260 km commute

frozenfrozen

hello never thought I'd have a need for it but anyway

Bunratty to connemara monday to friday + the odd weekend

Currently spending 32 euro a day on petrol and back of a napkin maths makes that 640 euro per month on petrol if 5 days a week for a month... but I've only been doing it for 2 weeks and never actually plan to spend 640 per month on petrol, I'd rather pitch a tent outside work. I'm not that teacher with the mini...

Have never owned a diesel but I am fairly certain this is well into diesel mileage..

I'm not vat registered so can't reclaim the vat on diesel but there will still be the better mpg and cheaper price per litre

Not sure how long term I'll be doing this big mileage but have absolutely no plans to move closer to work as it's in the middle of nowhere


any ideas what I should be looking at to keep total cost of ownership low?

will be buying as soon as I find something that makes sense moneywise.

Not sure what the budget would be for the car all I care about is total cost of ownership, could be 500 euro or XX,000 whichever would be cheaper after all things considered.. no idea where to start looking


there's 3 phase power there so if someone could sneakily install an electric car charger...:cool:

thanks.. and this time I think I'll actually end up buying a car based on the advice

Mooooo

Second hand tesla? Think they are down to 40 to 50k. Thread in the ev forum. Savings on diesel would go a way to paying for it

CIP4

Above everything you need reliability as doing that kind of commute everyday is difficult enough without sitting on the side of the road broke down that will get old real quick.

At the same time buying a brand new car would be a huge hit in depreciation your commute is 60-70k km a year after 3 years you will have made it a high mileage essentially worthless car. If it was me I’d probably strike a balance and get something 2-3 years old fresh with low mileage and drive it until it is unreliable probably 3-4 years.

On top of this you want comfort a few toys decent power and good fuel economy.

bazz26

It might be cheaper to get local accommodation during the week, maybe AirBnB? Is that an option?

bazz26

Alternatively maybe a Mk1 Octavia like this:



https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/08-skoda-octavia-1-9-tdi-cheap-tax/17665437

Very reliable old school 1.9 TDi (non BXE version) that will return good fuel economy. Cheap tax and should have plenty of life left in it once it's serviced regularly. Depreciation is already been hit by the previous owners so putting more big mileage on it won't kill you on resale values.

biko

A Leaf has a range of aprox 170km on a single charge so is an option.
Ioniq even more range.

frozenfrozen

Mooooo wrote: »

Second hand tesla? Think they are down to 40 to 50k. Thread in the ev forum. Savings on diesel would go a way to paying for it

messing about the EV, I mean it would be absolutely great if I could get a charger up there but I'm in no position to ask for them to install one just for me! Also even at 50k, there's no fookin way that would save me money!

CIP4 wrote: »

Above everything you need reliability as doing that kind of commute everyday is difficult enough without sitting on the side of the road broke down that will get old real quick.

At the same time buying a brand new car would be a huge hit in depreciation your commute is 60-70k km a year after 3 years you will have made it a high mileage essentially worthless car. If it was me I’d probably strike a balance and get something 2-3 years old fresh with low mileage and drive it until it is unreliable probably 3-4 years.

On top of this you want comfort a few toys decent power and good fuel economy.

would be nice to have something relatively new like that for those reasons exactly but even going down a few years it would still be a fair amount of money per month on the car

if I take a newish car doing 55mpg on diesel that gives around a cost of around 330 per month, so really I haven't got much left to pay for a car without ending up in the same position as just keeping driving the current car(which is unsustainable anyway I know). Unless I got something with low depreciation that was still diesel so after a year or two the monthly cost would come flying down.

Even with 600 euro being a lot per month there is also the other 180ish euro per month insurance I pay.. which I suppose would come down slightly with a newer car.

Can't see myself doing this level of driving for very long but at the same time it'll probably be at least a year anyway so either I'll be running a car into the ground or I could keep it for 4 years and 3 of those years could be back at my hilariously low yearly amount.. so it could average out to be a normal number

bazz26 wrote: »

It might be cheaper to get local accommodation during the week, maybe AirBnB? Is that an option?

everyone in person I've asked for advice has said this and people at work too but essentially i'd have no life outside of work due to it being in the middle of nowhere so it wouldn't really be sustainable long term (then again is 60,000km p/a sustainable)... I could do a night in a b&b to break up the commute but couldn't do monday to friday up there

bazz26 wrote: »

Alternatively maybe a Mk1 Octavia like this:


https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/08-skoda-octavia-1-9-tdi-cheap-tax/17665437

Very reliable old school 1.9 TDi (non BXE version) that will return good fuel economy. Cheap tax and should have plenty of life left in it once it's serviced regularly. Depreciation is already been hit by the previous owners so putting more big mileage on it won't kill you on resale values.

that or something very like it would probably be the answer, worst case scenario I would only lose a grand on it in a year if I packed in the long commute.. except the grim nature of spending 66 hours per month in it. but saving 300 euro a month or whatever in fuel within the year it would have paid for itself..

biko wrote: »

A Leaf has a range of aprox 170km on a single charge so is an option.
Ioniq even more range.

I was only messing about the electric car bit in the post, there's no electric car chargers there but if there's some kind of free way to get them to install a charger up there I could get something electric it would be absolutely perfect

commited

Something like that Octavia is the way to go - comfortable, great MPG, cheap parts, very simple and is pretty much disposable at that price

thierry14

Get a new job or move to nearest big town

Forget the car

ba_barabus

Right given there's no budget it's hard to give an accurate suggestion. However I'm covering similar mileage. I've a 131 Avensis d4d with a high spec. It's more bland than vanilla but it's seriously comfortable, cheap enough to run and so far hasn't given a moment's bother. Couldn't recommend it enough.

Fluence is a cheaper option, less refined but does it all for a good bit less money.

You'll want something bigger than an Octavia tbh for ride comfort. A few weeks of that driving and you'll know about tiredness if you're in the wrong car. Avensis, Laguna, Mondeo, Pisshat etc are all built for this type of work. Also get cruise control.

frozenfrozen

thierry14 wrote: »

Get a new job or move to nearest big town

Forget the car

this is shoite far away work to keep my foot in the door that'll mean I continue to get other work which pays well and will hopefully be a decent career. No other work like this other than moving to dublin and I wouldn't be able to get the same job there and I wouldn't be able to keep doing my other work if I moved away from the west. I'm not doing it for no reason..

ba_barabus wrote: »

Right given there's no budget it's hard to give an accurate suggestion. However I'm covering similar mileage. I've a 131 Avensis d4d with a high spec. It's more bland than vanilla but it's seriously comfortable, cheap enough to run and so far hasn't given a moment's bother. Couldn't recommend it enough.

Fluence is a cheaper option, less refined but does it all for a good bit less money.

You'll want something bigger than an Octavia tbh for ride comfort. A few weeks of that driving and you'll know about tiredness if you're in the wrong car. Avensis, Laguna, Mondeo, Pisshat etc are all built for this type of work. Also get cruise control.

yeah sorry I've no budget but really my I have no idea what it should be but I'm not in a position to keep paying ~800 per month on it (petrol cost + insurance) so I guess the budget is <600 per month with lower numbers being way better

I've driven a luna avensis and liked it xenons would be nice for the connemara part of the drive home. I have been doing the drive in an A6 and haven't been too bad for comfort (which you'd expect..) I was doing a commute to kildare and naas for a while last year and used to be crippled coming out of my little skoda fabia so know the pains of the wrong car for big miles, would the octavia really be that bad?

cruise control would be nice

ba_barabus

Seats in the Octavia are my biggest bug bear. They're cheaper and seats seem to be one of the things that get cost cut. I'd genuinely think a decent spec Golf would be a better bet.

I had a 151 Jetta and found it comfortable.

I know the Golf/Jetta/Fluence are from a similar class but I do think they're better finished off than the Octavia in the right areas.

perrier

I've been doing a 275 km commute 3/4 days a week for the last 12 years. Depreciation is a major problem because of the mileage so for the last 3 years I've been driving a 2004 VW Passat tdi Highline. Diesel was the only option for me and the car has a high spec and is a comfortable place to be for a few hrs. The car has been bulletproof and cost €3000 in 2015 but mileage is now 450000km so it's only worth keeping. We have 4 charging points in work but they are always full.

Some things I've found essential on these type of commutes are, really good seats, good driving position and decent lights. These sound obvious but only become apparent after several hours in the car, several days a week.

ba_barabus

perrier wrote: »

Some things I've found essential on these type of commutes are, really good seats, good driving position and decent lights. These sound obvious but only become apparent after several hours in the car, several days a week.

Yes to all. Lights on the B6 Pisshat were rubbish though.

Auto box can help comfort also. Big bottle holders are a help as well.

Lantus

Yes you can save a lot with a better car.

I do 500km a week in a petrol and it costs me about 38 a week or 160 a month rounding up. So 1250km a week would cost me 400eu.

A modern diesel should net me a reasonable saving on that. I'd hope I'd do it for 300 a week.

As I have to do this journey anyway the difference in fuel is money I can invest in a better car. I'd look at a new zero interest PCP with as high a deposit as possible with a view to buying out as there is no other option or a 2 to 3 year old similar deal on a well spec long distance cruiser.

A superb would be a good choice.

If this is a temp arrangement it shouldn't affect me long term.

frozenfrozen

OK so I've done a lot of looking and some questionable maths has started creeping in and I've been looking at volvo V40s and golf GTDs, and of course pisshats, avensis, jetta, octavia, mondeo and anything else on donedeal

I am going to ring or email an accountanty fella tomorrow and ask what way it will work with my tax, since I am buying the car just for this commute and I am a sole trader. At the moment it's very hard to know what I can or can't afford when I don't even know what will be left out of my day rate after tax so the last thing I want is to end up working and spending all my profit on a car to drive to work.

Hopefully he will be able to give me a number that I should aim to spend per month/year on the car and I'll then be able to say ok that could be a 12k car that would depreciate to 9k after a year / 30k miles etc. etc. At the moment I'm just totally guessing.

There can be a bit of messy maths anyway as at the weekends I have to do a long drive too sometimes for other work, either to Galway, Cork, and sometimes Tipperary or Dublin so there'll be the saving those days too on fuel in the new car. So I needed another car anyway before this long commute came up..

I like the idea of a V40 2 litre 60 odd mpg 200 tax and they seem to be fairly well specced across the board with xenons, lane keeping assist and radar cruise on a good few of them. But a good bit more expensive.. guy at work got a 2014 v60 with good spec for 12k +vrt though. And I have no idea if they're even nice to drive for long distances?


just keeping my head in the sand about insurance so far too, I have an insurance policy at the moment for a car that isn't running and it's up in May.. hopefully I'd be able to change to a newer car for not much money since they are apparently so much safer.

so after tomorrow I'll hopefully have a proper number I can have as a budget for either depreciation over a year or something

Soilse

200km/day 5days a week stay over if nothing to do there go for a walk you will have no life anyways my vw diesel was highest mileage car in garage 2yrs ago and still going expect to be best pals with your mechanic and as long as you service you new car when it's due you'll have no problems

Mooooo

You should be able to put the diesel as an expense anyway so at least it will be paid pre tax

Bigus

LPG On the A6 ? Or A golf diesel carvan ? I'd definitely look at staying at least one or 2 nights a week ,if only to save money and maybe take up a new hobby or study something.

jingojonson

Hi there

Lots of value to be had in fresh 1 - 2 yr olds. Octavias are great but they hold
their value too well to be a good deal second hand. Try a Seat leon - same mechanicals but a lot chaper and they're a fairly nice cruiser.

Here's one

https://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/seat/leon/used-2016-161-seat-leon-st-1-6tdi-105-tipperary-fpa-4029816402270266197

I'd say you could pick that up for 15500 or 16000

kermitpwee

Corolla d4d can be had at cheap money

frozenfrozen

Soilse wrote: »

200km/day 5days a week stay over if nothing to do there go for a walk you will have no life anyways my vw diesel was highest mileage car in garage 2yrs ago and still going expect to be best pals with your mechanic and as long as you service you new car when it's due you'll have no problems

I know what you mean about no life either way but maybe if I stayed up there 1 day a week or something to break up the week. couldn't do the full week up there i'd go mad

Mooooo wrote: »

You should be able to put the diesel as an expense anyway so at least it will be paid pre tax

any chance i would be able to put a bit of wear and tear / depreciation from all the driving down as an expense too?

Bigus wrote: »

LPG On the A6 ? Or A golf diesel carvan ? I'd definitely look at staying at least one or 2 nights a week ,if only to save money and maybe take up a new hobby or study something.

very good thinking out of the box but the a6 is my mothers so I need a replacement anyway, the 2 previous cars I was driving on my own policy have exploded/ been scrapped. I was looking for a replacement car recently anyway but this job came as a bit of a surprise

jingojonson wrote: »

Hi there

Lots of value to be had in fresh 1 - 2 yr olds. Octavias are great but they hold
their value too well to be a good deal second hand. Try a Seat leon - same mechanicals but a lot chaper and they're a fairly nice cruiser.

Here's one

https://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/seat/leon/used-2016-161-seat-leon-st-1-6tdi-105-tipperary-fpa-4029816402270266197

I'd say you could pick that up for 15500 or 16000

I think after a year or 2 the deprecation would really add up but it would be nice to be in something that new though

kermitpwee wrote: »

Corolla d4d can be had at cheap money

yeah would be good and cheap alright same kind of thing as the octavia posted earlier but I wonder would I be crippled after all the driving

audiavantawx

Get a a6 Audi or a highline passat with the awx or avf engine 01/05
Will pick one up for buttons now
Get one with as much as a service history as you can

A full tank of diesel will do for 1000 to 1300 kms depending on driving style

I personally dont ever spend over 2000 on a car

Mooooo

The way I work it is 2/3 of car maintenance and diesel is a farm expense 1/3 Is private. You can put it down whatever way you want but must be able to justify it if there is an audit. Accountant would be worth chatting to. might be able to write off capital cost over a few Years, could before if a private vehicle but it was capped at 20k I think, no cap on commercial

Tindog76

I live in Kildare and work in Limerick and drove there for over 2 years, being 288kms round trip a day. During this time I did manage to get to work from home (on average once every two weeks and now I do once a week from home). I now drive once or twice a week and get a bus (which I have a tax saver annual ticket for) the other days. I also got a fuel card too, which saves at the pump most of the time too.

I went through 3 different cars before settling down with the car I currently have. When I first started working in Limerick I got an 10 reg econetic fiesta, 1.6tdci - it was a nice car but too light for motorway driving - I was getting about 53/54 mpg in real world terms. So, next up was my wife's 09 reg Focus Style. Again it was a 1.6tdci, and I clocked up some 20k miles before it needed changing - I was getting about 50/51 mpg in real world terms. I then got an 11 reg Vauxhall Insignia. This was better equipped for the driving but after 60k miles in just over 2 years I started to have some issues and the car was at a stage where it required a good bit of work doing to it (e.g dpf issues, engine mgt light coming on) . (because of the miles I was doing I was servicing every 10k miles and my cars never wanted for anything).

In the end I traded in the Insignia and got a 151 Honda Civic. It is also 1.6dtec and I am sorry that I never thought of looking at one before. I love it. But I will say that you have a few things to consider, namely:
1. Get a car relative to your height. No point driving something that you are uncomfortable in /with.
2. Buy a diesel, at least you can claim back on it as you are a self employed and you are definitely driving the mileage to warrant it.
3. Your accountant should be able to help you factor in your car costs too.
4. If you currently have limited resources now, it may be worth looking at the bangeromics forum for some advice on a limited budget car to at least see you through for a while. It could work well until you get some more money set aside for something newer.. Just a suggestion, you will know your own situation best to make that call.

Best of luck and be safe on the roads. You will see lots of looney toons on the road these days too, don't be one of them.. You should know what route is best and have alternatives should issues arise and build in a buffer of time for the journey. This will help you better foster relationships with those people you are working with too.

frozenfrozen

Tindog76 wrote: »

I live in Kildare and work in Limerick and drove there for over 2 years, being 288kms round trip a day. During this time I did manage to get to work from home (on average once every two weeks and now I do once a week from home). I now drive once or twice a week and get a bus (which I have a tax saver annual ticket for) the other days. I also got a fuel card too, which saves at the pump most of the time too.

I went through 3 different cars before settling down with the car I currently have. When I first started working in Limerick I got an 10 reg econetic fiesta, 1.6tdci - it was a nice car but too light for motorway driving - I was getting about 53/54 mpg in real world terms. So, next up was my wife's 09 reg Focus Style. Again it was a 1.6tdci, and I clocked up some 20k miles before it needed changing - I was getting about 50/51 mpg in real world terms. I then got an 11 reg Vauxhall Insignia. This was better equipped for the driving but after 60k miles in just over 2 years I started to have some issues and the car was at a stage where it required a good bit of work doing to it (e.g dpf issues, engine mgt light coming on) . (because of the miles I was doing I was servicing every 10k miles and my cars never wanted for anything).

In the end I traded in the Insignia and got a 151 Honda Civic. It is also 1.6dtec and I am sorry that I never thought of looking at one before. I love it. But I will say that you have a few things to consider, namely:
1. Get a car relative to your height. No point driving something that you are uncomfortable in /with.
2. Buy a diesel, at least you can claim back on it as you are a self employed and you are definitely driving the mileage to warrant it.
3. Your accountant should be able to help you factor in your car costs too.
4. If you currently have limited resources now, it may be worth looking at the bangeromics forum for some advice on a limited budget car to at least see you through for a while. It could work well until you get some more money set aside for something newer.. Just a suggestion, you will know your own situation best to make that call.

Best of luck and be safe on the roads. You will see lots of looney toons on the road these days too, don't be one of them.. You should know what route is best and have alternatives should issues arise and build in a buffer of time for the journey. This will help you better foster relationships with those people you are working with too.

thanks very much for that. I think the accountant chat will really shed light on the whole thing. I was looking at a petrol civic before this job came up so will have to have a look at the diesel version.

I am average height so will fit nearly anything in that regard but definitely something to keep in mind.
I have a bit of money put away luckily so don't necessarily need to go bangernomics which I might not get insurance easily on compared to something a bit up in the years

I know nothing about dpf dmf egr diesel troubles so must read up on it to see the story. I presume these would be caused by previous owners doing short trips and my long trips would be good use of any of the diesels listed in the thread so far. I'd rarely be doing a trip less than an hour drive

U_Fig

Not massively knowledgeable on this but I was looking for a car for a good while and I like to do my research , I was looking at a mark9 (2012+) civic 1.6 iDtec , I've driven a few and where as I didn't particularly like the drive (I think it was mainly due to the fact it was diesel, I ended up in a seat Leon TSI petrol) I'd deffo consider one , great MPG decent power that feels more because of the torque , a nice place to be although With a touch of the marmite factor both inside and out , high basic spec and Honda reliability, and cheaper than many of the rivals second hand. Seems like an option that should be considered.

dubrov

I wouldn't be so sure you can claim anything relating to the commute. It sounds like it will be your regular place of work.

You should really consider a B&B for the nights you are not doing anything. The commute will wear you down and you won't have much energy left after that commute to do anything anyway.

frozenfrozen

dubrov wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure you can claim anything relating to the commute. It sounds like it will be your regular place of work.

You should really consider a B&B for the nights you are not doing anything. The commute will wear you down and you won't have much energy left after that commute to do anything anyway.

hope that's not the case can you explain more, I am a sole trader not an employee so I won't be claiming mileage rates etc I'm imagining it'll be a percentage of the costs (relating to how many miles are for work vs leisure) being counted as a cost of doing business and that can be taken off my income for tax. But I really am not sure on this

it might sound further than it is, it's 1 hour 40 mins depending on traffic, plenty of people spending that length of time in a car commuting to dublin, just I'll be on a motorway for a good portion of it so really racking up the miles. I am not against the idea of breaking up the week with 1 day in a b&b or something like that.

Marcusm

frozenfrozen wrote: »

hope that's not the case can you explain more, I am a sole trader not an employee so I won't be claiming mileage rates etc I'm imagining it'll be a percentage of the costs (relating to how many miles are for work vs leisure) being counted as a cost of doing business and that can be taken off my income for tax. But I really am not sure on this

it might sound further than it is, it's 1 hour 40 mins depending on traffic, plenty of people spending that length of time in a car commuting to dublin, just I'll be on a motorway for a good portion of it so really racking up the miles. I am not against the idea of breaking up the week with 1 day in a b&b or something like that.

When you say sole trader, what do you mean, a contractor? If this is the sole engagement and you don’t have another fixed place of business, no tools to transport etc, then you probably won’t be entitled to any relief for travelling to work irrespective of how far it is. This is different to travelling from your current place of work to a temporary site etc. Sounds like you have a fixed term whole time contract and on that basis the commuting costs won’t be tax deductible.

Casati

With that type of mileage you’ll suffer massive depreciation on something new or risk big bills and breakdowns with something old and cheap

As your a sole trader I’d recommend looking at the option of renting cars and putting the rental and thus the fuel down as a business expense - ie ask you accountant to confirm that’s okay.

Renting cars is generally v cheap except at the real busy summer weeks and Christmas and you’ll always be a new diesel which should return maybe 5 l per 100km if you take it handy. No insurance, tax, servicing or depreciation to worry about - just one bill you can probably expense