I want to change my car – mine is now nearly 8 years old, and it’s getting to the stage where it’s needing repairs more frequently. Now that littl’un is old enough to come up on the coach or train to visit, and I don’t have to drive to pick him up and take him home (a round trip of over 800 miles), it’s not so important for me to have a powerful car. I’ve currently got a Peugeot 306 1.4, which is a great car; it’s comfortable and powerful enough on motorways to make 800 miles bearable.
However, if I move down to something like a Clio 1.2 (which was the car I hired while I was in Cyprus earlier this year and proved to be a good drive) then I’ll save on petrol, insurance, and probably road tax. And theoretically it should need less repair work, being a younger vehicle. (Famous last words…)
So I’d be looking at about £3k to get a 3-4 year old Clio (or similar; I’m not totally married to the idea of the Clio), and I can probably get £1.5k for my current car if I sell it privately. So I need to save up about £1500-£2000 if I want to do that.
I can get Mum to give me a "bridging loan" so I don't need to sell the current one before buying the new one (which is important, because although it's easier for me to get to work on public transport now, it's also expensive.)
2 comments:
I know you probably think this is crazy talk, but have you explored whether it might be cheaper to not have a car at all?
Taking everything into account, and bearing in mind I'd have to get taxis to and from Sainsburys to do the shopping because you can't use vouchers online (and I get my flexible benefits in vouchers now) and that we haven't got a tram service, and the cost of buses, and the cost of trains getting up and down to get littl'un...
Also that it would take me from my current 30 mins to over 2 hours travel per day in and out of work - which is 2 hours that I'm not working on my freelance stuff, so it's dead time.
Adding all that together, it's less expensive for me to drive.
If I can get a lower insurance AND more economical car, then it'll definitely work out considerably cheaper.
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