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?

How on earth are you unable to afford that as a “high earner”? I’m on £30k a year and those are easily affordable without even trying to save.

You must be living way beyond your means

On minimum wage, you don’t service a car

House insurance last year I turned off automatic renewal, then when time came they wanted me call them to sort out this year's, then it was press a few buttons but far to "busy" and then a couple of days before it expired I got a here's £40+ off and just click this button. So handy tip worth trying.

I’m afraid to say you are not a higher earner if you are struggling to pay a few hundred quid for a service and insurance. As others have said, go to an independent garage rather than a dealer, and only get the safety critical bits done if you can’t afford a full service.

I pat £240 for a major service. My car is worth about £1k but my insurance is around £ 509 a year,it was £800 one year. I have 30 years no claims,no points. I live in a dodgy area though

I pay £20 a month and I’ve just been called in by the Audi showroom for my brake fluid and oil filter service after 16 months which seems very reasonable to me. Your quote seems very far off this amount

yes I could pay for my service but love an interest free monthly payment

For a 2019 Skoda?

But you’re still covered for buildings though, even at a cost (my buildings insurance is high because the house is non standard construction).

Remember car insurance has absolutely nothing to do with the value of your car. It’s all about what damage you could do to other cars and passengers and the risk to you and your car

£540 would be great for car insurance - live in big city lots of theft and uninsured drivers so insurance is double that with no points, no claims for a small car.

However to answer the OP question I put money into a monthly regular saver (higher interest but locked in) so treat it like any other monthly bill - then when it matures it’s the car, insurance, house insurance/ car servicing money pot for the year. I try to over estimate eg worse case car service costs so that if anything comes in cheaper then I save it or treat myself!

My ds and youngest dd have learnt to do basic servicing themselves - dd is 22 and proud she can also change brake pads. Was quite impressed she thought to buy wiper blades and change them on her car. She'll always do oil changes etc with dh's help.

Car insurance is so dependent on area. Mine went up when my neighbour reversed into me because of where I'd parked. I was in my own drive outside my own house!!

The parts would cost - Brake fluid approx £4 and oil filter less than £20

Our Ford Focus had a 24 month or 30 k miles service and was a similar price at a Ford garage. They even found a tyre had a cut, caused, they thought, by a pothole, so we added a new tyre to the bill.

Yes cars are now unaffordable for me anyway. I had a car break on me last year. Not one mechanic could tell me what was wrong with it I ended up out of pocket by £1k . In the end I got rid of it because I had a new job with a company car. I have said that I don’t think I will ever have a car again because I won’t be able to afford it.

Husband warned me off doing oil changes myself as he said we needed a ramp. Can it be done safely with jacks, without getting underneath?

This is my question too. I want to know how much OP considers as "high earning" as this doesn't seem a particularly large expense. Does OP have a huge mortgage? Loads of children?

For context, when we were living in the UK, my husband worked in finance in the city in a specialised role, so we very much slotted into the category of high earner.

You should try and keep up with an annual oil change as a bare minimum, but your car has a service schedule with different things every 2, 3, 4 or 5 years. A 2019 Skoda will probably be on long life oil and some need a belt change every 5 years which is a bit of a PITA. Your garage will be able to tell you what needs doing when - for ease you could get the service and MOT done all at the same time and ask them to do the service type that is due - whether a dealer or independent, they have access to the right information about what needs doing when.

As for how to afford it, you need to set a budget and put money aside for these sorts of things. But you seem very 'unaware' of your finances. With 18 years no claims, you're clearly not inexperienced in life but has something changed recently? If you're a higher earner, you shouldn't be struggling to make ends meet, but if your bills have gone up a lot more than your income or you're newly single/widowed, I can see how that might have caused a financial shock.

You need to review your budget to see how it's looking, and put money aside for all annual and irregular expenses like car costs, home insurance and also things like Christmas and holidays - these need to be considered before seeing money as spare and available to spend on non essentials. Also see if you can get things like mobiles and broadband cheaper, cut out subscriptions that you don't use and look at how much you're spending on food and drink, especially outside the house as it can add up if you're buying lots of takeaways, coffees, lunches etc and an easy switch to free up money to save is by taking food with you when you go out.

Have a look at:

Budget Planner: how to manage your money - MoneySavingExpert

My DHs 5 year service on his electric car was £500

My basic VW Up cost £400 to insure
My wheelchair accessible Peugeot Rifter cost £3000

Same broker. I could hear him go pale when he told me that was the best price he could get.

I'm fascinated what extra risk I pose to the travelling public whilst I'm driving my husband to the garden centre.

Same here full service, mot, he takes it does it all, I just needed new wipers £258 Nissan juke 2019, think wipers were £30 ish.
OP you need to shop around

I've not been below around £400 in years, cheap car, cheap housing area of a city, but a high crime area so insurance is always high,

I'm surprised the OP is a high earner but concerned about those costs - they'd be easy to absorb on a high income.

Skoda 2024 reg service at local garage £200. Yearly insurance £270. You need to shop around

My cars have always been serviced, driven sensibly and they still cost me a bomb in repairs.
I honestly think there's a single parent premium, garages and tradesmen just whack the prices up 😞. I can't tell what's critical or not.

Ignore the people who only potter around town.

You do need to service your cars. If you haven't maintained a car correctly and are involved in an accident due to this you can be faced with a manslaughter charge.

Sounds like you went to a main dealer, next time try local

Isn’t that what an MOT is for?