Argh..had to get 2 new tyres today. I also have to get my key coded which is £40. Only had the bleeder 4 weeks. Is this a slippery slope? Should I just go back to the bus? lol

You need good tyres for slippery slopes which is what it is but it's still better than the bus.

I am quite willing to pay thousands of pounds a year not to get the bus. I'll bet that you are, too!

If you've only had it for 4 weeks, how come you're funding the expense of 2 new tyres (assuming they were just worn and not punctured)? I take it you didn't notice they were worn when you bought the motor... could've negotiated that the seller foots the bill.

But not withstanding that, to answer your question... yes cars are one expense after the other. Are they worth the expense? Well, that's up to you to decide.

you've started with tyres. The cycle is:

tyres - tax - insurance - MOT - service - weird one off expense - tyres - tax - insurance -MOT - service - weird one off expense - tyres - tax - insurance etc.

you get the idea

cars run after midnight and go exactly where you want, when you want though.

you've started with tyres. The cycle is:

tyres - tax - insurance - MOT - service - weird one off expense - tyres - tax - insurance -MOT - service - weird one off expense - tyres - tax - insurance etc.

you get the idea

cars run after midnight and go exactly where you want, when you want though.The "one off expenses" will occur more often than the other things, and won't be one offs.

in a year ive spent 120 on MOT, 450 on repairs, 300 on diagnostics and god knows how much on fuel! just waiting til i need new tyres or its service time - dreading it!

in a year ive spent 120 on MOT, 450 on repairs, 300 on diagnostics and god knows how much on fuel! just waiting til i need new tyres or its service time - dreading it!
£300 on diagnostics? What's that for?

in a year ive spent 120 on MOT, 450 on repairs, 300 on diagnostics and god knows how much on fuel! just waiting til i need new tyres or its service time - dreading it!

thats not too bad for a year tbh.

I myself have just had new rear tyres fitted....£300 for the privilage. I have had a heater problem for a while and my heater matrix has just gone pop.... £250 and a full day to take the dash out.... Tax in 2 months and a few other niggles I need to sort out.... so yeah, it is a slippery slope! :hihi:

£300 on diagnostics? What's that for?

lol several things of diagnostics, not just the one off lol

Answer - get simple cars which are easy to fix.... Although you'll still have to fork out for insurance mot and possibly tax and they'll be less safe/comfortable than modern cars.

Diagnostics is a con. I took a Ford Transit to Ford dealer for a diagnostic test and they wanted paying before they would diagnose it. Having paid them they put it on their machine and told me they didn't know what the fault was. I found out from another owner what the problem was and in fact it has happened twice since. The cost of the repair is less than the non diagnosis.

Diagnostics is a con. I took a Ford Transit to Ford dealer for a diagnostic test and they wanted paying before they would diagnose it. Having paid them they put it on their machine and told me they didn't know what the fault was. I found out from another owner what the problem was and in fact it has happened twice since. The cost of the repair is less than the non diagnosis.

It is some places charge £75 per diag or per hour diag (I forget) proper con take it to a real garage who don't need a machine to tell them their arse from their elbow.

In one year I've had:
Radiator leak repaired
Two new windscreens.
A new battery
Two parts of my exhaust
Two new tyres (one yesterday due to a flat)
Tracking done
Camshank(?) indicator
New clutch (expensive together!)
Gear box oil change.
New bulb for one of the lamps!

There's not been a month gone by practically where my car hasn't cost me £100. :( It's a W reg but most of the things would have gone on a newer car anyway!

I don't bother with cars any more, even though I never spent for than £400 on one and my maintenance bills tended to be low. I realised that I didn't, in actual fact, need one, but that the approx £2000 in cash I save each year by not having one comes in very handy indeed.

the thing about cars some people may not realise is that you end up spending loads of cash on things you wouldn't spend otherwise if you didn't have one, like stopping off at takeaways and getting a curry or something like that. Cars definitely do increase your options but what this means is that they increase your chances to spend money buying things you probably don't need to buy.

I'm fed up of forking out a fortune for my car. Tax, insurance, fuel, servicing etc etc.

The amount that my car costs me a month is nearly enough to cover a mortgage - I'm hopefully moving into a job with a company car soon.

My car is a money pit, but even though I whinge when things go wrong and I have to fork out the cash I wouldnt swap it for anything. The money I spend on it is worth the freedom it provides me.

I'm fed up of forking out a fortune for my car. Tax, insurance, fuel, servicing etc etc.

The amount that my car costs me a month is nearly enough to cover a mortgage - I'm hopefully moving into a job with a company car soon.

Then you'll just have to pay BIK(Benefit in Kind) tax on the Company car, mine costs about £200 per month, but that covers all my fuel as well.

cars are expensive but i go to quite a good mechanic who if something goes wrong, if its something he has already fixed he admits it instead of making up a new problem, and fixes/diagnoses it for free. I know everyones thinking "well thats what should happen" But sadly it doesnt half the time!