Reducing the number of cars in the household
Discussion
Logically, there is a toy sat on the driveway that I don't "need", however its a nice comfort blanket to know it's there, and available for an occasional drive.
Toy car comes in handy too, when the daily diesel is off the road being repaired / serviced.
It's bought and paid for, so only costs VED and fuel per year.
It's a no brainer to keep as it's not depreciating, however if that toy was sucking £5k a year from my net income, and depreciating at the same time, I'd struggle to make the man maths work in my own head.
Sack it off, and buy something outright that's far easier to justify.
Toy car comes in handy too, when the daily diesel is off the road being repaired / serviced.
It's bought and paid for, so only costs VED and fuel per year.
It's a no brainer to keep as it's not depreciating, however if that toy was sucking £5k a year from my net income, and depreciating at the same time, I'd struggle to make the man maths work in my own head.
Sack it off, and buy something outright that's far easier to justify.
Sold the 'fun' car at the weekend, so now down to just the 'normal' one.
Purpose of selling is to replace it with something that'll be a step up, but it seemed sensible to sell before buying when it's an unnecessary extra car anyway, rather than juggling three cars on the driveway, three sets of insurance, tax etc for the overlap.
The timescale of the replacement is an open question. In many ways it looks sensible to wait a bit, but emotionally I'm missing having a 'sports car' in my possession, unexpectedly. In any case, the garage door needs widening before I go for my intended replacement, so that'll impose a delay.
We went down to one car when our building work started at the beginning of the year by getting rid of my old Merc that I was barely using as it was in the way and was costing quite a bit in road tax, insurance and repairs to keep it usable (even with over-looking some issues it had).
I work from home with the odd meeting to go to, only awkward thing is sometimes they involve an overnight stay. Wife is retired but used to do quite a bit of grandchildren care but health issues this year mean she's hardly driven anyway.
I work from home with the odd meeting to go to, only awkward thing is sometimes they involve an overnight stay. Wife is retired but used to do quite a bit of grandchildren care but health issues this year mean she's hardly driven anyway.
Pistonheader101 said:
anyone else reducing the number of cars in the household?
If I ever reduce the fleet by one the mrs will never allow an increase in the future, so no.But to answer your question we'd have to know what cars you have and if there's any overlap in their functionalities.
We have the 2 cars and were down to one a couple of months ago with working from home for 2 years it all seemed a waste.
My middle daughter started secondary school today and due to no spaces on the school bus when we applied for a bus pass for her and her elder sister (£1k each) the only option was to drive them for the 25 mile round trip (250 miles per week)! The joys of living in the country...
With the price of fuel etc ended up buying a 12 year old Fiat 500 to use for the school run as 1/2 the price of fueling the main car. 2 weeks ago was advised that 2 spaces had become available on the bus... currently planning on keeping the 500 as £30 a year tax and £160 insurance for the convenience of a 2nd car it seems iike a no brainer... I also have to go into the office once per month (150 miles roundtrip), not sure which car to take though...
Both cars are pad for and maybe if were on a PCP / lease etc I may give a different answer...
My middle daughter started secondary school today and due to no spaces on the school bus when we applied for a bus pass for her and her elder sister (£1k each) the only option was to drive them for the 25 mile round trip (250 miles per week)! The joys of living in the country...
With the price of fuel etc ended up buying a 12 year old Fiat 500 to use for the school run as 1/2 the price of fueling the main car. 2 weeks ago was advised that 2 spaces had become available on the bus... currently planning on keeping the 500 as £30 a year tax and £160 insurance for the convenience of a 2nd car it seems iike a no brainer... I also have to go into the office once per month (150 miles roundtrip), not sure which car to take though...
Both cars are pad for and maybe if were on a PCP / lease etc I may give a different answer...
Pistonheader101 said:
anyone else reducing the number of cars in the household?
Currently we have 3, but only really need 1.
The petrolhead in me wants to keep them, but seems like an expensive hobby now.
estimated to save around £5k per year if we get rid of two.
We had two, reduced to 1. As I still need occasionally when my OH has the car I am getting a motorbike. Currently we have 3, but only really need 1.
The petrolhead in me wants to keep them, but seems like an expensive hobby now.
estimated to save around £5k per year if we get rid of two.
We went from three cars (two dailies and a weekender) down to one ‘do it all’ car.
Pros; saves looking for multiple lots of insurance, arranging multiple services and generally staying on top of three cars.
Downsides; well any savings we could’ve made have been wiped out by daily driving a 5.0 litre V8! You always worry that your pride and joy is going to get dinged in car parks. The kids ruin the interior. It looks a bit OTT when doing the school run.
But you really need a car that’s a bit bipolar. You want one that’s a normal comfy cruiser day to day but at the flick of a switch - or turn of a dial - can go a bit mental. Those cars do exist.
Pros; saves looking for multiple lots of insurance, arranging multiple services and generally staying on top of three cars.
Downsides; well any savings we could’ve made have been wiped out by daily driving a 5.0 litre V8! You always worry that your pride and joy is going to get dinged in car parks. The kids ruin the interior. It looks a bit OTT when doing the school run.
But you really need a car that’s a bit bipolar. You want one that’s a normal comfy cruiser day to day but at the flick of a switch - or turn of a dial - can go a bit mental. Those cars do exist.
Had 1 car (the MX5), then 2 (MX5 and BMW), sold the MX5 when we moved house as I hated the admin. BMW came to the new home, then I WFH, wife 4 miles from home so just bought a fun car as a daily in the Vantage.
I know for some that sounds insane, but with so little mileage to do things I LOVE being in my FUN car all the time and regularly take trips out now just because I enjoy the car. That being said because of the low mileage it rarely causes proper issues when it is in for servicing.
I know for some that sounds insane, but with so little mileage to do things I LOVE being in my FUN car all the time and regularly take trips out now just because I enjoy the car. That being said because of the low mileage it rarely causes proper issues when it is in for servicing.
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