rather foolish to me, big fancy cars still get stuck in traffic the same as everyone else at the end of the day. edit: aware of the irony given I said above that Jaaag XKR's were catching my eye right enough, ha. Still, £5k for a supercharged 4.2L V8.......

         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
Edited by Thistle_do_nicely
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Scottish government are trying to influence folk away from personal car use. City centers are more pedestrianised, focus on cycling infrastructure/awareness and reduction of speed limits to 20mph.

Assuming you live in Scotland, it'll over years become less worthwhile owning a car. The car will move lower down the food chain on Scotland's roads, e.g. Making cars take longer, more inefficient routes will be planned into road layouts. Cyclists and pedestrians will be a higher priority, making them more important than car users.

Similar to the method with smoking fags. Cars aren't being banned, just disincentivized over the long term. More with the next generation or two in mind, rather than for our benefit (e.g. the cycling network is still a bit of a Frankenstein). 

Edited by 2426255
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16 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

Assuming you live in Scotland, it will over years become less and less be worth owning a car. 

I can't believe it's £3K / year for a 17 year old's car insurance. Getting your licence was an S6 rite of passage across the country, but it's going to become the preserve of the rich kids.

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3 hours ago, Buttocks Brown said:

I'm now within walking distance of my work and my missus works from home, so the motor has become a bit of a luxury. Have always resented anyway what a money-pit it is.

Only issue would be the ferrying around of the kids to their activities. Taxis and public transport are available however.

I've calculated that, all in, the car is probably costing £5K a year. Multiply by 20 and the savings from ditching it could actually help me retire early. FOMO is there though, especially for the weans.

Anyone got rid? Any thoughts?

If there's a car club in your area, you'll save a fortune by ditching the car and using one of theirs whenever you need it. You don't even pay for fuel, it's included in the price. The petrol and diesel goes on a card that comes with the car, and the EVs have a card that lets you use most chargers.

The two big car clubs in Scotland are:

Enterprise: https://www.enterprisecarclub.co.uk/gb/en/home.html They're mostly in Edinburgh and in Glasgow city centre but they have cars all over the UK. They also do vans, which is handy if you use them. You can get a car for about £7.30 an hour, daily rate £30 right now because of a special offer, all in. The membership fee is £2 per month. I think it's a steal compared with owning a car.

Co-wheels: https://www.co-wheels.org.uk/find-car They're in more locations and in handy places like near train stations. They're cheaper per hour but charge a mileage rate and they're more per day. They have more proper small EVs, which are half the price per mile of the petrol cars.

If they had car club vehicles in Linlithgow we'd ditch our car the next time it's due for tax & MOT, but sadly they're not here yet. I've used both car clubs when we were without a car for a few months, picking them up in Edinburgh or Falkirk, and also in combination with public transport for football games in places like Aberdeenshire and Girvan. Never had a bad experience.

I think car clubs are the future - how many of us just keep a car because of the absence of alternatives for trips we only make every couple of weeks or less?

Edited by GordonS
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5 hours ago, Buttocks Brown said:

I'm now within walking distance of my work and my missus works from home, so the motor has become a bit of a luxury. Have always resented anyway what a money-pit it is.

Only issue would be the ferrying around of the kids to their activities. Taxis and public transport are available however.

I've calculated that, all in, the car is probably costing £5K a year. Multiply by 20 and the savings from ditching it could actually help me retire early. FOMO is there though, especially for the weans.

Anyone got rid? Any thoughts?

Get rid. Save the planet

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