How does everyone do it?!

[hayz_baby]

In regards to a car!
Me and oh don't drive, we have coped ok but now we hae ds2 getting about is just so much more difficult. This month I between my 2 kids we have 6 appts, (2 speech therapy appts on the other side of town and 4 hosp appts both of which take 2 buses to get there) yesterday when we went to ds2 hosp appt we left with plenty of time but still had to miss 2 buses and force our way onto a third with our tandem collapsed (I would babywear and have toddler walk but it's so long and far that toddler just kicks off with overtiredness half way through the tandem just saves sanity) we were nearly late for hosptial appt: the thing is the hosp appt is only a 5 min drive but can take 45 mins on 2 buses!
Anyway.. Oh has been learning to drive, he's nearly ready to take his test so obviously we are starting to think about the next step. Getting a car and insurance. I have no idea how on earth we can afford it!
We pay out a fair amount in rent. We are a one wage family.. We are that annoying range were we are low earners but not what the government would class as a low wage lykwim.
How on earth do people do it? I have no idea how on earth we are going to afford a car ins mot tax etc. but we really can't deal with buses anymore.. Plus the buses here aren't exactly cheap either costing around a tenner just to do said journies for 2 adults.
Help and tips please?!

 

[Ceejay123]

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[hayz_baby]

Bless you honey! How old are you both?

Shop around for the insurance - I've managed to get mine for £400 , and I was 22 when I took it out. Tax is a pain - but it's better if you get a smaller car. I.e mines £250 per year, My mums (fiesta) is only half that.

Best of luck - I hope you manage to get it sorted x

Oh is 27.. Cars that we have seen we are paying roughly £1700 according to compare the market. We tried a few cars and the prices aren't too dissimilar..
It just kinda feels like damned if we do damned if we don't..

 

[Tasha]

We didnt drive until 2011 by which stage we had a 7, 6 and 4 year old, so I can totally relate to the public transport situation.

The insurance we used one of those companies with the box they put in, it made it much at first.

The MOT isnt that costly, but failing it might be, do you have anyone who is handy with a car?

The tax is quite a lot for our car (about £140 for six months ) but from November you will be able to pay this monthly, so that should help

 

[Lauraxamy]

It can be expensive, I find insurance the biggest rip off. You can boxes fitted to make insurance cheaper, definitely shop around for quotes too. It should go down after he's been driving a while anyway. Quite a few cars do £30 road tax now, my friend has a fiesta and that's only £30 road tax. MOT is only once a year and usually only around £40-45.

 

[hayz_baby]

Which companies do the boxes as we don't plan on driving that often tbh..
Would you say te newer more economical cars that have cheap road tax? Any cars you would recommend?

 

[Yo_Yo]

Don't just look at price comparison sites, take a look at some insurance sites too. Going direct can be cheaper in my experince.

Chose a car that's cheaper to insure https://www.which.co.uk/news/2013/05/top-5-cars-that-are-cheap-to-insure-318337/

We have our insurance cheaper as we have one of those boxes fitted in the car through Www.admiral.com found them quite good. You can't see it in the car too.

 

[Tasha]

Drive like a girl (name shouldnt put you off, it does accept male drivers ) ikubeinsurance, insure the box. I think a few of the main stream ones do it too x

 

[Tasha]

Ooops sent too early, yeah more economical cars tax is cheaper. Ours is fairly new but big as we have three children and are trying for more.

We actually had admiral the first year (not on a box thing) and had to claim, and they were so bad that they had to apologise and give my husband his no claims back as per the ombudsman.

 

[Ceejay123]

I'm with admiral - I've never had a problem with them x

 

[MummyToAmberx]

i dont know how we manage to afford it but we do because we have too its very expensive.
i dont like idea of boxes, was few 'conditions' we were told that put us off personally.

i hate insurance even though ive ot 7yrs no claim makes no real differance
where you live can have a big impact we're currently witu admiral on multi car which was extra 5 a month to add mine so fair deal ive been with tesco, ladybird, girls only companies. shop around may take weeks and get boring but its only way.
many new cars have 'free road tax'

pug do 'just add fuel' x

 

[emilyjade]

OH was 26 when we got our car and the insurance was just a few pounds off £2000. We searched high and low for insurance and that was the cheapest, one quote was over £8000 for a 1.4 megane!

 

[Yo_Yo]

Part of a high insurance quote can be your postcode too. As a new driver I shopped around for ages for the best quote, and it still came in at £1500! That was admiral too-they seem to be good for young drivers. Aviva quoted me £4000 for the same cover!!
If you join something like quidco, you can get cash back on buying car insurance online too-I think I got £70 back.
When we moved here (very low crime area) car insurance was really cheap. I couldn't believe the difference.

 

[Rachel_C]

It can be worth adding an older person to your insurance too, as an additional driver. It's only been in the last few years that adding FIL to our insurance hasn't decreased the cost and OH is 31, I'm 29 and both of us have been driving since we were 17/18 with no claims! I don't know if it still works but you can ask for a quote with and without one of your parents when you ring up, just in case.

Something I think is good to do is work out how much your car should cost over 12 months, so include insurance, road tax, MOT, general maintenance plus a decent amount for unexpected repairs etc (so everything except fuel) and set aside 1/12th of that amount every month instead of going 6 months with nothing to pay then trying to pay your full year's road tax one month, your MOT the next, new tyres the next.

It's worth looking at your options for paying your insurance. When I started driving, it wasn't that much more expensive to pay monthly (only about £50 or something extra over the year) but now it can make a huge difference. Before we started saving a set amount each month, OH would pay for it on a 0% credit card as it saved him quite a chunk of money, but it does depend what options you have available to you. It's worth looking into for the first year before you have enough saved up.

 

[Pearls18]

Unfortunately insurance is one of those things that can take a few years to go down, my dad had been driving for 20+ years but when he divorced my mum it was the first time he had his own insurance and it went through the roof. DH and I have been driving for 8 or 9 years I think and our insurance only came down after we turned 25, we only pay £287 for the year now (we're 26, our car is a 1.8) putting me on the insurance really knocked it down (archivists don't seem to have a rep for being petrol heads...)

We have everything due in one month so I save for it in advance now that our insurance is lower, we had a service and MOT done for £215, tax was £220ish for the year, breakdown will be £50ish and as I say insurance was £287. We bought a newer car last year and it's working out much cheaper all around, no MOT worries, it's more fuel efficient etc.

It's worth having a "car kitty" and setting money aside for unexpected car bills, it's tyres that always catch me out!

I hate spending on the car, but even in London I couldn't be without it.

 

[dgirllamius]

The only way I can keep mine on the road is to have insurance through my OHs dads name. In my own name it would be like 150€ a month for a 1.9 Golf but under his name its 74€. I get my own no claims too.

Car tax is expensive her (mine is 293€ a year) so I set aside 25 a month to deal with that. I also put aside 5€ a month for TÜV (MOT in other words) but luckily here it only needs to be done once every 2 years. That costs about 90€. Another 5€ for ADAC (breakdown) and 10€ for tyres, services etc.

My Golf is a bluemotion so its incredibly good on diesel (10€ will do me about 120 miles) and I barely use her really so diesel doesn't set me back too much. Tax is the biggest downfall here.

I'd be so lost without her. Public transport here is dire. Before I got my golf I had a smart car - they may look stupid but no tax to pay, cheap ass insurance and brilliant on fuel.

 

[MrsMandy]

The only way I can keep mine on the road is to have insurance through my OHs dads name. In my own name it would be like 150€ a month for a 1.9 Golf but under his name its 74€. I get my own no claims too.

Just to warn you OP that if you put yourself as named driver on someone else's insurance but you are the main driver then it is illegal in the UK.
However it can still bring down cost of insurance if you were to put, for example, your oh's dad as as named driver on your oh's insurance and that isn't illegal.

Cars are necessary evil these days - stupid costs for insurance!!! And dont get me started on the cost of fuel!!!

 

[tallybee]

Yeah running a car is expensive unfortunately. I save towards it each month, to ease the big costs like this month the MOT and tax were both due, tax was £175 for a year, it failed MOT but luckily it was only £47 to put right. Ive been driving for 9 years and insurance has gone down with every year as I've never claimed. But for sure shop around for a cheap to insure car as it can be mental. The first vehicle I bought was a van and it cost me about a grand, some insurance quotes were double that and was only for 3rd party fire n theft I found it crazy that a year's insurance would set me back more than the blimmin vehicle lol. I ended up getting it for less. I was 22. It seems to have got a lot worse since then.

 

[Jaysmummy]

The only way I can keep mine on the road is to have insurance through my OHs dads name. In my own name it would be like 150€ a month for a 1.9 Golf but under his name its 74€. I get my own no claims too.

Just to warn you OP that if you put yourself as named driver on someone else's insurance but you are the main driver then it is illegal in the UK.
However it can still bring down cost of insurance if you were to put, for example, your oh's dad as as named driver on your oh's insurance and that isn't illegal.

Cars are necessary evil these days - stupid costs for insurance!!! And dont get me started on the cost of fuel!!!

I get what you're saying but how will the authorities know? I did this with my first car as simply just couldn't afford it.

We try and save a bit of money each month so if something goes wrong with the car we have a bit of back up. Insurance is a necessary evil unfortunately and just has to be paid each month, ours comes out the day OH gets paid so it's out the way just like rent, CT etc

 

[hayz_baby]

Thanks all! It's do difficult isn't it? We managed to get a quote for oh under a grand third party f&t for a ford focus so we may look into this car. Sil is going to b travelling abroad and recently brought a nice focus and she may b willing to lend it to us. I know this doesn't solve the issue but may help towards 1y ncd. We think mil might b able to b a named driver too.
We looked into the poeogeot just add fuel but u need to have had a licence for 2 yrs and 2y ncd.
We are also going to look into one of those boxes too.
Oh mate also has an mg 1.8. It's body is abit crap but apparently still runs ok. Just passed it's mot too. He is going to get a new car soon and is willing to give to us. Altho the insurance is higher (1,600 if I remember) it means not buying a car. We aren't 100% sold but again it could b a means to an end.