CAR COSTS GUIDE

IMPORTANT : This guide is only to be used as a suggestion , and no responsibility is taken for errors or ommissions. It is not intended to be an authoritive guide. Car Drivers Tell Us Your Experience

Cars are the 2nd biggest outlay for most families , the average car eats up money from insuring your automobile to depreciation and running costs , is 34p per mile this compares to about 4p per mile for a bus ticket but it is possible to cut down some of these costs and to economise . With many workers of today having to commute long distances to work you can be eating up a huge amount of your monthly household budget before you even start work in the morning , which is perhaps why many are now looking to get jobs in the same town and cylce to work).

So here is atypical breakdown of the costs , with a few suggestions for reducing the total expense:



Auto Insurance : Car Insurance premiums vary according to the insurance category, the location and whether the car is garaged at night or left out on the public road , plus your age , how many years you have been driving your car, if you have a no claims history and the amount of any "voluntary excess" charge you are willing to pay . Premium prices also vary from insurer to insurer so it is worth getting several quotes and comparing : To make some immediate savings we have listed some of the best car insurance companies offering instant quotes here , all on our cashback plan .

All new cars are awarded an insurance category from 1 (smallest safest ) to 20 (high performance sports models) , this is based upon a forumla that varies across insuers - it takes into account the retail cost of the car model , engine performance and how secure it is - does it have car alarm / automated central locking etc.. A 1.0 litre Fiat Panda for example is in the lowest category one, while a supercharged Mercedes sports car could be in the highest most expensive insurance category.

Further possible ways to save on insurance - drive carefully - have a clean driver's licence / no points - dodge the speed cameras . Ensure you park your car off road in your garage when not in use at night . Have a car alarm fitted and steering wheel lock in place , etc. You can also consider increasing your excess level - some of these may or may not lower your annual premium so check with the insurer what the effect is before committing.

Depreciation In Value - For r drivers of brand new automobiles this is probably the largest chunk of the running costs. Before buying check with your local car dealer what the 3 year resale value is as this can vary - the best marque cars tend to loose much less than grey models with less esteem , so Volksagen Audis although expensive to buy hold up to 50% resale value are pretty good whereas Skodas fall off quickly.

The Fuel Costs Fuel costs are at present quite unpredictable , especially with the fuel escalation policy of the Blaire governement, due mainly to problems with supply from the major oil producing nations . Diesel cars might be worth going for - it has a cheaper price than standard unleaded petrol, but is only a significant saving if you drive long distances.



Annual Service Costs A typical annual car service costs about £150 . most of any required repair bills for a new car will be covered by the standard 3-year warranty offered on many new cars in the UK, check the small print however as for instance new tyres may be excluded , not a problem unless you skid and burn rubber.

Servicing and repair charges equals the sum of cost of replacing the car parts and the number of mechanic man hours cost , the parts are pretty much the same everywhere but the hourly rate varies considerably from car dealer to dealer - so it's worth getting several local quotes to compare prices .



Car Funding This cost is infact the amount of interest charged (plus to a lesser extent arrangement fees and other small fees if any). If you take out a personal loan , the total interest should be published to to you . The good news is interest rates are generally relatively low at the moment so there are some very competitive loan rates , we recommend the follow loans providers , and pay cashback should you apply , check the list of lenders here . Many car manufacturers also offer their own flexible finance packages for their new cars available ask your dealer .