Cost of motoring moan - WARNING this topic has no point

[blackbird]

MOTs

 

council-run MOT centres

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot

[blackbird]

MOTs

 

council-run MOT centres

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot

[Pillock]

Its needs to be clarified as to what "road tax" is for

 

Originally the road fund licence was to pay for the upkeep of roads, then it was changed to a pollution tax and now they give it away for nowt or for a lesser rate to people with new cars, so penalising the majority of people on the road who own cars of 3 years of age and older (until of course pre dec 72)

 

There are more modern cars exempt from tax because of their blue motion technology etc, but they still wear out the road and they still cause congestion and get enough of them and they make the same pollution. But if you want to go down the 'environmental impact' route, they do a lot more damage to the environment in their manufacture than any pre 90's car has managed in their lifetime.

 

There is no such thing as Road Tax. You pay a fee to operate a vehicle, same as you pay tax to buy a cake. The VAT on a cake does not force the government to spend money on cake production. Yes it's an outdated concept and isn't really fair, but it's definitely not "road tax", it's "vehicle licence" and it's money you pay for the right to use your car.

 

I personally think basing it on CO2 rates is daft and there are better ways to decide how much you pay. Which is odd, since under that scheme my Focus costs £30 a year. But that £30 a year covers me doing 25,000 miles a year and using my car far far more than Auntie Mabel who goes to Sainsburys (because she's middle-class) once a fortnight, and pays £195 on her petrol Clio. Perhaps bunging it on fuel is a good idea for the masses, not for me though!

[Pillock]

Its needs to be clarified as to what "road tax" is for

 

Originally the road fund licence was to pay for the upkeep of roads, then it was changed to a pollution tax and now they give it away for nowt or for a lesser rate to people with new cars, so penalising the majority of people on the road who own cars of 3 years of age and older (until of course pre dec 72)

 

There are more modern cars exempt from tax because of their blue motion technology etc, but they still wear out the road and they still cause congestion and get enough of them and they make the same pollution. But if you want to go down the 'environmental impact' route, they do a lot more damage to the environment in their manufacture than any pre 90's car has managed in their lifetime.

 

There is no such thing as Road Tax. You pay a fee to operate a vehicle, same as you pay tax to buy a cake. The VAT on a cake does not force the government to spend money on cake production. Yes it's an outdated concept and isn't really fair, but it's definitely not "road tax", it's "vehicle licence" and it's money you pay for the right to use your car.

 

I personally think basing it on CO2 rates is daft and there are better ways to decide how much you pay. Which is odd, since under that scheme my Focus costs £30 a year. But that £30 a year covers me doing 25,000 miles a year and using my car far far more than Auntie Mabel who goes to Sainsburys (because she's middle-class) once a fortnight, and pays £195 on her petrol Clio. Perhaps bunging it on fuel is a good idea for the masses, not for me though!

[oman5]

I have noticed that whereas a few years back you could get something with MOT for the 200 quid mark, more likely to be 400 these days but considering scrappage has taken its toll that's not too bad. I just go for whatever is deeply unfashionable and worthless because of giffer image etc. (anything jap older than 10 years, any brick type volvo, any bog standard Rover group stuff, mk3 golfs, etc etc etc)

I tried to sell my late dad's golf mk3 diesel-a 50 mpg car with MOT and took ages to shift it on for 150 quid. I still reckon decent shite is out there if you know where to look, and that is certainly not on egay where the vast number of viewers drives the price of crap up out of all proportion.

[oman5]

I have noticed that whereas a few years back you could get something with MOT for the 200 quid mark, more likely to be 400 these days but considering scrappage has taken its toll that's not too bad. I just go for whatever is deeply unfashionable and worthless because of giffer image etc. (anything jap older than 10 years, any brick type volvo, any bog standard Rover group stuff, mk3 golfs, etc etc etc)

I tried to sell my late dad's golf mk3 diesel-a 50 mpg car with MOT and took ages to shift it on for 150 quid. I still reckon decent shite is out there if you know where to look, and that is certainly not on egay where the vast number of viewers drives the price of crap up out of all proportion.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

(finally managed to return to civilisation, so I have less time for alcohol and more for autoshite)

 

I think we are in a golden age for shite motoring. 15-25 year-old cars are mega-reliable and largely free from the troublesome gimmicks to be found in newer models. The growth of Chinese and Eastern European parts suppliers has driven costs down- case in point, I have an invoice for a pair of tyres from 1991. Michelin 195/65/15s were fitted at a cost of £102 EACH- they are about seventy quid now (and, of course, the difference is much bigger in real terms). You can run something practical and reliable on cheap classic insurance (imagine the sort of cars you'd have been able to choose from in 1995), and the road tax is pretty reasonable. Sure, fuel isn't cheap and you end up thinking twice about non-essential journeys, but the flipside of the high fuel prices is that motorways seem more relaxed, and you can pick up some GR11 cars for very little money just because their MPG is a bit low. And let's just not go into comparisons with pubic transport (miss your 'cheap' train and you have to pay a fortune to get on the next one) or places like Greece and Spain (try paying £1.60 per litre, or a £200 government admin fee for transferring ownership of a car, when you're on 600 quid a month!)...

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

(finally managed to return to civilisation, so I have less time for alcohol and more for autoshite)

 

I think we are in a golden age for shite motoring. 15-25 year-old cars are mega-reliable and largely free from the troublesome gimmicks to be found in newer models. The growth of Chinese and Eastern European parts suppliers has driven costs down- case in point, I have an invoice for a pair of tyres from 1991. Michelin 195/65/15s were fitted at a cost of £102 EACH- they are about seventy quid now (and, of course, the difference is much bigger in real terms). You can run something practical and reliable on cheap classic insurance (imagine the sort of cars you'd have been able to choose from in 1995), and the road tax is pretty reasonable. Sure, fuel isn't cheap and you end up thinking twice about non-essential journeys, but the flipside of the high fuel prices is that motorways seem more relaxed, and you can pick up some GR11 cars for very little money just because their MPG is a bit low. And let's just not go into comparisons with pubic transport (miss your 'cheap' train and you have to pay a fortune to get on the next one) or places like Greece and Spain (try paying £1.60 per litre, or a £200 government admin fee for transferring ownership of a car, when you're on 600 quid a month!)...

[Pete-M]

It's harder to run a car now, but if you're willing to do a bit you can have something half decent on the road quite cheaply.

 

Today I've been working on a Mk3 Golf a friend was given. P reg, 1.4 CL jobbie. Not the best car in the world, but after a few hours scrubbing and cleaning it has come up well. Needs the head gasket doing, but it's on four new tyres, has a new clutch and exhaust and runs well but has mayo in the rocker cover and is a bit tappety. Gonna give it a flush tomorrow and see how bad it is. It'll cost around £4-500 quid to get it up to scratch, mot'd and taxed with the head done, new belts and a proper proper service.

 

If this makes it last for a couple of years before it needs much more work then it should be a decent little runabout. It's only gonna be used for commuting through the week and the odd run out of a weekend. If it costs £10 a week to keep it tip top then that'll do nicely. There's loads of stuff out there like this for a couple of hundred quid.

 

Tax is about £130 a year for a 1.4? I'm not sure. Insurance for Lu is £650ish. MOT is £35. £815 in total. £15.67 a week. If it burns £20 a week in fuel that's still not too bad really.

[Pete-M]

It's harder to run a car now, but if you're willing to do a bit you can have something half decent on the road quite cheaply.

 

Today I've been working on a Mk3 Golf a friend was given. P reg, 1.4 CL jobbie. Not the best car in the world, but after a few hours scrubbing and cleaning it has come up well. Needs the head gasket doing, but it's on four new tyres, has a new clutch and exhaust and runs well but has mayo in the rocker cover and is a bit tappety. Gonna give it a flush tomorrow and see how bad it is. It'll cost around £4-500 quid to get it up to scratch, mot'd and taxed with the head done, new belts and a proper proper service.

 

If this makes it last for a couple of years before it needs much more work then it should be a decent little runabout. It's only gonna be used for commuting through the week and the odd run out of a weekend. If it costs £10 a week to keep it tip top then that'll do nicely. There's loads of stuff out there like this for a couple of hundred quid.

 

Tax is about £130 a year for a 1.4? I'm not sure. Insurance for Lu is £650ish. MOT is £35. £815 in total. £15.67 a week. If it burns £20 a week in fuel that's still not too bad really.

[mattblack]

Cheap stuff is still around. Yesterday a bloke I know scrapped a 'W' plate Volvo S40, still had a bit of ticket on it but needed a couple of tyres and had a noise on the steering (he thought rack, I recon it was a stut top mount). Paint on the bonnet was FUBAR'd and it had a few dings but every thing worked. He was talking about getting £130 - £150 over the bridge so I'm sure would have taken someones hand off for £200.

[mattblack]

Cheap stuff is still around. Yesterday a bloke I know scrapped a 'W' plate Volvo S40, still had a bit of ticket on it but needed a couple of tyres and had a noise on the steering (he thought rack, I recon it was a stut top mount). Paint on the bonnet was FUBAR'd and it had a few dings but every thing worked. He was talking about getting £130 - £150 over the bridge so I'm sure would have taken someones hand off for £200.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Luxo is talking a lot of sense there, strongly agree with that lot

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Luxo is talking a lot of sense there, strongly agree with that lot

[Morgan84]

It's harder to run a car now, but if you're willing to do a bit you can have something half decent on the road quite cheaply.

 

Today I've been working on a Mk3 Golf a friend was given. P reg, 1.4 CL jobbie. Not the best car in the world, but after a few hours scrubbing and cleaning it has come up well. Needs the head gasket doing, but it's on four new tyres, has a new clutch and exhaust and runs well but has mayo in the rocker cover and is a bit tappety. Gonna give it a flush tomorrow and see how bad it is. It'll cost around £4-500 quid to get it up to scratch, mot'd and taxed with the head done, new belts and a proper proper service.

 

If this makes it last for a couple of years before it needs much more work then it should be a decent little runabout. It's only gonna be used for commuting through the week and the odd run out of a weekend. If it costs £10 a week to keep it tip top then that'll do nicely. There's loads of stuff out there like this for a couple of hundred quid.

 

Tax is about £130 a year for a 1.4? I'm not sure. Insurance for Lu is £650ish. MOT is £35. £815 in total. £15.67 a week. If it burns £20 a week in fuel that's still not too bad really.

 

Make sure it has a VW filter ( Mann ) as these engines geta bit stroppy with Halfords and other such crap on them

[Morgan84]

It's harder to run a car now, but if you're willing to do a bit you can have something half decent on the road quite cheaply.

 

Today I've been working on a Mk3 Golf a friend was given. P reg, 1.4 CL jobbie. Not the best car in the world, but after a few hours scrubbing and cleaning it has come up well. Needs the head gasket doing, but it's on four new tyres, has a new clutch and exhaust and runs well but has mayo in the rocker cover and is a bit tappety. Gonna give it a flush tomorrow and see how bad it is. It'll cost around £4-500 quid to get it up to scratch, mot'd and taxed with the head done, new belts and a proper proper service.

 

If this makes it last for a couple of years before it needs much more work then it should be a decent little runabout. It's only gonna be used for commuting through the week and the odd run out of a weekend. If it costs £10 a week to keep it tip top then that'll do nicely. There's loads of stuff out there like this for a couple of hundred quid.

 

Tax is about £130 a year for a 1.4? I'm not sure. Insurance for Lu is £650ish. MOT is £35. £815 in total. £15.67 a week. If it burns £20 a week in fuel that's still not too bad really.

 

Make sure it has a VW filter ( Mann ) as these engines geta bit stroppy with Halfords and other such crap on them

[Junkman]

There is no road tax.

Please stop calling it road tax.

Road tax doesn't exist.

There has been no road tax since it was culled in 1937 (!!!!!)

 

THERE.

IS.

NO.

SUCH.

THING.

AS.

ROAD.

TAX.

SINCE.

1937.

 

Roads are paid for via general and local taxation, by all tax payers, no matter whether they use vehicles or not.

 

Yet in 75 years (three generations elsewhere) Brits haven't managed to call the tax they pay for using motorised vehicles what it really is.

 

 

It is called

 

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)

 

and it is neither meant to, nor used for, the construction or upkeep of roads.

 

So please speak after me:

 

There - is - no - road - tax.

There - only - is - vehicle - excise - duty.

 

Thank You.

[Junkman]

There is no road tax.

Please stop calling it road tax.

Road tax doesn't exist.

There has been no road tax since it was culled in 1937 (!!!!!)

 

THERE.

IS.

NO.

SUCH.

THING.

AS.

ROAD.

TAX.

SINCE.

1937.

 

Roads are paid for via general and local taxation, by all tax payers, no matter whether they use vehicles or not.

 

Yet in 75 years (three generations elsewhere) Brits haven't managed to call the tax they pay for using motorised vehicles what it really is.

 

 

It is called

 

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)

 

and it is neither meant to, nor used for, the construction or upkeep of roads.

 

So please speak after me:

 

There - is - no - road - tax.

There - only - is - vehicle - excise - duty.

 

Thank You.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The VED is a tax for using the road. You don't pay it if your car doesn't occupy the road. Consequently, there is nothing wrong with calling it a 'road tax'. Unless you're also arguing that there is no 'inheritance tax' because the money doesn't go towards creating new investment portfolios (well, maybe unless you're a trust lawyer)!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The VED is a tax for using the road. You don't pay it if your car doesn't occupy the road. Consequently, there is nothing wrong with calling it a 'road tax'. Unless you're also arguing that there is no 'inheritance tax' because the money doesn't go towards creating new investment portfolios (well, maybe unless you're a trust lawyer)!

[Junkman]

The VED is a tax for using the road. You don't pay it if your car doesn't occupy the road. Consequently, there is nothing wrong with calling it a 'road tax'. Unless you're also arguing that there is no 'inheritance tax' because the money doesn't go towards creating new investment portfolios (well, maybe unless you're a trust lawyer)!

 

OK, then it is a road use tax. But it NOT a road tax. Roads aren't taxed. Cars are.

[Junkman]

The VED is a tax for using the road. You don't pay it if your car doesn't occupy the road. Consequently, there is nothing wrong with calling it a 'road tax'. Unless you're also arguing that there is no 'inheritance tax' because the money doesn't go towards creating new investment portfolios (well, maybe unless you're a trust lawyer)!

 

OK, then it is a road use tax. But it NOT a road tax. Roads aren't taxed. Cars are.

[Station]

Only the cost of fuel and insurance bothers me. If petrol was less than a quid it would AMAZIN. I like spending money on car bits when it needs it. If you're paying that much for mot/battery etc you can always get them cheaper elsewhere or second hand!

[Station]

Only the cost of fuel and insurance bothers me. If petrol was less than a quid it would AMAZIN. I like spending money on car bits when it needs it. If you're paying that much for mot/battery etc you can always get them cheaper elsewhere or second hand!

[Cavcraft]

Don't know what all the fuss is about. Yesterday I managed to find a new fuel supplier that's 5p per litre cheaper then the other AND I got some free elsewhere too.

 

Another '+1' for what Luxo said too.

[Cavcraft]

Don't know what all the fuss is about. Yesterday I managed to find a new fuel supplier that's 5p per litre cheaper then the other AND I got some free elsewhere too.

 

Another '+1' for what Luxo said too.

[PhilA]

The price over here has steadily crept up in terms of car ownership and operation.

 

You can get some real nasty tat for cheap here, but the distinct lack of a decent vehicle testing safety scheme means there's a lot of very broken, rusty, unsafe junk chugging away on the roads.

Cheapest halfway decent vehicle that most of it works, the paint's fallen off and needs brakes/alignment/bearing/oil change etc probably run about $500-$700 with the better chod coming in around $3000

 

Once you've got the purchase out of the way, registering it (about $35 at a notary office to get it signed, stamped and transferred) then the DMV fees plus a new plate for the back ($15) and an MoT equiv. ($10), stick a tank of gas in at $3.79/gal for 87 octane E10, that being $1.02 / liter. Go take it for a wheel balance ($45) and 4-wheel alignment ($120) and get a pair of new tyres to replace the hard-as-a-rock ones that have done a few too many miles ($85 ea.). Give it an oil change with some Mobil 15W/40 ($8/qt) and a filter ($15) you feel happy about having a car that'll hopefully get from A to B, until you go to insure it, and get charged anywhere upwards of $120/mo because it's stored in a storm prone/flood prone area.

 

No, it's not cheap to operate a vehicle here anymore either. Parts are expensive, the services related to renewing it aren't but pretty much everything else is creeping up in price. Y'all still got it pretty cheap.

 

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

The price over here has steadily crept up in terms of car ownership and operation.

 

You can get some real nasty tat for cheap here, but the distinct lack of a decent vehicle testing safety scheme means there's a lot of very broken, rusty, unsafe junk chugging away on the roads.

Cheapest halfway decent vehicle that most of it works, the paint's fallen off and needs brakes/alignment/bearing/oil change etc probably run about $500-$700 with the better chod coming in around $3000

 

Once you've got the purchase out of the way, registering it (about $35 at a notary office to get it signed, stamped and transferred) then the DMV fees plus a new plate for the back ($15) and an MoT equiv. ($10), stick a tank of gas in at $3.79/gal for 87 octane E10, that being $1.02 / liter. Go take it for a wheel balance ($45) and 4-wheel alignment ($120) and get a pair of new tyres to replace the hard-as-a-rock ones that have done a few too many miles ($85 ea.). Give it an oil change with some Mobil 15W/40 ($8/qt) and a filter ($15) you feel happy about having a car that'll hopefully get from A to B, until you go to insure it, and get charged anywhere upwards of $120/mo because it's stored in a storm prone/flood prone area.

 

No, it's not cheap to operate a vehicle here anymore either. Parts are expensive, the services related to renewing it aren't but pretty much everything else is creeping up in price. Y'all still got it pretty cheap.

 

 

--Phil

[Pete-M]

Make sure it has a VW filter ( Mann ) as these engines geta bit stroppy with Halfords and other such crap on them

 

It's had a full VW service kit. Oil, filters, plugs.. TPS are bloody cheap with trade discount...

 

Doesn't look bad for something dragged out of the hedge at a recycling plant.. It's off for the MOT tomorrow. Head gasket turns out to be fine, needed brake pads and shoes, wiper blades, a rear wiper arm, nearside mirror, bloody good service, day long valet and a glovebox lid to get it back 'right'.

 

Up to now it has cost just under £100 and a weekend. If it passes MOT tomorrow (and I think it will) another £35 for the MOT, £75 for tax and a few 'undred for insewerance.

 

So, I reckon it'll be usable until the summer for £250ish. Then another service and see if it makes it through another winter. Not expensive really, especially as it would probably fetch £400-500 if she chose to flog it on.

 

[Pete-M]

Make sure it has a VW filter ( Mann ) as these engines geta bit stroppy with Halfords and other such crap on them

 

It's had a full VW service kit. Oil, filters, plugs.. TPS are bloody cheap with trade discount...

 

Doesn't look bad for something dragged out of the hedge at a recycling plant.. It's off for the MOT tomorrow. Head gasket turns out to be fine, needed brake pads and shoes, wiper blades, a rear wiper arm, nearside mirror, bloody good service, day long valet and a glovebox lid to get it back 'right'.

 

Up to now it has cost just under £100 and a weekend. If it passes MOT tomorrow (and I think it will) another £35 for the MOT, £75 for tax and a few 'undred for insewerance.

 

So, I reckon it'll be usable until the summer for £250ish. Then another service and see if it makes it through another winter. Not expensive really, especially as it would probably fetch £400-500 if she chose to flog it on.