Cars

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Sonez
Posts: 172
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2004 12:36 pm

Cars

Post by Sonez »

I passed my driving test earlier today and been thinking about getting a car.

The problem is that I'm a budget as currently having to put about £650 a month towards going back ot uni to do an MA. Leaves me with about £250 a month to mess around with (after rent and gym membership).

I'll probably be able to get a car when I get my bonus in March/April as it should weigh in at about 2 grand.

My question is, is it worth getting a car when I'll be going back to uni in October? Haven't figured out a budget for the following years, but I'm probably going to roll straight into a D.Phil as I'm looking to become a university lecturer, so I'm not likely to have much money knocking about.

Pros are that I'll be able to make the travel between home and uni fairly easily (which will be good as my missus is down here and it's a couple hours of travel) and I'll be able to get around my university area easily to - doing it in Brighton if anybody's lived there - which will be important as I'll want to keep up Muay Thai and Sunday league football and, particularly for the latter, public transport may be a nightmare.

Con is basically that cars are expensive to run, but I figure I can get a decent motor for around 500 at a local auction and then I just have to worry about insurance, tax and MOT.

Really looking for opinions and advice from a few of the more wizened members of the forum. What sort of car should I look at if so - predominantly in terms of reliability and relatively low cost insurance?

All input welcome, thanks.

Calix
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Post by Calix »

I can't advise much at all about what kind of car to get, but can offer a little bit of advice about actually running one....don't, unless you absolutely have to.

Managed without one for quite a few years now, we both work local(10 min walk for me, 20 for girlfriend) so it's obviously not too big a deal, but main thing being that we've managed to save almost 25k over the last 4 years, as well as doing maybe 10-12k worth of work on the house and overpaying the mortgage. Big part of that is managing to get by with no cars between us, when most people in our position would have one each. Obviously your situation is very different, but i'm just suggesting that you think before you consign yourself to car reliance ..

There's occaisions when I wish I had a car, but that happens maybe once a month? Once you've got one it's very hard to give it up, and unless you've got money down to put on a nice new car, it's either a cycle of debt trying to pay back what you've borrowed, or constant problems costing you a few hundred quid at a time to put right on the piece of shit car you could afford.

Nixon
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Post by Nixon »

Don't get a car till after you've graduated uni. I still don't have one, and financially I'm glad. My girlfriend has one but pretty much needs it to get to and from work, and while I must admit, it's awesome for going shopping etc, its a luxury I don't personally need right now. I do live within a 25minute walk of the center of town & 10 minutes from work though.

If you end up buying a slightly shit car, you'll pay for it down the line in random repair costs/breakdown costs.

With the likes of your Sunday league football...can you not get one of your teammates to pick you up? Surely someone must live roughly in your area - can you not come to some sort of agreement?

If you do end up getting a car, just go for something small and petrol efficient.

Mortharr
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Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:19 pm

Post by Mortharr »

just make sure there is parking around campus. Im in lincoln and its a fucking bitch to park

Angus
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Post by Angus »

im with Nix, when i passed (in Aug) i wanted to get a car right away but financially it wasnt practical, pus it wasnt needed. G/F has a car and im insured on that but as Nix said i only use it to go to tesco or drive to the gym, thats it. the occasional weekend trip but the kinda thing that is very doable without a car

if you can afford it without stretching your budget then cool, but if its gonna be tight just leave it
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Villa
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Post by Villa »

Gratz on passing your test.

Don't listen to these nobs; get a car ASAP, it's amazing what kind of freedoms owning one can open up.
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Lady Redname
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Post by Lady Redname »

remember that insurance will set you back 1k+ on top of everything else :/

Villa
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Post by Villa »

Lady Redname wrote:remember that insurance will set you back 1k+ on top of everything else :/
One of the few advantages of being an old git like me is that you can get insurance on a group 17 car for under £500 full comp.
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Mortharr
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Post by Mortharr »

yes, but you are going to die soon

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