Is car ownership over rated?

[Jeffmaniac]

Firstly please don't get me wrong as I love my car but I started thinking whether there are cheaper ways of car ownership?

I am lucky that I can walk from home to work. I only use my car maybe once in the week and maybe once or twice at weekends and once a year I drive with Mrs Jeffmaniac in the UK on holiday.

Could I sell my car and instead hire a car when I needed it cheaper? I don't live close enough to one of these car share schemes?

I know I would miss the luxury of having my own car 24/7 but could I do it really cheaply?

[Mike 820]

Insure a cheap as chips banger. That way if you are driving in the future you will have earned a nice bit of no claims bonus. Dont know your age etc but if your young Im sure the amount the no claims bonus will save you later on will outweigh the cost of running the car for a year now.

[Mr Gear]

I can hire a car from my local dealer for £45 from Friday until Monday. I don't use a car during the week. Even the sttiest cars cost about £2,000 a year before they move an inch.

Tax, insurance, depreciation, MOT, parking permits, servicing, repairs.... It's all so depressing.

If your car is just a white good that gets occasional work as a wheelbarrow, hiring is the way forward!

[Taita]

Cars are fking mega.

End of.

[Ibizahoo2]

have you tried not having the use of a motor at your convenience, when u need to shoot to tesco for some beans

my car was off the road for a while just over a year ago for almost 2 months, and it was the worst 2 months of my life! (maybe over exagerrating but...)

maybe try it 1st

[cheadle hulme]

Mr Gear said:

Even the sttiest cars cost about £2,000 a year before they move an inch.

Not really. My shed costs £220 TPT&T and £145 tax. Annual service is oil and filters - £40. About £500 all in before variable costs.

[Mr Gear]

cheadle hulme said:

Not really. My shed costs £220 TPT&T and £145 tax. Annual service is oil and filters - £40. About £500 all in before variable costs.

Even in that case, I could hire a car for 10 weekends of the year and I'd be driving a brand-new car instead of an unreliable ste-heap. If that suits your lifestyle, then you're quids-in.

If it doesn't, there are plenty of options. For me, it's very tempting to get rid of my car, because I have use of a motorcycle and the wife's car. It's extremely rare that we need two cars at once.

[TTwiggy]

I went through this last summer when I got rid of my Elise.

I live in zone 2 of London, 200m away from a DLR station, and a short walk to mainline trains and buses.

I decided that I didn't need a car all the time, so I joined Streetcar, who seemed to have a lot of vehicles in my area.

I reality however, the Streetcars were booked up months in advance, and on weekends, TFL would happily shut down half the transport network.

I bought another car.

[AJI]

cheadle hulme said:

Not really. My shed costs £220 TPT&T and £145 tax. Annual service is oil and filters - £40. About £500 all in before variable costs.

Similar story here.
The shed that I have recently bought was £200 already tax and tested for half a year, so this works out to be about £60 tax, £25 MOT, and then insurance which is £205, so just sitting there over the year without fuel added in to the equation it is about £490.

[infradig]

Please don't get me wrong as I love my wife, but I started thinking whether there are are cheaper ways.........once in the week......once or twice(!?) at weeknds....hire when I needed it cheaper.....share schemes......miss the luxury of having my own.....do it really cheaply.

[Meoricin]

This seems to assume that you'd only own a car for transport. Where are you going to hire a properly nice/fun car from, for a reasonable price? What about modifying to suit your tastes? What about having money in an asset which isn't necessarily going to depreciate (depends on the car), as opposed to simply throwing that money away?

I could get by without a car, and have done for a few months at a time - but since I got my first one, being deprived in that way makes me feel really limited.