(05 Aug 2017, 7:51 pm)James101 wrote I'm renewing my company car next month so I've been looking at car leasing websites a lot this weekend. For cheap motoring, you can lease a Toyota Aygo from £70/month, inclusive of servicing, breakdown cover, tyres etc. Add in, say £100 month for fuel & insurance. It's only about £2/day more expensive than using a GNE 3+ zone month pass.
(05 Aug 2017, 7:57 pm)Andreos1 wrote My car is paid off now. Has been a few years.
Even with the insurance, tax and repairs/servicing it is cheaper than using public transport.
The bizarre sight of petrol prices dropping and bus fares increasing, just makes it even cheaper.
For the journeys I undertake, I would need a monthly/annual Go North East 3+ zone ticket. An annual ticket, if my memory serves me correctly, is around the £1,000 mark. Probably a little bit more expensive now, given the price increase not so long ago. The cost of this ticket is cheaper than what I pay to insure my car alone, without even considering any extra costs such as petrol, tax and repairs/servicing.
I bought my car outright so don't have to worry about monthly repayments, but I spend at least £40/week (£160/month) on petrol. That covers my journeys to and from work, a small amount of mileage associated with my job, and a small amount of personal mileage outside of work. Just shy of £2,000 in petrol, over the course of the year.
Thankfully my place of work has a car park for staff - not everyone is so lucky - but if I worked in a busy City Centre, there's a chance I'd also have to pay to park, which would be another cost that I'd face.
Someone in a similar position to me would save a lot of money travelling by bus (appreciating that my age and choice of car plays a big part in the costs I face as someone who travels by car).
I'm not so sure that petrol prices are still dropping? There was a big drop towards the end of 2014/start of 2015, but the price of petrol has steadily climbed again since then. It fluctuates a fair bit, but for every month this year, the average price of petrol has been higher than it was in 2016?
Source: https://www.petrolprices.com/the-price-of-fuel.html