The troubles of car ownership
Gosh owning a car (camper van) is expensive. In the last two months, there's been:Diesel: I read in a auto industry newsletter than we'd soon pass the pyschological £1 a litre for petrol, which seemed slightly strange given I'd say 50% of the garages I've used in the last month have already passed that point (though I do use motorways a lot which might bias it). And diesel seems to be more expensive. And it does under 25 mpg, so we're talking nearly 20p a mile.
Road Tax: Apparently I'm in the high polluting camp, or at least the 'we have no idea what that is so it can go into the high polluting camp', though given the mpg and age they're probably right. That's £170 a year. I also forgot to pay it, and only found out when I also noticed a...
Smashed side window: Some vandal smashed in my side window, the replacement for which (the window, not vandal) had to be flown in from Japan, taking four weeks and costing £100 as my policy apparently has a £100 excess not the more normal £50.
Flat battery: As referred to here. That was £75.
Carbon Offsets - Apparently if you believe the theory, which I'm not sure I do, I could become 'carbon neutral' for $50.
And then there's insurance and breakdown cover and so on.
posted by Matthew @ 8/05/2006 12:02:00 PM
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