how much does your car cost you?

[NutellaLawson]

excluding petrol costs. I mean tax, insurance, repairs, mot.

I ask because we got rid of our car 8 years ago, opting to get about by bike or public transport.

However we now have two children so visiting rellies on the train means a great faff even without the two car seats we need to carry if we are to get a lift from the station or want to go on day trips in their car.

Since e have no car of our own we are looking to buy six car seats!!. (2 for here, 2 at paternal gp and 2 at my parents. That still leaves us short if we visit 1 aunt or 2 uncles who are a train ride away. 12 car seats is just mad).

Also a bus journey into town for us (though kids go free at their age) leaves us pennies change from a tenner.

so I'm thinking a car may be cheaper in the long run and expands the range of places tk go (day trips out. ds2 has not been more than 3 miles from home since birth).

so how much does your car cost you, excluding petrol?

and do you think you could manage without it where you live?

Skoda fabia 3years old

£180 pm loan repayment
£40 insurance - was named driver for 10 years with no accidents and then rear ended someone a couple of months ago on my own policy writing my car off ( also a fabia) no ncd and going to go up when I renew.
£10 pm tax

Prob spend £60 a month on fuel

Makes me want to cry tbh.. We've got 2 fairly new cars and both have to drive for work. I recon our total family car costs is probably somewhere around £600 a month.

Renault Clio - bought new five years ago.
Yearly
£200 insurance
£130 road tax
£200 mot and service. Will need a wheel bearing and brakes this year. So maybe £300 this year.

I've pretty much paid off the loan, I combined it with credit cards and extended it once so I'm not sure if the car element has gone.

I drive a 1.2 litre 2011 Vauxhall Corsa -

£30 yearly road tax

£280 yearly insurance premium.

Cost's £40 to fill up with fuel, which takes us over 250 miles.

I specifically chose this car because it is very economical, even though it's fairly slow I can cope with that, I only drive around 10,000 miles a year anyway.

Previously I drove a large Peugeot, we had the car for 10 years from new and whilst it was expensive to run, we never had any problems with it mechanically, other than a new exhaust.

My friend is in some kind of car club, I think it's called co wheels, might be worth a look?

Ive never actually worked out how much my car cost.

Ive got a 4 year old zafira which is much cheaper to run than my old tank of a people carrier was. Biught car cash so no monthly payments.

£350 a year insurance and breakdown.
£180 road tax
£140 service
£300 tyres and stuff

so about £80 a month plus £150? diesel.

OH has a company van so about £20 a month for the van and I work from home.

Its cheaper to get a taxi here than get public transport if there are two or more of you here. For example to go to shopping centre 3 miles away forbthe 5 of us would be nearly £20 on bus return or £10 in a taxi. Kids have activities that are too far to walk to and often need to drive to competitions so I think the car is cheaper and even if its not Id still pay the extra to have one.

My car is 10 years old . It fits me , dp, dd and ds and room to squeeze a little one in the back .

insurance for both £26 (I'm 25 dp 30)
tax £96 6 months
petrol £30 max (only really use it weekends)
mot passed for 2 years so cost me £40 but I budget for approx £100

Brand new fiesta as follows:

£220/month finance (over 3 years)
£70 month insurance

£200/year service
£120/year tax
£0 MOT right now
£0 repairs etc right now (in older cars I've had average of £150/year)

Petrol works out about £0.15 per mile for me

1 year old Citroen Xsara Picasso
Saving a fortunate on fuel over my old Vauxhall Zafira.
Now spending about £25 on fuel a month (down from around £35 a month)

I have a Renault Clio estate bought new 2 years ago. It came with a 4 year plan so it is serviced free for that time.

Costs
Finance £175 a month
Tax £20 a year
Insurance £110 a year
Diesel £30 a month
MOT £0
Oil £15 over 2 years

I have a very low mileage and could probably manage without it but we are fairly rural and it would make life more difficult.

Lanabelle could you tell me a bit more about this rental scheme where warranty etc is all inclusive for 3 yrs? I've never heard of it before and could be just what I'm looking for..

My car tax last month was £226 for 6 months. DH gets free diesil from work. I average a full tank every fortnight, with an 80l tank I shudder to think how much that would cost at a petrol garage. DH is a mechanic, so he does all repairs, services and maintenance. His also allowed to buy any parts on the business account, that gives a mahoosivly large saving. I'm not sure how much insurance is as we're both insured on my car, his car and a van as a multi deal.

I have a 02 Toyota Avensis.

Today I paid £135 to get it through its MOT as it needed new brakes (The first one it has failed ever)

My parents gave me it when they got a new car.

I pay the following:
Insurance - £30
AA - £19 (just pay for the car, not for me)
Petrol - £200 (I live in the middle of nowhere and it takes me 30-45 each way to get to work)

Tax is about £220 for the year, cant remember the exact figure, but it was 6 months ago.

In the 2 years, 6 months Ive had to buy 4 new tyres at certain points (£40 for 3 of them, but £70 for one as I went to Kwik Fit as I needed it on a Sat, my own fault for not going to my usual garage sooner) a new clutch for £335 (but it had done 140,000 miles which is a lot for a new clutch apparently) and new front brakes (it was the back that failed today). Plus a couple of minor things like lights and windscreen wipers (probably totalled £30 all in)

My garage told me that diesels are more expensive to fix as the parts are more expensive. Mine is a petrol.

Ive also been led to believe that Toyota's are really really well made. Id definately have another.

We have had 3 cars in 2-3 years. We pay £10pm AA.

Sedona - Bought for £2.5k, 10 years old when we bought it and had it for 3 years.
Insurance - £100pm for just dp
Tax - £270 a year
MOT - Passed but then the turbo went about 2 months later and took the engine with it so was scrapped.
Fuel - £30pm diesel, full tank (about £75) a few times a year to visit family.

I passed my test last Oct and didn't want to drive a big car while a new driver so dp bought me a little fiesta (good job too or we would have been carless when the Sedona blew).

Fiesta - Bought for £420 cash - 14 years old, had it just on a year.
Insurance - £59pm for both of us
Tax - £140 a year
MOT - Passed with a bit of welding on suspension which cost £40.
Fuel - £30 petrol to fill tank once a month, extra tank to visit family.

We have just traded the fiesta in and got a Grand Picasso on finance.

Grand Picasso - £270pm finance (plus ext warranty etc) for 5 years, car is 2 years old.
Insurance - £48pm for both of us
Tax - £140 a year
MOT - Not due it's first MOT until next year
Fuel - Had 1/4 tank when we got it (less than a week ago) and put £30 diesel in it which took it to about 60% full. So that will probably do us for a month.

We got an alarm while driving it home from the dealership, traction control turning off when over 40mph, it's going to Citroen next week and it's covered by the dealership so won't cost us anything.

My 2.0 petrol Focus 5 yrs old costs me:

20 per month in tax
23 per month in insurance
Approx 80 per month in petrol

had it for 4 months and so far no garage costs (touch wood)

My last car was shite but we had it for 4 yrs and spent over 2k in fixing it. I decided enough was enough so part ex it and now some other fool is driving it!

I would suggest the Nissan Micra. They have been making them for years so whatever your budget there will be one available - older ones from £500 up to 5 or 6 thousand for a three year old.
Tax will be 120, or free for a more recent one with a very frugal engine.
Real world fuel consumption will be 50 miles per gallon (manufacture'rs figures are often highly optimistic).
If you need more space the Nissan Note will give you that, but it's a newer model so there are no cheap ones (more than six years old available.
Nissan cars also hold their value relatively well.

Volkswagen group (including Audi, Skoda and Seat) advertise reliability but owners don't actually get it and servicing is expensive.

Ford and Vauxhall I have found to be very unreliable and expensive to maintain - because of this they depreciate fast.

Honda and Toyota are practical and reliable with an imaghe of being a bit dull. They hold their value very well - but are expensive to buy second hand becausde they are so reliable.

Peugeot/Citroen are the same company, good value but can be unreliable as they get older.

Renault - pretty good really, deprecviate fast so a good buy at three years old. New models will make three year olds even cheaper.

Fiat is actually Italian, not French. Has a reputation for being unreliable, unsuited to our climate, but the new 500 seems to be a winner.

Overall, I'd say buy a Nissan.

Quite radar keys aren't £4 for non disabled people . You are only meant to purchase them for the use of a disabled person. They rely on your honesty when purchasing.
Yes some toilets are baby change/ disabled use but you are supposed to ask for them to be unlocked if using baby change.

How old are your DC as we have these and they are fab and the DC can carry them themselves and put their toys in them.

Ford fiesta. Used to be DP's (he has company cars now) so didn't cost me anything.

Tax £70ish every 6 months.

£40pm insurance.

Probably spend about £30pm on petrol but only drive locally.

I have an 08 plate Ford Fusion 1.6 TDI. It costs £30 a year to tax, insurance is £22 a month (36yo, driving for 19 years and never made a claim or had points, living in a low crime area - I realise all these things vary hugely!), MOT has never cost me more than the price of the test and a bulb (but I know I've been lucky so far!). In the past year, it has cost me £100 for two new tyres, no other repairs necessary. I try to save £5 a week (£260 a year) into a seperate account to pay for tax, MOT, and anything else that crops up. It does an average of 58mpg (according to the computer thingy) - in real terms, on holiday the other week, I got 670 miles out of a £50 tank of fuel, so it's dirt cheap to run.

In comparison to the Fiat I had previously, I'm saving a fortune!

I know this is a zombie thread but I am so happy with how much of a difference a new car is making. Had a 12 year old corsa, it would have cost £99 for 6 months tax, have spent around £600 repairing it this year alone, would have needed so much done for the MOT. Have just traded it in for a brand new Ka on lease - £120 a month incl warranty, £30 a month ins for me & DH, £30 a YEAR for tax and no MOT for 3 years (I think?). Need to check when services are due. And it doesn't rattle!

Oh and around £120 a month on petrol - no difference to my last car.

er....the insurance for that Ka is very expensive unless you are short on no claims or live in a high-risk zone. Did you shop around?

correct - no MoT for 3 years. Is that when the warranty expires?

that said, at £120 a month on petrol you must be high mileage drivers so a lease car could well make sense.

special I thought my insurance was ok (used to be about £50pcm as I crashed ) but just got a quote from aviva for just over £20! Boo. Have just changed my home insurance (was paying £17pcm, now less than a fiver a month for contents only!). Cheers for heads up

Yes, have warranty for 3 years but it's a lease car, so will prob trade it in/use as deposit for another car. Yes, reasonably high mileage I think? Around 230 miles a week (commuting).

If you've had the insurance for two weeks or less you might be able to cancel it penalty free. It'll be in the small print.

I like my ka too but I'm thinking of a Kia next time, some of the picanto range is free road tax.