Getting rid of the car...

Chammy

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Have you? Would you?

Both Aaron and I have returned to uni but he is still working full-time on nights so we have a fixed household income. We live just on the outskirts of a major city (Sheffield) so on a good day I can make it into the centre in 20 minutes on a bus and weather permitting, he cycles in. We rarely take the car unless it's a weekend so he can park at work for free (avoiding expensive city parking).

Now, we currently have a Ford Edge (with all the trimmings) on PCP (my mum works for Ford so we get a good deal) but we're only using the car 2-3 times a month. Mostly to pop over to my father-in-laws or do the food shop. The car costs us around £700? a month when you take into account the finance, the insurance, the tax, the fuel and annual service.

The way we've looked at it is, if we need a car for something more specific like a weekend away then we could hire a car for less than we pay a month. We can get shopping delivered. Get an Uber home from the cinema. If we have a late night gig we just catch the train and stop in a hotel. We can't see many things that require us to have an actual car to be able to do.

There is nothing I would love more than for Aaron to be able to quit work and us both enjoy a proper student life which is impossible at the moment. He's running on 3hrs sleep each weeknight, sleeping all weekend to catch up, I have to be at home to look after our son so I've been turning down social events with my fellow students, social events are a complete no for him too. In order for this to happen, we need to first decrease the outgoings and then look at a sustainable earning method to top up our student loans. I have my blog, he's working on his comic (which he'll hook up to Patreon etc) and I'm going to look at us both tutoring as he has the potential to tutor in loads of subjects.

Before the start of next year, we can easily reduce our outgoings by over £1000 a month, which means we wouldn't rely on a fixed income so much but there is still something nagging me not to get rid of the car....so, what would you do?
 

Jon

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Have you? Would you?

Both Aaron and I have returned to uni but he is still working full-time on nights so we have a fixed household income. We live just on the outskirts of a major city (Sheffield) so on a good day I can make it into the centre in 20 minutes on a bus and weather permitting, he cycles in. We rarely take the car unless it's a weekend so he can park at work for free (avoiding expensive city parking).

Now, we currently have a Ford Edge (with all the trimmings) on PCP (my mum works for Ford so we get a good deal) but we're only using the car 2-3 times a month. Mostly to pop over to my father-in-laws or do the food shop. The car costs us around £700? a month when you take into account the finance, the insurance, the tax, the fuel and annual service.

The way we've looked at it is, if we need a car for something more specific like a weekend away then we could hire a car for less than we pay a month. We can get shopping delivered. Get an Uber home from the cinema. If we have a late night gig we just catch the train and stop in a hotel. We can't see many things that require us to have an actual car to be able to do.

There is nothing I would love more than for Aaron to be able to quit work and us both enjoy a proper student life which is impossible at the moment. He's running on 3hrs sleep each weeknight, sleeping all weekend to catch up, I have to be at home to look after our son so I've been turning down social events with my fellow students, social events are a complete no for him too. In order for this to happen, we need to first decrease the outgoings and then look at a sustainable earning method to top up our student loans. I have my blog, he's working on his comic (which he'll hook up to Patreon etc) and I'm going to look at us both tutoring as he has the potential to tutor in loads of subjects.

Before the start of next year, we can easily reduce our outgoings by over £1000 a month, which means we wouldn't rely on a fixed income so much but there is still something nagging me not to get rid of the car....so, what would you do?
You use it 2-3 times a month - get rid!

Would you pay £700 a month for gym membership and go twice a month?!!?!?

Like you said hiring a car is always an option or if you still want to flexibility of having a car drop down to the deal I did with Vauxhall at £130 a month for a 2018/2019 corsa 5 door turbo

Either way you aren’t getting value for money at £700 a month!!
 
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homie

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what Jon said
 
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katykicker

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I'd definitely get rid of it. Another blogger I know doesn't use a car, other than a rental, and she's travelling all over the place for work with no problems at all.

It's basically a millstone. It worked for your family life, now not so much, don't feel guilt about getting rid of it as the money it costs you is still a huge saving versus keeping it and barely using it.
 

Karonher

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Under the circumstances I would say sell it. You have explained how you can get around without it. Is it likely circumstances will change and could you get a replacement if you need it?
 

The Reverend

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£700 a month?

Stone the crows!

I live in central london and use my car once or twice a week tops. I didn't have a car for a bit and found I could 'cope' but longer journeys or sponanious trips were a PITA.

Check you can hand the car back with no penalties and then go from there.

Its a big saving, thats for sure.

Even in central london I found the 'car share' apps to be

1) Expensive for long term hire (24hours+)
2) Local ones were always taken so I had to trip out to somewhere to get one, and then plan my trip back.

If the £700 saving means Aaron can give up work and your lives aren't impacted, then go for it.

At the moment, I'd not give up my car. My family are 40+ miles away, as are lots of friends. I'm lucky that London has the public transport it does which is great for Inter-London travel but expensive whenever you leave the city.

YMMV but it sounds like a good pay-off for better mental health.

:)
 

Chammy

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£700 a month?

Stone the crows!

I live in central london and use my car once or twice a week tops. I didn't have a car for a bit and found I could 'cope' but longer journeys or sponanious trips were a PITA.

Check you can hand the car back with no penalties and then go from there.

Its a big saving, thats for sure.

Even in central london I found the 'car share' apps to be

1) Expensive for long term hire (24hours+)
2) Local ones were always taken so I had to trip out to somewhere to get one, and then plan my trip back.

If the £700 saving means Aaron can give up work and your lives aren't impacted, then go for it.

At the moment, I'd not give up my car. My family are 40+ miles away, as are lots of friends. I'm lucky that London has the public transport it does which is great for Inter-London travel but expensive whenever you leave the city.

YMMV but it sounds like a good pay-off for better mental health.

:)

We justified it as a luxury item ;) He loves the car and if he wasn't trying to better his career we have no problems paying it but it just doesn't seem viable when not having it could improve everything for him.

Baring in mind that the car, new, is worth over £46k hahaha It's a bloody beast of a car.

We're going to hang on til April when we've had it just over a year, see what the difference is on returning it. We may end up owing a couple of grand on it but we'll save that in no time.
 

The Reverend

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We justified it as a luxury item ;) He loves the car and if he wasn't trying to better his career we have no problems paying it but it just doesn't seem viable when not having it could improve everything for him.

Baring in mind that the car, new, is worth over £46k hahaha It's a bloody beast of a car.

We're going to hang on til April when we've had it just over a year, see what the difference is on returning it. We may end up owing a couple of grand on it but we'll save that in no time.

Usually it is 'free' when you've paid half of it. I'm unsure if thats 50% the value or the time.

Personally, if they want a 'couple of grand' to hand it back, keep it until it is free to use. £3k would be 4 or 5 months of useage.

£46k on a FORD???? WTactualF?!!!!!

:D

(don't laugh, my next car is going to be a Dacia Duster - £16k brand new with warranty and thats the top of the range one!)
 

Jon

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Usually it is 'free' when you've paid half of it. I'm unsure if thats 50% the value or the time.

Personally, if they want a 'couple of grand' to hand it back, keep it until it is free to use. £3k would be 4 or 5 months of useage.

£46k on a FORD???? WTactualF?!!!!!

:D

(don't laugh, my next car is going to be a Dacia Duster - £16k brand new with warranty and thats the top of the range one!)
My comparison my first 2003 FORD FIESTA FUN cost me £1300

giphy.gif
 

Chammy

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Usually it is 'free' when you've paid half of it. I'm unsure if thats 50% the value or the time.

Personally, if they want a 'couple of grand' to hand it back, keep it until it is free to use. £3k would be 4 or 5 months of useage.

£46k on a FORD???? WTactualF?!!!!!

:D

(don't laugh, my next car is going to be a Dacia Duster - £16k brand new with warranty and thats the top of the range one!)

It's an SUV with heated seats (front and rear), heated wheel, Apple compatibility, panoramic roof, full sensors, camera on the back, automatic, electric boot, practically drives itself which Aaron loves on the motorway etc...oh the colour is also a grand on top ;) We didn't pay that for it, it's an ex-demo car so had done about 2,000 miles and it was half the cost....we're not completely bonkers hahaha

The last one we had was a Fiesta.

I'm not sure what you mean by "free"? The PCP was 4 years and at the end of that it's either hand it back, pay it off, swap for a new car or refinance the rest. We'll have had it a year in February so I reckon it'll be a couple of grand to pay off of the difference.
 

The Reverend

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It's an SUV with heated seats (front and rear), heated wheel, Apple compatibility, panoramic roof, full sensors, camera on the back, automatic, electric boot, practically drives itself which Aaron loves on the motorway etc...oh the colour is also a grand on top ;) We didn't pay that for it, it's an ex-demo car so had done about 2,000 miles and it was half the cost....we're not completely bonkers hahaha

The last one we had was a Fiesta.

I'm not sure what you mean by "free"? The PCP was 4 years and at the end of that it's either hand it back, pay it off, swap for a new car or refinance the rest. We'll have had it a year in February so I reckon it'll be a couple of grand to pay off of the difference.

On PCP (I think) after half the period (or half the value, I can't remember which) you can hand the car back with nothing additional to pay/penalty payment.
 
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Chammy

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On PCP (I think) after half the period (or half the value, I can't remember which) you can hand the car back with nothing additional to pay/penalty payment.

Oh yeah, that's what we did with the Fiesta. We were in the + by a grand so used that as a deposit for the Edge. We won't be anywhere near that until 2020. We're hoping the low mileage will give the car a little more value so it'll at least come close to being enough haha
 

Danilene

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I'd get rid of it and rent a car when you need one. I can understand your partner's attachment to it though: my father, in his 70s, bought an expensive car which he only drove 3-4 times a year (for several hundred kilometres at a time though). What he did with it was... dismantle and clean the engine, then put it back together. Like a giant meccano. It's something he used to do in his previous job... He would also spend hours polishing it, and he would get really cross at the cat if he caught him pissing on the wheels!
 
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Danilene

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By the way he had paid for the car cash (no financing needed) and although he needed insurance for it, the outgoings were minimal.
 

The Reverend

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....
(don't laugh, my next car is going to be a Dacia Duster - £16k brand new with warranty and thats the top of the range one!)

Seeing as this post got bumped I thought I'd update this.

The Dacia Dealer didn't get back to me, and didn't reply to my emails so we didn't buy from him.

Found a delivery miles 68 plate Ford Kuga for the same price as the Duster, with similar spec. It has a higher NCAP rating.

Kuga Zetec with upgraded Sat Nav, appearance pack, and rear parking sensors. And I LOVE IT!

I did test drive what was supposed to be a Kuga ST Line X but turned out to be a titanium X with some upgrades. It was a 2017 car and had done 7000 miles but didn't have all the st line x spec.

When I pointed out that the spec advertised didn't match the car and they'd need to do somehting with the price, they replied 'although the spec is wrong, the price is right'....so I left them to it.
 
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Chammy

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Just thought I'd update. The car went yesterday.

The dealer we sold it to basically offered us what was left on the finance so it ended up all good in the end. Today is day one without the car and it was weird to leave the house this morning and it not be there.

More news coming this week with regards to Aaron and uni but until it's official I'm not saying anything ;)
 

Danilene

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It's good that you are breaking even, cars depreciate so quickly, unlike houses!
 

Jon

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Just thought I'd update. The car went yesterday.

The dealer we sold it to basically offered us what was left on the finance so it ended up all good in the end. Today is day one without the car and it was weird to leave the house this morning and it not be there.

More news coming this week with regards to Aaron and uni but until it's official I'm not saying anything ;)

Any sort of 'big' change is scary no matter what the reason so it will take a while to get used to not having your own transport I imagine.

If you have a change of heart there's nothing stopping you buy an old banger for a few hundred quid just so you at least have a runaround!
 

Danilene

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Any sort of 'big' change is scary no matter what the reason so it will take a while to get used to not having your own transport I imagine.

If you have a change of heart there's nothing stopping you buy an old banger for a few hundred quid just so you at least have a runaround!
That reminds me of a story a former housemate told me. He needed to travel to London urgently for a job interview (like, with two days' notice) and had a small heart attack when he tried to book a train ticket online and saw the prices. He pondered... and decided to buy a cheap used car instead. He used it to travel to London and back... and then sold it: overall, he paid less than if he had taken the train!
 

Jon

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That reminds me of a story a former housemate told me. He needed to travel to London urgently for a job interview (like, with two days' notice) and had a small heart attack when he tried to book a train ticket online and saw the prices. He pondered... and decided to buy a cheap used car instead. He used it to travel to London and back... and then sold it: overall, he paid less than if he had taken the train!

Yeah i mean if I got rid of my car that is one of things I would worry about as we travel A LOT as our family is all around the UK!

Maybe I would just pay for a rental car for the weekend if I had to suddenly go somewhere long distance and the train prices were stupidly high (which they normally are!)
 

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