Is car ownership unaffordable?

[corfield]

Even peak utilisation of cars is pretty low. It is fairly easy to demonstrate this if you get the chance, by simply counting the number of cars parked near your home at 8:30 am or 17:30 and then comparing this with the number in the late evening for the same street or spaces…

But this doesnt really matter. Why are we bothered about utilisation per se?

Do we double all journey times, car and bus, to get a higher value?

Do we want to encourage (even) more journeys that could be say walked to get a higher value?

Fundamentally it is about cost:benefit, the benefits to individual mobility of a car are simply huge, hence why 80% or whetever, including 75% of the poor for whom it is a more dominant cost asset, have one.

Exactly - the advocates of “we’ll all move to communally owned self-driving pods” must all lead very simple lives…

Quite. Self driving may lower the costs of a taxi type service but it doesnt feel like there we are near a tipping point of usage explosion, although rising costs of ownership (which some dispute with low EV charging costs, but which may be offset by say a road pricing tax, plus the general adage that “prices will rise”) may combine to see a significant shift perhaps. Even 10-20% would be very visible.

Although we’re still left with all the congestion of empty vehicle moves between punters which seems a retrograde step as it is on top of the same journeys being made already.

 

[RailWonderer]

Quite. PCP is entirely iniquitous, designed to hook you into a lifetime of payments because you can never walk out with an asset.

It was staggering when I sat through this, all they wanted to know was the absolute maximum monthly payment I could manage. Deposit they wanted to reduce as much as possible. As I said, I had to press hard to be told the APR. This was an Audi dealer, not some dodgy outfit. At the desk next to me some chap signed up to it, monthly more than he said he could afford, with a “balloon” payment he had zero chance of ever saving for. Trapped forever. Utterly insane. It was a clear sign “if you cant but the thing, you cant wfford it, get a 2nd hand.

A vehicle is a depreciating asset making it more of a liability. If I spend £50k on a car, have no lease, I can mile it up as high as I want but I end up with a horrid resale value of - let's say, £20k. So you lose £30k plus horrible APR you had to pay on the loan, so leasing doesn't look as bad - you aren't burdened with having to sell the car in the end. I think it's the way leasing is sold that makes people pay more than they can afford. Ultimately to have the privilege of getting a small lump sum out of your old car, you need to have a far larger amount of money in your bank in cash, or eligibility for a monster loan to start with...or you save for a while and buy a modest car for £5-10k on an average salary.

Youtube has some interesting advice that tells you all the tricks car dealers use and what to say and what to ask and how to make an offer to them. Never mention monthly payment, always APR and make an offer.

 

[Meerkat]

Amazing what a working knowledge of the UK climate and a daily forecast can do.

I have decades of experience of UK weather. Which is why I don’t trust the weather forecasts.

And there's genuinely no scenario of injury/collision I can foresee where I would need and could make use of a torch, water, food and changes of clothes,

I commuted along roads which were very dark, had patchy mobile phone coverage, and no pavements. In the winter I had boots, gloves etc
If you drive on the motorway you might only need a light jacket to get to and from the car…….but if you break down you are supposed to get out of your car and stand at the side - you might be glad you had a proper waterproof and a jumper then.

Although we’re still left with all the congestion of empty vehicle moves between punters which seems a retrograde step as it is on top of the same journeys being made already.

Reminded of how people driving to the airport and parking is better for the environment than being dropped off or getting taxis - fewer trips.

 

[Sonic1234]

Reminded of how people driving to the airport and parking is better for the environment than being dropped off or getting taxis - fewer trips.

Also applies to railway stations.

Something that should be considered when controlled parking zones near stations are implemented.

 

[Meerkat]

Also applies to railway stations.

Something that should be considered when controlled parking zones near stations are implemented.

Those are generally so commuters don’t clog up residential areas with parked cars aren’t they? Certainly the case round here - hence by me the restriction is only for an hour mid morning.

 

[The exile]

Or we're just more organised? Once I stopped being lazy, having multiple lesser umbrellas stored in assorted vehicles, backpacks and coat racks, I was able to reap the full benefits of owning a single full sized golf umbrella stored neatly by the door, seeing use only when genuinely needed. Amazing what a working knowledge of the UK climate and a daily forecast can do. Covers all scensrios, even chaos.

And there's genuinely no scenario of injury/collision I can foresee where I would need and could make use of a torch, water, food and changes of clothes, beyond that which I already had for the journey, but I somehow can't use my legs or mobile phone to ensure I survive. Seems not just unlikely, but totally contrived.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who occasionally needs the car to pick up something bulky/heavy for delivery/use elsewhere in more than 24 hours’ time. It’s currently a large box of club logo-ed garments for people to pick up at club events. There’s no secure storage where we meet and I don’t know who’s going to be there on any particular occasion. I’m not carrying them from the car and up several flights of stairs every time I come home so in the car they stay. The details are of course very niche - but the general point must apply to loads of people.

 

[E27007]

I did not own a car until the age of 31, a modest used Austin Metro, the Metro was only acquired after I had saved and funded a far more important need, the purchase of a house.
Cars are affordable, a good number of people have cars of greater expensive than they really need, eg a pricey Mercedes or BMW in lieu of a modest Ford or Vauxhall. The ownership levels of cars is practically saturated in several European countries, that is evidence of the affordability of ownership and motoring, almost all those who want a car have one.
A House , a roof over your head, a place of your own, rent-free/no landlord.
It is the basic human need of a house which is unaffordable, not the car.

 

[greyman42]

I did not own a car until the age of 31, a modest used Austin Metro, the Metro was only acquired after I had saved and funded a far more important need, the purchase of a house.

I was pretty much the same, people get their priorities wrong these days. Another thing you can live without, if you cannot afford them, is paying for holidays.
I now live in an area where there is no need to have a car, so i got rid of it.

 

[yorksrob]

I was pretty much the same, people get their priorities wrong these days. Another thing you can live without, if you cannot afford them, is paying for holidays.
I now live in an area where there is no need to have a car, so i got rid of it.

I think a change of scene every now and again is good for the soul and ones wellbeing. I have an appointment with Dr Cornwall every year !