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?

I bet their car insurance is cheap though.

When do you think 2019 was?

We only get proper services whilst the car is still in its warranty period , otherwise it’s lucky if it gets an oil change and filter , one of ours is a 2011 Kia which we’ve had from new 170 k on the clock and has passed it’s MOT with minimal cost (£200 inc mot) for the past 2 years . Insurance on both of our cars , the other is a 72 reg MG is about £300 each . House insurance £315 this year and that is for a large 4 bed detached on Churchills best policy . SE England if it’s relevant .

To be honest, none if those are groundbreaking!

Ahh I missed that! Tbh over 5 years there's no warranty usually is there? That car will be 7 years old now so I would probably service every 2-3 years once the warranty was out

Run Home and car insurance quotes on money supermarket then ring admiral and ask to speak to the multipolicy team, they’ll give you a discount for taking both policies out with them and it doesn’t matter if they’re not due up together, they’ll pro rata them.
Ring around other local garages, which area are you in? Local to me that would be around a £180-280 service.
Try and pay the insurances yearly if possible and put the service on a 0% credit card and pay off asap!

Literally just insured a kia sportage for 324 with goskippy also have 18yrs no claims 😑 my disco went from 350 to 680 last year 😫

There's no mystery to it. We have more money than you, and/or we spend less on other things.
That's it

Good grief! Do you live on a flood plain, have a thatched roof, livestock, tens of thousands of pounds of itemised jewels?

How have you come to that conclusion, do you know all the OPs personal details, address occupation, driving history, no claims situation, choice of excess, other drivers etc?

My last car repair was a bloody expensive one - full.engine refurbished at £4k 😳 Luckily my wonderful and generous parents paid for it, or otherwise my poor old Mini Countryman would have become a bit useless.

DH generally shop around for insurance etc to get the best deal and pay monthly, but the engine repair was a bit unexpected!

Me and dh both on minimum wage - run one old car between us that we bought 2 years ago for £2k (saved up for it)
we can’t afford to have it serviced, we pay for any repairs as and when they crop up, make sure we have breakdown cover (and obviously insurance) and we pay for MOT.
when this car packs in we won’t be able to afford to get another one for a while.
I know it is false economy and the car would last longer if we got it serviced etc but we just don’t have the money so what can we do.

Of course its entirely up to you if you get your car serviced or not. If you bought it new (or perhaps even secondhand) with a finance deal then you would be obliged to have it serviced, probably at a main dealer. If not then its up to you, but not only is an unserviced car more likely to break down or fail the MOT, but not having a fully stamped service book is going to clobber the value when you come to sell or trade it in. If the car is out of warranty and/or you're planning to keep it long term then get it serviced at an independent garage; they can still stamp the book and will be much cheaper. Be careful that the high service cost isn't due to some one off replacement (like the cam nelt), ignoring that could be disastrous (yes, I know people don't bother and they last twenty years - other people aren't so lucky and need new engines)

I haven’t had a service in years.

My car insurance is £180 for the year with Darwin. In my 30’s with 14 years no claims.

(I am driving a 2008 plate though).

£525 for a car service?? They're having a laugh. I paid £260 for a 100k service for my Honda a few months ago - (at a reputable local garage not a dealership) - and that included the cost of a new battery.

Edited for typo.

Can you do without a car? I bus everywhere and taxi if absolutely necessary. Walk everywhere else for small grocery shops.

I couldn’t afford the service this time tbh. Just got an MOT. First time in my driving career I’ve just had the mot.

I guess it’s like everything, we are just scaling down.

I have a car fund that I pay into like a monthly bill - I put £275 a month in which covers fuel, service, MOT and insurance.

I pay house insurance monthly.

I have noticed we have significantly less money spare at the moment and we are higher earners (not mega high but significantly above average).

We aren’t struggling but there is less discretionary spending.

Vets fees are killing me. Over £600 in 3 weeks and got to go again tomorrow.

Bloody hell, then how do you know if the cam belt isn't going to pop off?! Not very safe or sensible to not know if it's roadworthy 😳😕

I find Bookmygarage really reasonable for deals on services and MOTs - I've just priced up a major service on my 6 year old Nissan, at a Nissan dealership and it's £222

My last ‘big’ service was £299. Where are you getting it serviced? If it’s a dealer can you go to a local garage? That does seem excessive, my car is a very big standard car though.

I have not so long since got a new sports car & paid less than that for insurance. My prior car had gone down to £170 & that was a more standard run of the mill car

are you getting services from a main dealer because go somewhere cheaper now the car has aged.

I save monthly for ins & servicing but actually am lucky to just pay out of disposable income & keep saving. New car has servicing but see no reason not to keep the saving habit

do you live in a rough kind of area with lots of car thefts/burglaries as that will affect your premiums to a degree

No you don’t have to have your car serviced every year although you should do an oil change every 6000 miles.
its a relatively easy job to do yourself, my OH does our service and changes breaks and various other parts (he is not a mechanic) just had to learn to do it himself because of the price of garages.

In your shoes, I would just book the car in for an oil and filter change. This will extend its lifespan.