Should I ditch my car

bridest

I've been thinking about this. I live and work in Dublin city. I go back to the country approx every 2nd to 3rd weekend. It's a 250 km round trip. Say 30 trips a year. €40 petrol per trip. That's €1200. Insurance is about €700, tax is €385 for the year, and say maintenance at €400. Say €2700 give or take. Would I be better off getting rid of my 07 mazda , getting an annual rail and bus pass for Dublin and just hiring a car when I need one?

johndaman66

I'd give it a lot of careful consideration and thought before making a decision too hastily. Perhaps the most serious consequence would be that you would be loosing whatever NCB you have built up after a short time of letting your insurance lapse. Back to the bumper premiums if you were to go back driving again.


I take from your motor tax figure that you drive a 1.4 litre car. You could consider downsizing to a 1.0 litre such as a Yaris to save a few euro on motor tax. You should save a few euro with city driving but you definitely wont be saving money on fuel in the 1.0 versus the 1.4 if blasting down the motorway at 120 kph plus - using more if anything. Hiring a car probably not the cheapest way of motoring unless you intend to do it very occasionally when badly stuck.

bridest

johndaman66 wrote: »

I'd give it a lot of careful consideration and thought before making a decision too hastily. Perhaps the most serious consequence would be that you would be loosing whatever NCB you have built up after a short time of letting your insurance lapse. Back to the bumper premiums if you were to go back driving again.


I take from your motor tax figure that you drive a 1.4 litre car. You could consider downsizing to a 1.0 litre such as a Yaris to save a few euro on motor tax. You should save a few euro with city driving but you definitely wont be saving money on fuel in the 1.0 versus the 1.4 if blasting down the motorway at 120 kph plus - using more if anything. Hiring a car probably not the cheapest way of motoring unless you intend to do it very occasionally when badly stuck.

Yeah I'd thought about the NCB alright. Think I'll buy an 08 or newer soon for cheaper tax. Couldn't see myself driving a 1 litre, too tall for that haha

PirateShampoo

bridest wrote: »

Yeah I'd thought about the NCB alright. Think I'll buy an 08 or newer soon for cheaper tax. Couldn't see myself driving a 1 litre, too tall for that haha

It's about keeping your NCB, I think it's 2 years then it resets to 0 again. I got caught out when I returned from Oz, luckily though I was a named driver on my dad's vehicle as well.

Pinch Flat

bridest wrote: »

I've been thinking about this. I live and work in Dublin city. I go back to the country approx every 2nd to 3rd weekend. It's a 250 km round trip. Say 30 trips a year. €40 petrol per trip. That's €1200. Insurance is about €700, tax is €385 for the year, and say maintenance at €400. Say €2700 give or take. Would I be better off getting rid of my 07 mazda , getting an annual rail and bus pass for Dublin and just hiring a car when I need one?

What about commuting to work by other means - walking / public transport / cycling. I cycle and save a fortune on transport for work annually.

I have a car that sits on the driveway Monday to Friday, so put €50 in diesel in that last me for ages. Trips out of Dublin now I’ll sometimes do by train / bus. Can be done, but the insurance issue is worth considering.

shanec1928

bridest wrote: »

Yeah I'd thought about the NCB alright. Think I'll buy an 08 or newer soon for cheaper tax. Couldn't see myself driving a 1 litre, too tall for that haha

makes zero sense. are you 7 or 8ft where you wouldn't fit into a octavia, focus etc they all come in 1ltr

galvo_clare

bridest wrote: »

Yeah I'd thought about the NCB alright. Think I'll buy an 08 or newer soon for cheaper tax. Couldn't see myself driving a 1 litre, too tall for that haha

Your tax is €385. You're not going to save much and it's certainly not worth just coming up a year to save at most €100 per annum.

loyatemu

bridest wrote: »

I've been thinking about this. I live and work in Dublin city. I go back to the country approx every 2nd to 3rd weekend. It's a 250 km round trip. Say 30 trips a year. €40 petrol per trip. That's €1200. Insurance is about €700, tax is €385 for the year, and say maintenance at €400. Say €2700 give or take. Would I be better off getting rid of my 07 mazda , getting an annual rail and bus pass for Dublin and just hiring a car when I need one?

hiring a car you'd still have to pay for the petrol, it's unlikely getting the bus or train would be much cheaper.

I'm all for people giving up their cars and cycling or using PT but for regular long distance trips like yours the car is probably still the most practical option in Ireland.

BuboBubo

bridest wrote: »

Yeah I'd thought about the NCB alright. Think I'll buy an 08 or newer soon for cheaper tax. Couldn't see myself driving a 1 litre, too tall for that haha

Most cars regardless of the engine size have adjustable height seats and steering columns.

bridest

Pinch Flat wrote: »

What about commuting to work by other means - walking / public transport / cycling. I cycle and save a fortune on transport for work annually.

I have a car that sits on the driveway Monday to Friday, so put €50 in diesel in that last me for ages. Trips out of Dublin now I’ll sometimes do by train / bus. Can be done, but the insurance issue is worth considering.

I don't use it for commuting to work. Maybe that want obvious. My car also sits Monday to Friday. I'll be using public transport and walking this year as moved to opposite side of the city

bridest

BuboBubo wrote: »

Most cars regardless of the engine size have adjustable height seats and steering columns.

Thanks, but couldn't imagine driving anything smaller than a focus size car.

red petal

Sounds like a reasonable amount to me for the convenience of it to be honest. maybe you use public transport for your work so you are used to it. For me though, I don't like relying on it at all so I wouldn't consider selling if it were me.

redcup342

Just rent a car when you need one, it'll only cost you a tenner a day.

Xterminator

Hi Op

look at car rental like go car or enterprise. Enterprise says its rates start at 15.99 for a day!

you are paying a huge amount of money for the odd weekend drive. I have a taxsaver ticket and it does make sense for me. but even with leap card capping you may see decent savings.

LaLa2004

Car rental costs are much higher at Christmas and holiday periods.

Ken.

When you go down the country does public transport get you right to where you need to go or would you have to get a few taxis?

johndaman66

Nosnon wrote: »

When you go down the country does public transport get you right to where you need to go or would you have to get a few taxis?

Maybe they might be rhetorical questions but if not the answer to the first question is no, public transport would not get you right to where you need to go in the country, sometimes a considerable distance from your destination. You would be depending on taxis which by the way depending on where you are and when are not always very plentiful.


What may be the case around the greater Dublin area is not always the case for the rest of the country.

Markcheese

There was a thread in here earlier this year, from someone Who'd done this, just hired cars when she needed,
One consideration, how easy or hard would it be for you to get to a car hire depot... If its a total pain then forget it..

pablo128

Your car is only doing around 25 mpg on a long journey, which is really bad. You should have it looked at. It can't be running right.

redcup342

LaLa2004 wrote: »

Car rental costs are much higher at Christmas and holiday periods.

That's true, but you need to look at your yearly cost and compare not the costs for one period in the year.

wassie

I hired a 191 VW Tiguin 1.5L loaded with kit including sunroof in summer for a month @ €17/day. Annual 3rd party excess insurance premium cost €50.

Only downside was always watching not to scuff the wheels on kerbs and being overly cautious in carparks.