How much does it cost you a month to drive?

[Tiktokgone]

I really want to learn.

But I have 4 kids so would need a MPV.
And I'm on long term illness benefits.

I just don't know if I could afford it in reality.

I have about 1800 saved up for a car but the costs seem endless.

There's no set figure

Insurance - depends entirely on your personal circumstances
Fuel - depends on how far you drive, the fuel economy of the car, prices at the pump
Repairs - impossible to predict
Tax - depends on the car
MOT - cost of the test is about the only thing you can say, approx £40 in my area

About £50 diesel to go to work and back and the odd social or shopping trip.
I could calculate the monthly cost of insurance, MOT/servicing, tyres, windscreen wash, aircon re-gassing, breakdown cover, depreciation etc on top of that, but it will be v different for every car and driver so there's not much point.

And the benefit to you will very much depend on how much you spend for everyone on other modes of transport.

Yes. I suppose.

Can I find out what insurance would be?

I don't spend any money on public transport.

I think the benefit will be us being able to go to places in the holidays, becah etc. Even holidays in the UK. Camping and such.

If you have a specific car in mind, get the reg, or use the reg number of a similar car and use a website like Compare the Market to get some insurance costs.

*insurance quotes.

My car is not very eco friendly.

Tax is £50 a month,
Diesel £80 a fortnight,
Insurance is £600 annually.

However, dhs car is £20 tax for the year, a full tank costs less than £30 and lasts forever and his work pays his insurance.

There are cheap options.

Insurance will depend on your age and experience. For example my son passed his test at 17 two years ago, his insurance was £1600 for the first year.
To find out what insurance would be you will need to put in hypothetical details into a comparison site. They will ask when you passed your test, so you will need to make something up, but put it as a date recently. They will then do a search and tell you what it could be.

Costs to run a car would depend on what you use it for. You will have general wear and tear, tyres, MOT, anything else that could possibly go wrong with it. Annual car tax. Petrol will vary as to have much you use the car, and how often.

We have a Polo on finance (not the newest model) and we pay £160 for the car and £60 a month insurance. However for my first car about 10 years ago my insurance was £130 per month and that was for an engine size under 1l so it’s worth checking out what the cost would be for a new driver and the type of car

Also think about incidental costs. We went on holiday last year and parked on the side of a road and someone slashed 2 of our tyres. That cost £300 to have someone come out on a Sunday to replace them and obviously we never would have budgeted for something like that

Are you on the enhance mobility component of PIP? If you are, look at the Motability scheme.

My driving costs are low. I drive a Fiat 500 with £0 tax and c.£100py insurance so the extra costs are fuel and maintenance (£150 pay on average). Obviously a Fiat 500 wouldn’t work for you but just to show the range of ongoing costs and the need to take care when choosing the car.

Unfortunately lessons are really expensive too, do you have money put aside for that?

For me, personally, it’s pretty cheap. My insurance is £220 a year, car tax is £30 a year, my old car does 60mpg, so costs very little to run (I put about £10 a week in), and I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve had very few repairs, apart from brakes/tyres/suspension etc. In the last year, for MOT/service and repairs, it’s cost me a total of £300. Works out about £18 per week all in, but that’s with a very reliable 12yo diesel and over 20 years no-claims, living in a low car crime area.

A friend of mine who lives in the city, has made a couple of claims etc, pays £100 per month just for her insurance, so there are so many variants. Try some of the comparison websites with your details and that of cars you’re interested in.

Would you qualify for a mobility car? That would save you some money. Have a look at the scheme online. You get a new car regularly.

Before lockdown I would drive about eleven miles a day and then be out at the weekend for a drive. Petrol cost then was about £120 per month.

Insurance depends on where you live, your age, and what kind of car you are insuring. You could get a quote now, just make up the date you passed your test as being this year in February say and that will give you an indication of what you will pay. Mine is about £50 a month.

Repairs, servicing, MOT and tax for a ten year old small car I allow about £50 per month.

RAC or other breakdown £14 per month.

Any parking permits you require.

If you are on getting an insurance quote you can try putting in different cars and see how much that affects ya your premium. Also try putting your friend or mum on it as that can reduce the premium too (even if they will never drive your car ever).

If you don’t want to buy and want to ‘rent’ it’s generally about £150 upwards. I don’t know if that includes servicing or parts etc so you’d need to ask. I don’t think it includes insurance.

If you rarely use perhaps being a member of a car club may suit better?

I don't get PIP

I get ESA support group

I'm scared to apply for pip because I've read it can trigger you're esa being reviewed or a move to universal credit.

My esa application was so stressful I reverted back to self-harming so I really don't want to rock the boat

And I don't think I could go through the pip process :(

I don't have the credit to rent or get a car in finance.

I'll have to buy outright

Would there just be the five of you, if so I'd go for a normal car.
We've just sold a Toyota avensis which would do 5 people comfortably.
It cost us per year, 55 breakdown cover, 250 insurance, 30 a month petrol, probably 250 per year average over nine years annual service and tyres. We weren't lucky, our previous avensis was the same, we had it for nine years. We bought cars with full service history and had them serviced yearly ourselves.

The alternative would be to hire a car for holidays and days out which may be better.

No 6. DH too. And I'd like space for my dogs

Oh gosh I forgot about car tax, which I think was 200 a year.

My car is a Motability car, and like most motability cars costs all of my mobility component of PIP - around £250 a month plus an “advanced payment” of about £3k. That covers everything except fuel, which

DH has a lease car, (as did I previously) and it works out about the same cost as the motability car, give or take a couple of hundred pounds a year.

@Tiktokgone check and see if you qualify for road tax exemption.

I put 50/month in as savings accounts to cover adhock repairs and MOT. Insurance is 500/year (2nd year driving, down from 800 last year) plus road tax 200 year. About 20/week petrol in normal times.

Adds up to £2440/year, so just over £200 a month averaged out.

Not including the coat of the car- about £150 a month

3 tax
35 ins
40 fuel for local driving more of any distance
6 car wash
50 Service and tyres

At the moment I pay £200 a month for everything incl tax but not petrol for a company car that I use about twice a month to drive a total of 20/30 miles.

During normal times I have probably £100 a month of fuel on top of that. But yes, if you're entitled to a motability car, that might be an option, but if it's literally only for occasional use, you could look at hiring or joining a car club for holidays and occasional trips out.

Unfortunately, MPVs tend to be quite pricey for tax at least. You say 'I' so would that mean there's 1 adult and 4 DC, so could 1 go in the front and 3 in the back, which would mean you might be OK with a small to medium estate car and thus increase your options and reduce costs.

If you're looking at an older car, you need to expect it to go wrong occasionally, and make sure this is in your budget, a PP estimating £50 pm is a good starting point. If you spend less, you're ahead, but you do need to expect to replace tyres, brake parts etc, servicing and MOT and also more expensive repairs like timing belts every once in a while.