To wonder how the hell people are paying for this?!

[Ifrreoo]

I have an average car and cost to service it is 525. My home insurance has gone up to 450 and my car insurance is 540 (yes I’ve called round endlessly). I have 18 years no claims.

I am a higher earner. I am going to massively struggle to pay for this. I don’t understand how someone on the average income could afford this? Am I going wrong somewhere? Why am i struggling to make ends meet? How do others do it?

Op I have an Audi and even a service in an Audi garage doesn’t cost that much. My insurance is much lower than that too. I’d shop around a bit more, something sounds off there.

My home insurance is under £300 too for a large detached house. I don’t skimp on this stuff either, I have the highest level of hose insurance my provider does, with accident, call out etc.

Lucky enough to have a husband whos handy and ‘services’ the cars for us but otherwise the local garage is about £180 for service, are u using a main dealership? Pay monthly for home insurance so its about £18 a month, pay monthly for car insurance which is on a multi car policy with x2 cars and house insurance and is £89 a month so yours seems expensive.

House insurance 450 a year.
Husband changes oil etc in my ancient Renault Megan, but when I get a newer car I'll definitely get full service regularly.

Insurance always 500 a year. We are in ireland and ive 10 years no claims but everything is so pricey.
Car tax only 200 per year thank goodness.
Just generally costs are so much higher here. Just sold 1 house and bought another. The solicitors fees were insane. I got some scans done, my health insurance decided not to cover and I got charged 2000.
We are low income (60k per year combined) but lucky with low mortgage for now... it feels like we are living by the skin of our teeth sometimes!

What would not having a full service history do to the resale value of the car? And can you get a car MOT’d without having it serviced?

What car do you have? That makes a huge difference.

I drive a 1.2l small car with 8 years no claims and it’s £205.

Contents (the buildings are covered by service charges) £45

Do you use a price comparison website?

As to people who suggest to buy insurance in monthly payments- many insurance companies charge 15-22% APR if pay this way. My £205 would be £248. If your credit card has a lower APR - pay it through them

I rarely get a service and it hasn’t ever prevented me from getting an MOT.

Don’t be. DH always has a car service. I’d rather not financially but it is safer to have brakes etc checked.
My BIL runs a car garage and prefers to sell imports as Ireland and England cars don’t have a good service history, unlike imports, who regularly have a full service. They’ve too many problems to offer a warranty on.
A lot of people are happy to buy a banger without a service, it’s unsafe imo. It should be mandatory to have tires, brakes etc services, driving with poor tires and brakes is very selfish.

Re car servicing, has the message come up on the car saying service needed? Are you using a main dealer, because I've always found them more expensive?
Car insurance and house insurance. How much excess do you pay?

You do realize brakes and tyres are checked at the mot?

£60k is 'low income'?!

We're on just shy of £30k 😂

Eh? Do you understand the difference between a 'service' and an MOT? Every car over three years old has to have an MOT test each year to ensure it is roadworthy; its sole purpose is to check stuff like tyres, brakes, suspension etc. A 'service' may pick up some things that would otherwise cause you to fail an MOT, but it's not right say that unless you get your car serviced then you'll not know whether it's safe or not.

As to whether you need your car 'serviced' - it depends. I'd always get the oil and filter changed every 10k miles or annually, whichever comes later; that's cheap enough that it's false economy not to. Ditto changing belts when required (unless it's on its last legs anyway). Past that I wouldn't bother if I was skint.

I have a car that's now 14 years old. It has regular oil and filter change but not much more. Many of the things they do in a service are overkill IMO. The insurance is around £180. I probably couldn't afford to run a new car as I'd resent the charges

Yes. I do realise that. It’s not an excuse to wait on your car to fail an inspection before having vital work carried out.
Nothing to say that cars won’t have bad tires before the 3 year MOT.

Mots are yearly unless you buy a brand new car. And if you have bought a car brand new then id hope it wasn't a " banger"

That’s what the MOT is for, to get your checked and fixed. That’s why they let you get the MOT a month before it’s due, so you can make any fixes in time for the renewal date.

If dangerous faults are picked up on the new early MOT then no, it’s not covered by the old one because it isn’t roadworthy. You have to get it repaired and retested.

Our home insurance costs £1500 a year. And get this, when we had storm damage this year, to the tune of £60k, of course they found a loophole where that very specific type of damage is not covered. So we had to pay that too.

I have voted you are being unreasonable. Only because your costs are excessive.

We have a modernish car and it costs between £100 & £200 for a service. We dont take it to a main dealer and have had the same mechanic for the last 20 years. My DS has a BMW Sports car and it has a service package on it which of course will be used for the last major service which i think is about £700-£1000 if we were paying. Again, once this is finished it will be back to servicing by our mechanic. Might be a bit more but probably no more than £300.

House insurance, car insurance etc etc. It can all be done reasonably if you check around on comparisson sites. We usually do that then phone our existing one up and get them to match.

All the usual hints apply about reducing miles on the policy if not needed. Restricting use. Drivers etc.

Yes dangerous ones but most are major or minor and you still can run it on old mot till u get fixed. Usually 10 working days for retest

By can't people feel if their brakes are running thin or look at tyres for wear without needing to go to a garage?

Yeah electric cars are a different kettle of fish. You’re stuck with having to have and the new dangled devices plugged into things.

The cost of maintenance/repairs and not being able to do the majority without what is now a slightly oily electrician in overalls, is the main reason I'm
avoiding them as long as possible.

I’ve been driving three years, never had my own insurance (only ever been a named driver on another policy because I don’t need to drive that much), would keep the car in a public car park and my insurance would be £400 a year. 18 years no claims just can’t be true.

Do you live in a city or in or what was a high crime area to account for high house and car insurance, or have you made claims on either and are reflected in higher premiums?

I drive a small 5 seater. £340 insurance. 9+ years no claims. Some of that depends on the add ons like legal cover.

yes everything's going up.
Do you need to have a service?

Careful, some warranty’s do state you need to service yearly, mine is quite coy and attempts to make out I must have it done by Honda approved garages