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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think I can no longer afford to use my car?!

44 replies

ohseriously · 25/01/2011 20:24

Wow - just got servicing bill today which added to petrol costs rocketing basically means I am going to struggle to keep my car on the road!

We live in the country, we need 2 cars because we both work and there is only 1 bus a day in/out of our village. Having 2 cars is becoming more and more difficult to justify - they are older models so tax is more expensive.

I feel I'm going to have to give up my job (there is now work locally btw) because we can't afford to run another car.

AIBU to wonder how other people manage to run a car these days?

OP posts:

Xales · 25/01/2011 21:37

I am starting to worry about fuel prices.

I can still afford to drive DS to school then go on to work. It is getting closer and closer to unaffordable though.

I also worry that we as a country cannot sustain/support ourselves when fuel prices go too far and we cannot import food!!

LaWeaselMys · 25/01/2011 21:38

Thanks, no cash to buy anything new right now, but will definately suggest it when we get a chance/at renewal time if we decide to keep it.

I had no idea Mazda's would be high grouping, we picked it because they have been pretty reliable and we have had trouble with cheap cars being crappy. ( the rover whose engine blew up twice in a month was a particularly depressing money pit)

sazm · 25/01/2011 21:43

laweasel - do a quick insurance quote on one of the comparison sites for a 1.2 corsa and see what sort of prices you get.the price may simply be due to the claim your dh had,and there may be nothing you can do about it,but if it would make a big difference to your premium (and prob your fuel costs) it may beworth selling yours and getting something more affordable?

goingmadinthecountry · 25/01/2011 21:46

We moved here over 12 years ago and the transport costs are mad. DD's bus fares (she's in Y12 so no longer gets it free) are £7.10 a day. She attends the nearest suitable school - OK it happens to be 10 miles away. Bikes aren't an option - big hill up from us.

Never move to the country - when your children are teenagers you'll never be out from behind the wheel!

lololizzy · 25/01/2011 21:48

me too...think am going to have to give up car..and therefore job(60 miles away and no public transport there whatsoever)

Alouiseg · 25/01/2011 21:52

Fuel costs are adding greatly to food costs and inflation in general. Something has got to give.

radiohelen · 25/01/2011 22:12

Listened to Mervyn King earlier this evening. Don't expect any help anytime soon. He was basically saying interest rates are staying put and we're just going to have to wear the rises in inflation because they are caused by commodities and not fiscal policy. Salaries this year will be worth what they were in 2005.
Your car is made of metal... metal is going up in price. Petrol is going up in price. Tax is going up.

Get a bike.

mackereltaitai · 25/01/2011 22:16

Worth putting an advert up offering to share a lift to your work place/busier bus route/nearest town?

fedupofnamechanging · 25/01/2011 22:26

I took our family car off the road last year. Luckily DH has a work car, but we can't all get in it (we are a family of 6, and car seats 5). Its still costing me £150 per month for the loan I took out to buy the bloody thing in the first place, but at least I don't have to tax and insure it. It's going for an MOT this week, then I'm going to try and sell it. Just can't afford to run it. I live in a place with crap public transport, but what can you do?

alemci · 25/01/2011 22:34

i know where you are coming from. We are lucky where we live as we have excellent public transport but i use my car alot for running teenagers around and my dd will want to drive shortly.

everytime i go to the supermarket i notice food and essentials going up. i swear the toothpaste had gone up by 40p this week. we are trying to cut back.

i don't understand why they cannot raise the interests rate a little as they seem artificially low.

daisydotandgertie · 25/01/2011 22:36

It does seem as though those of us who live rurally are likely to really struggle.

I live in a hamlet where the public transport equates to a bus which arrives late afternoon on a Thursday and doesn't come back again until the following Thursday. It's an utterly pointless service. There is no useable public transport within an 8 mile radius.

It's impossible to live in the hamlet without a car, and impossible to reach our house without a sizeable 4x4. Our domestic use fuel costs are becoming unbearable - really eye watering.

I really don't know what else we can do.

maltesers · 25/01/2011 22:37

I sold my car last August and have not looked back. . .I live in a city sot easy to get everywhere, on my bike. If i want to go anywhere else i hop on a train..
I am saving a lot of money !

Blu · 25/01/2011 22:42

Where on earth do you live that you can't reach without a sizable 4x4?

frgr · 25/01/2011 22:56

Blu, my sister lives in Glasgow, she took us to stay the night at a house outside of Dundee to a friend (well, i say outside of, but basically the woman lives close to Dundee with her OH and drives in every day)... she lived in the middle of nowhere up a hill with a brook running under a little bridge to get to her driveway. the day we went up, it was drawing to dusk on the Friday, we literally drove past it 3 times before we spotted the turn off into her track. and the dirt track was so bad it scraped something under my car which needed to be repaired a few weeks later when I asked them to check the banging noises!

so i can well believe that there are some houses on the UK mainland which wouldn't be suitable to access without a 4x4 - i know that i said to my sister after paying the repair bill that the next time we go there i'll park the car in a layby during daylight and walk the mile to the house, i was fuming

daisydotandgertie · 25/01/2011 23:16

We live up a steep hill which for the first mile is tarmac and then for the next mile and a half is unmade. The ruts are deep because of water run-off from the fields and the mud is pretty grim for the same reason. The difficult conditions are compounded by the tractors and machines that pass up and down the track to access the fields.

It's much worse when it snows and freezes.

We need our 4x4. A lot.

AtYourCervix · 26/01/2011 08:53

I wondered this yesterday when filling up my car (again). Fuel going up and up, parking at work going up 400% this year. Work silly hours and live in small town with crap bus service so not driving is not an option.

Bikes/scooters are fine but only if you live within cycling distance to work, in an area (city) with cycle lanes, which an awful lot of people don't.

Stuck and doomed.

TrillianAstra · 26/01/2011 09:01

There are houses in my parents village that you'd need a 4x4 to get up the road to them. It's a nicely paved road and everything, just extremely steep.

This is the balance you make, unfortunately. Houses in tiny villages with crap transport links and no local work are cheaper for a reason. You have to either live somewhere with better transport (generally more expensive) or run a car per person.

GrendelsMum · 26/01/2011 09:04

Yes, TrillianAstra's right - houses with poor transport links are (round our way at least) wildy cheaper than those with good transport links. We're talking 20% difference in price for access to regular buses and a cycle path.

I don't suppose a moped or a bike would work in your situation?

Original poster

ohseriously · 26/01/2011 19:56

No - I couldn't get a bike - I need to use the motorways to get to work. Not sure I could manage peddling up the M5 on a bike!!

Must be tough if you actually need a 4x4 - I can't even imagine what it costs to fill one of those up these days - eyewatering!!

OP posts:

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