How Much Would You save a Year if You Gave up Your Car?
Money Saving
I've seen a few forum postings elsewhere, where people have given up their cars and it has been a huge saving for them. These are admittedly normally cycling forums. Sometimes the savings have been huge and it has enabled people to save for a mortgage or outright start a mortgage but to others it has meant just a higher quality of life.
Just curious how much people are spending per year on motoring with all the costs associated with using their car. I'm thinking for me, I pay out about 25pounds a fortnight on petrol, 200 pounds on insurance, 250 tax, perhaps 200 a year average on maintenance and maybe 75 a year for the mot. Perhaps something like 1300 pounds a year. I've had my car over 10 years from new and not planning on changing it unless forced to for perhaps another 4 years. I like to run cars into the ground. I paid about 8k for the car and hoping it lasts 14 years so that is another 600 a year I guess. So maybe 2000 a year in total or just under.
So my saving would be 2000 per year I guess depending on what new costs would be introduced by not having a car.
My husband has just purchased his 42nd car. He will never give up driving, unless his health says no. We live in a village which is 120 metres above sea level so riding a bike for me is definite no, no. Tried it years ago and nearly threw my bike in the bushes as the hill was so steep coming home. This was before we had mobile phones.
eyeballkerry There are ebikes nowadays that make even the steepest of hills quite easy. However I feel like villages often mean a long commute which may not be practical for cycling. I should have mentioned on the cycling forums some people have given up one car of a two car family as well and made huge savings which worked for them. Also some people in recent times have been allowed to work remotely which again has allowed them to reduce to one car.
BonzoBanana My daughter has an electric bike but it is so dangerous on the country lanes where we live to ride it.
eyeballkerry Do you mean the ebike itself is dangerous or just other traffic? Normally country lanes are quite quiet, I love cycling in country lanes.
BonzoBanana No, not the bike but the country lanes where we live all need cutting back, you can just about get a car through one way. And no they are not quiet that’s why we are moving soon.
When I'm not at work I use my car less. It's almost impossible to get to work without a car just because the public transport is rubbish and not practical. Where I am the attitude is that everyone works in a certain area and works in finance which utter rubbish
Regardless of cost I will keep my car, bus services are not great where I live and fares are expensive, taxis are even worse as are the train fares . Cycling is not a credible option in the South Wales Valleys too many hill and narrow street that make cycling precarious and to be fair the weather rarely great to cycle. Everyday tasks would be more difficult getting to work 3 buses for me approx 1.5hrs as connections are not great , shopping, visiting friends, taking the rubbish to the tip, going on holiday or out for the day or just popping to the dentist for instance would take considerably longer, and as we have no evening or Sunday bus service we would either be reliant on taxis or confined to home and its surrounding area.
Mango4 If the free bus pass is means tested then many more bus services will be uneconomic and I'm guessing many more bus routes will be cancelled so I think people giving up cars and relying on the bus for commuting is going to get more difficult. There is also the possibility of the free bus pass being taken away altogether I guess. Many elderly people gave up their cars due to the free bus pass from what I've read on forums. I remember one forum poster saying since giving up his car was having two decent holidays a year. He got his son to drive him and his wife to the airport.
Mine is a small car which I assumed would have the £20 tax same as the one before, I was shocked when I had to pay £185 for a Citroen c1. The mileage is good so I spend about £20-25 per month, £270 was last insurance, £44.99 for mot. I have not included servicing etc but while I can afford to run it I will continue to do so.
I will only give up mine B if i am forced off the road into purchasing an EV
I think the government are starting to realise the folly of their ways, they have just put back the banning of new fossil fuel vehicles another 5 years , allowing hybrids to still be manufactured
I wouldn’t give up my car. In the long run you would spend more on taxis etc. It’s ok to walk or cycle in some instances, but you cant bring home a weeks’ worth of shopping on your back
PayItForward I agree cars are very convenient but it depends how far from the shops you live. You could always get a trolley, lots of people where I am can't/don't drive, so they would use rucksacks or trolleys on wheels, I guess you could also use a suitcase on wheels if people stopped bothering so much about what others think. (Yes I also try not to think about how others perceive me but I fail at that thought every time!) It would also depend on your abilities and things too, I was far too ill to get out of bed a few years back, so I wouldn't be lugging my shopping back 
Some supermarkets offer free delivery now and again though or delivery slots at £1, so again it would depend on how often you were ordering, if it was worthwhile for the person ordering.
PayItForward Yes many of the cyclists on forums who have given up their car mainly rely on online shopping deliveries for their main shop but do top up shops with their cycle but the main concern is bike security outside the supermarket. Bikes are in no way as secure as a car and many are stolen nowadays. Some have Bromptons and just stick them in the large trolley as they go around the supermarket but not all supermarkets have a large trolley option.
I no longer have my own car. My husband gave it to the mechanics son after he had issues from ptsd. We felt sorry for him not being able to work and being isolated.
We don't use the car as much as before COVID, can't afford to go anywhere now lol
I think I drive too much to even consider giving up my car, I spend about £30 a week on petrol, my car luckily doesn't need tax but I spend around £1000 a year on insurance. I live in a big city but I like the convenience of having a car and not having to rely on public transport.
Gave up a car years ago as it’s easy to get around on foot where we are, and public transport is accessible
hspexy That's brilliant to read, do you feel richer compared to when you had the car? I realise the way the economy is going we all feel a bit poorer generally but at the time when you gave up the car did you feel richer?
We already did in a sense. We need it to get to work really, it would cost us more in the long run for public transport and other things since we moved further away but kept our jobs.
My partner now has a work car, so we pay for the insurance and you get taxed or some other bits through work, but we don't see that so we wouldn't notice.
The work car is an electric car and at the moment, we can charge for free at work, so we rarely pay for electric and they pay for the upkeep. We were paying for our own car before we got the work car, we were paying it off monthly so £200-£300 a month, plus tax, petrol costs, fixing, MOTs, I worked on an industrial estate so was always getting glass and nails in our tyres etc. But we wouldn't have been able to afford all that now with the higher costs of everything, especially when I fell ill and was unable to work for awhile (getting back to it now though!) we are very lucky with the job he has at the moment, I will never take it for granted. But they have to start charging for electric soon, which we completely understand.
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