Are You Wasting Money in the Credit Crunch?
Do you know how much your car is really costing you to run? It's probably more than you think. Just add up your insurance £400, tax disk £190, breakdown cover £50, MOT £45 and annual service and maintenance £250 and you are already very close to £1000.
If you have finance, add in the monthly payments, and if your car was worth anything when you bought it, it will be loosing value every year and with every mile. For reference, annual depreciation on a Toyota Yaris is £1339, or a Vaxhaul Corsa is £1296 and a Ford Focus £1995. (The RAC has an index for the cost of motoring which lists figures for many other models.)
So now your total is over £2000 and that is before adding in any fuel costs (roughly £100 per 1000 miles at 40mpg). And there are other costs like residents' parking permit, parking fees and tolls like on the Clifton Suspension Bridge!
Calculate your savings
There are a number of calculators on the web that will help you workout in more detail what running a car actually costs you.
The thisismoney.co.uk calculator asks for about fifteen pieces of information about the car and your usage level. The answer it gives you should be fairly accurate.
The trouble with cars is that you do not pay when you drive, you pay all of these other costs up front whether you use the car or not.
You could save £1000 and still have a private car whenever you need one.
If you don't drive to work or don't use your car five days a week then a car club car might save you a grand or two a year. City Car Club operates here in Bristol and Bath and the number of cars available is increasing all the time. The cost of joining has also gone down to £50 a year (£25 for the second family member). Hourly rentals start from £4.95 an hour which includes up to 50 miles of free petrol (hourly rates go down the longer you use it, but mileage costs 24p per mile over the initial free 50).
You can get a rough idea what the car club would cost you using the carclubs.org.uk calculator which simply asks for general size of car, mileage, insurance and age of car. The calculator makes a rough guess at your private car costs but the thisismoney calculation is going to be more accurate.
Go to the City Car Club website to find out more or to join up today.
The City Car club cars all appear on bristolstreets.co.uk in the City Car Club layer section. Cliking on a marker shows you the details of the car and allows you to click through to the booking page for that car.
