To think I am surrounded by twats

[TrixieBlue2016]

This aibu is based on multiple conversations I have had in the last week with friends and colleagues.

So male colleague had a minor cat accident thankfully no one was injured. His car is a 16 plate. The car who he was in accident with was a 03 plate. This is relevant.

So he blamed the other driver (I'm not sure who was at fault) and said the driver was 'at it' as he drove a old car. All drivers of cars that age don't care about their cars so was glad to be getting a new one.

I disagreed with him. Just because it is an older car doesn't mean they are looking to cause accidents for the insurance. This was before a meeting started so there was about a dozen people in the room. All but one other agreed with my colleague. Comments made included, having an old car is a sign they don't have self respect , mental illness , laziness and the driver criminal and is likely is on benefits, has a 'council' lifestyle (drink/drugs). I made a point of disagreeing with them.

I went home and mentioned it to DH. He agreed with me. DH mentioned it to his friends when we were out at the weekend, they disagree with me and made similar comments. Apparently most people think this, the police do, insurance companies do. DH mentioned it to his colleagues, same result.

So the majority of people DH an I have casually mentioned it to agreed with my colleagues. so aibu to think the people in my life are twats. Or am I wrong?

I live in a fairly affluent area and car reg vary from brand new (usually leased) to vintage - some with eye watering price tags
However most of us drive around in 5-15 year old cars depending on our budgets
53 02 and 01 plates on my driveway

Mine's a '58 reg. I love it, and am super responsible person. Tbh, I view new cars as nothing but status symbols and would be put off a neighbourhood full of them.

OH and I both drive 55 plates so I am only 2ish years away from a debaucherous life of drink, drugs and criminal activity...how exciting!

That's really stupid logic that they'll not be bothered about getting a new car...

My car is an 04 plate, if mine was written off I'd get enough to replace it exactly, but, mine is well looked after and reliable, the chances of finding another car of a similar size (the size is why I have it) which won't need loads of work is fairly slim, it'd be a huge amount of hassle - much more so than replacing a brand new car.

I drive a 03 plate Astra convertible. It's my bit of fun and has enough seats to take the family out for a drive. I love it and have had it for 6 years. I've considered selling it but it has been ridiculously reliable and continues to be mechanically sound at 110k miles. I no longer do high milage in it because I work from home, so intend to keep it running as long as I can.

We're getting a brand new 'family' car next month, but it's on a lease deal. Having weighed up the pros and cons we decided that no MOT costs was a big benefit and there's no tax to pay either. We're paying for a maintenance plan where all parts and labour and servicing is paid. For us, we were fed up with driving an older car and never knowing how much an MOT would cost us. We also needed a car big enough to toe a caravan and could never have afforded to buy a brand new big car.

Our area is affluent bit there's quite a range of cars - not many older than perhaps 5 years though.

Well their argument is scuppered by private plates then, isn't it?

I have a newish car. I needed something reliable and with a warranty on it and there was a good deal on the finance so I went and bought it. I don't care about what year my plate says as long as I like the car and it goes. DH's car is older than mine and is bought and paid for - it will be replaced when it is needed and not before.

I am also yet to come across this as a valid argument for insurance settlement purposes - it's a new one on me. The age of the car in an accident may be relevant but it is part of the overall contextual evidence; I've never seen a claim where the age of the car was used as the only factor to indicate fraud.

I don't tend to judge people for how they spend their money because at the end of the day, it's their business. I know someone who spends a small fortune on her hobby. The trade off is that she drives an older car and doesn't eat out a lot. Her (very nice and very large) house is fully paid up - and she achieved that by not going abroad on holiday and sticking to UK coach trips. I know someone else that loves going on holiday and eating out - he affords this by not driving at all and walking everywhere, being very frugal with his clothes shopping and 'random' spending. I would think dimly of someone who judges someone else purely on the strength of them not keeping up with the Joneses though. I would be tempted to use this as an opportunity to step back from these sort of people.

tow

You are surrounded by twats. Both my neighbour and I drive old cars because we live on a narrow country lane in a popular 'day out in the country area.' Idiots with big flash SUVs insist on going for weekend drives near us and don't move onto the correct side of the road until it's too late. Or they just don't understand how wide their own cars are.

I've lost two wing mirrors this year and my neighbour two tyres from hitting the random three foot long kerbs that do nothing but stop the built up mud from narrowing the road even more.

We quite likely drive old cars because of knobs like your colleagues!

DH and I were commenting only the other day that you don't see many really old cars on the road now. When I first learned to drive (back in the day when a man walked in front of the car with a flag......), my first car was a 20 year old Cortina. DH drove a series of ancient panel vans. Now, hardly anyone seems to have a car over 10 years old, most newer than 5 years old.

We reckoned it's a combination of scrappage schemes, efficiency of new cars, and the fact that most people don't have a hope of doing even minor repairs on their cars now due to all the computers required to keep the damned things running. I could always do the basics - oil, spark plugs, bulbs, fan belts etc, but these days, ordinary chumps like me can't even access a lot of this stuff.

I drive a Y reg (2001) which runs like a sewing machine and DH drives a 61 reg which he has no intention of changing until he HAS to.

I'm more inclined to judge people who change their car every 18 months.

Sound like a bunch of twats!
My husbands Audi A4 is 9 years old and in brilliant condition, my Mazda mx5 Japanese import is only 3 years younger than me and again great condition (we've actually had 2 people try to buy it off us!). If they were written off we wouldn't get enough to replace like for like. We both work full time, own our own home just do not see the point in forking out for new cars when there's nothing wrong with the ones we have
People don't seem to like Audi drivers, the reason my husband has one is that it's a reliable car that will go for years therefore a good investment - not to show off.
My dad used to want a new car practically every year, it used to drive my mum nuts, after they broke up she drove her old Volvo til it practically fell apart

I drive an 58 plate, it runs fine and I don't plan tire place it until it falls apart. I'd argue that it shows I have the self respect not to get into unnecessary debt, by buying an older car outright rather than a newer one on finance. (I bought it when it was 4 years old, again, I don't see the point in changing a car too frequently as you lose money every time)

Our car (we only have one) is a 53 plate, tiny VW polo - has done over 120,000 miles. I will drive it into the ground before I buy a new one, and expect to get at least another 2-3 years out of it. I would be devastated to have an accident or have it written off.

We can afford to buy a new car, but we don't really prioritise it. Also, we're trying to be as low impact as we can on the environment, and my hope is that in the next 2-3 years, electric cars will be really viable and we can switch to one of those when it's time to change. Constantly changing your car has to have a negative impact on the environment, right, because of manufacturing costs? Or am I wrong?

I would have let rip because we had a fantastic Top of the range Skoda Octavia a few years back which we loved. 1.8 turbo engine, was so fun to drive, leather seats etc. Yes it was second hand but it was a quality car. It would have lasted years till some twat of a woman turned right into DH's path. She was fully at fault, her car was fine (as was she and her child who was also in the car),as DH is advanced driver trainer and his quick thinking made him steer the car to cause the least damage to all. Our car was written off by the insurance company who gave us the grand total of £2,500 to replace it as it was old. This would have bought us only an old banger - ours was old but a great car. So we were massively out of pocket and had to spend a lot on a newer car to get one of the same standard as our written-off one.

we refused the injury claim lawyers from our Insurance firm that called almost daily for a few weeks afterwards. DH had to get checked over at hospital - had cuts from the airbag on his face and injuries to his hands and a sore knee but he was able to go to work so he went and therefore didn't feel it was morally right to claim for his injuries, as he didn't have to take sick leave and whilst very shaken, it didn't cause him any stress.

Various people were telling us we were stupid for not claiming for his injuries and that we could have claimed thousands ("everyone does it", apparently , and used it towards the cost of replacing the car rather than be out of pocket and had to use thousands of our savings, but then that would have meant having to lie to a doctor that DH had been severely stressed by it, and had whiplash, and we both agreed that this is not morally correct. Because we were brought up properly, and are not twats - unlike your colleagues and some of your friends.

I would have gone BALLISTIC at those people at your work, OP, and asked them how many had claimed on their insurance for exaggerated injuries.

Yes, surrounded by twats

But I also think that the reason people base so much of their self esteem round an average new car (at £27k - this relevant) is because they will never be able to afford a property.

Car has become flat or house. My first house cost the same as the average new car price.

This is a new phenomenon in my mind.

There are a lot of people round this way with 2 new Audis in their very small driveways. I figure their car leases cost way more than their mortgages. It's mad. I drive a 7 year old Skoda and still think of it as the 'new ' car.

I still miss that car. So does DH. We would still have had it today, 5 years later and it would have been 13 years old. We used to get people stopping us at traffic lights asking us if we would sell it to them because they used to have one, fancied a change, and sold it and regretted it ever since!

My 06 plate is bloody immaculate and sails through MOTs. I think keeping an older car looking good and running well shows that the owner is a careful, sensible person.

YANBU. I have always driven old bangers. Initially it was because that was all I could afford. A few years back DH and I got sucked in by the scrappage scheme, and bought a new car, thinking it would be more reliable. I hated it. I spent far too much time worrying that someone would damage it. I almost became one of those idiot that has to park across two spaces so no one can park next to them. Then it broke down, and cost £3k to repair.

Needless to say we went back to older cars, and it is so much better. I still have the same job, home, etc, I just don't feel the need to have a shiny new car.

I cannot understand paying interest on a depreciating asset. If you can afford a new car, good for you, enjoy it. But it doesn't make you a better person than the next driver in their 03 plate.

I love my old car (which is weirdly appreciating in value). I would be devastated if someone hit it.
Its like people wanting the latest smart phone "i neeeeeeeed that new gadget". My ex was like this with his car, it used to drive me mental. He was never happy as he had built up this expectation of what he would drive, so he had to meet it.

That idiot with the 16 plate car is a twat. The poor sod with the 03 plate will get peanuts from the insurance company, i bet he'd looked after his 03 plate, serviced it well, replaced the tyres etc. Now he will have to buy one that might not have been so looked after.

We have a 58 plate that I've had since it was new, and an 07 plate that we've just bought. I don't make a habit of running into people (although I might make an exception for your twatty colleague). I'm hoping that when I return to work, the car savings will allow us to afford something much better than a boring car - a horse

The only people in my workplace with newish cars are those who get company cars! I also know a few complete car nuts who have multiple vehicles including ones they've fitted out especially for track days... Not one of them has a brand new car either.

I drive an 02 plate car.
If somebody could let me know which drugs I should be getting when the child benefit hits my bank I would be grateful, having a car that old means I lack the capacity and inclination to work it out myself.
Also interested in how old my car needs to be before I can legitimately quit my job and be a bum.

OP you are indeed surrounded by twats.

Keeping an old car that's running fine can be far more cost effective and environmentally friendly that replacing regularly. Any modern car should do 150k miles with little more than regular servicing and replacement of wear and tear parts. The person losing an old car in an accident will get nowhere near the value of that vehicle to them in insurance.

My parents recently purchased a new car and wanted to pay outright for it. The car salesman was shocked he said hardly anyone buys cars with cash these days he said that most cars on the road are on lease etc. We live in such a materialist world these days and the personal debt is the UK is staggeringly high and getting worse.

My little Mini may be 14 years old but I love her. She owes me nothing and I have self respect, am not on benefits, don't have mental health issues etc. I live in Essex and everyone around here is starting to look the same, same white flashy cars, same new (large) houses, same outfits, same hairstyles etc. Its a bit like living in Stepford!!

I'm glad ianbu .

For what it's worth I drive a 15 plate lease car. I have a three year lease as I have it as part of my job. I do a fair bit of driving and my employer pays for it.

DH drives a 12 plate which he got last year. Some idiot reversed into his previous 08 fiesta at a roundabout.

www.barons-auctions.com/auction_details.php?aid=23
Clearly all owned by bums.....