How much does it cost to run/maintain a car?

[NeedToShareEek]

I'm thinking of learning to drive at the ripe old age of 40 😂

But DP and I are planning/saving for early retirement, so I'm trying to get a picture of the financial implications of getting a car.

I know it's a piece-of-string question but how much does it roughly cost to run and maintain a car?

Let's say a medium sized car (Honda Jazz kind of size) used as a run-around so a few hundred miles a year.

I know the cost of buying a car and lessons, I'm just struggling to get a handle on running it year to year.

Sorry if it's really vague. Thank you!!

Do you live in a high risk/expensive area? I'm a similar age and I have an SUV but the insurance is 25% less than that including breakdown - and I haven't shopped around for a couple of years. Service plus MOT is also similarly less. I've had most of my cars for for 5/6 years and have never needed new brake pads, and it is very hilly here I live, you must do a lot of miles.

We pay £185 a month car finance
Insurance just under £300 for the year
Road tax I think £120? Not too sure on this one
Petrol probably around £50 a week
It's a 71 plate, had a service and MOT done and no issues

Thanks again everyone, it's so helpful to read your thoughts.

I'm in a good area for public transport and it's mostly okay. But we may move in future and having a car would certainly open up the possibilities.

Lots to think about!

I've got a 12 year old car. I'm paying around £350-400 insurance, £0 tax as its free, £400-600 each year on service and MOT but more things are breaking as its older. I had to have my air con re-gased last week at £95. Plus it needs 4 new tyres this year so that'll be around £450.

One thing to consider OP if you're not planning to use the car much so presumably want to limit the cost is that up to March 2017 (I think, obviously check this) many low emission cars had road tax of £0-30 - almost certainly many Honda Jazz of this age will fall into that category.

So a good saving against slightly newer cars of the same type when it's about £190. If you bought a car to keep for the long term, so you could save nearly £2k over 10 years just on lower road tax.

Electric car? No road tax, no congestion charge, no fuel, no oil, barely any servicing, needs some electricity (v cheap if can charge at home) and the occasional new tyre, as well as insurance. There is almost nothing to go wrong with it as it doesn’t have a combustion engine, just a battery.

Have a look at the sort of car you are thinking about. Say Honda Jazz and check out what category of insurance it is in. Then phone an insurance company, Churchill and Direct Line say, not all insurance companies are the same, I only insure our cars with companies you can phone and UK call centres because if you did need to claim or have a claim against you it helps to have someone on the line that knows UK roads.

They will be able to give you an approximate price for a new driver, female, 40, car you want.

Provided you don’t get any points on your licence your insurance will come down but it might be quite high when you first pass.

The other option is to look at insurance category 1 (lowest) for your first car, they are smaller with smaller engine sizes but cheaper for new drivers.

I would be prepared to budget £300 a month for a new driver.

It’s the insurance that will cost you at first. So the running of a car, that’s standard, what varies is the insurance, size of car, driver, how many years no claim, length and points on licence. So for instance on my 2lt ford focus it costs about £200 a year insurance, if they would insure my son when he passes say I gave him my car, it would cost £3500-4k a year! Insurance is the cost you need to know for you.

A decent electric car won’t be cheap to insure for a new driver.

It won't be cheap to buy either and because the OP isn't planning to do many miles, it's going to work out very expensive because there isn't the saving to be had from not buying a lot of petrol.

I did the maths when I bought my current small petrol car. The electric equivalent was more than double the price of the petrol one I bought and the 'payback time' for the extra investment was longer than the expected 10-15 year lifespan of the car.

Driving is fun too so you should experience it if you want to, and 40 is young so go for it!

My car is a mid size hatchback. 8 years old, I have been driving for 20+ years and have a protected 10+ years no claim bonus on my insurance. As a new driver yours would no doubt be a lot higher but you can do dummy quotes online quite easily.
Car itself was paid off years ago
Insurance £260
Road tax £190
Service & MOT £260
Breakdown cover £70
It's not had new tyres for a while and one had an advisory on it at the MOT so say £160 for 2 mid range tyres.

I bought my 2012 Jazz 8 years ago, I paid outright at a main dealer and it has cost me (comparatively) very little since then. Insurance and breakdown is £250-ish annually for DH and I (we no longer need 2 cars as both now work mainly from home), servicing/repairs averages £400 a year at a good local garage, road tax is £180-ish and fuel varies depending on use.

It's not the most comfortable car but it's cheap to run, reliable and has great internal space for a small car. We do between 5 to 10k miles a year in it.

I service car once a year with mot - usually around the £200 mark

road tax £15 a month

insurance was just over £320 I think for the year. I pay in one as cheaper - but I’ve been driving over 30yrs so insurance cheap due to lots of no claims bonus

always protect them

then odd tyre £80

needed new battery last month. That was £200 as a stop start car so needs a more powerful battery but that’s a once every 5/10yr thing if lucky

£7/8 a month for green flag

I do around 15 000 miles a year

car an asx now think 8yrs old. Had for 3yrs

If it’s literally a few hundred miles a year, then get a good electric bike - they are so joyful to ride, and give you such a sense of freedom (in a 10 mile radius, I’d say).

No boot space on a bike, unfortunately.

I toyed with getting a moped but same issue.

What do you need to carry? How do you do it now?
yes no boot space but panniers can take a lot, and you can often set things up to work for you. My niggle at the moment is seedlings, which are tricky tho not impossible to take on a bike!