Purchasing a car requires a substantial monetary outlay. Ranging from £5,995 for a new Dacia Sandero to £3.77 million for a new Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita, cars are on the low end of the price and the high end of the price scale are not cheap.
When considering whether or not purchasing a car is affordable, the cost of running a car on the road is usually forgotten about. Below is a list of extra expenses that you will encounter if you purchase a car.
Car insurance
Trying to find cheap car insurance is almost impossible task in 2016. Over the past twelve months, the average cost of annual car insurance rose by 13.5% to an astounding £788 per anun. For younger drivers under the age of 25, the average price of car insurance is a frankly ridiculous £1,831 in the United Kingdom. This yearly fee which allows you to legally drive your car on the roads, is something which every person looking to purchase a new car should look into. Utilise websites such as Go Compare, Money Supermarket or Confused in order to find out how much a car will cost someone in your age bracket to insure.
Car tax
Depending on how CO2 efficient and how old a car is, car tax can either be extremely cheap or ludicrously expensive. Cars like a 2015 Volkswagen Polo, which has Bluemotion stop-start technology costs a measly £20 to tax for a full year; while cars which emit over 255g/km of CO2 can cost a driver over £1,000 in its first year being taxed, and £500 in each year following. It is essential that ensure you check which tax rate band the car you are considering buying falls into before purchasing.
Refuelling
The cost of fuel is something which is very rarely considering by people when they consider purchasing a car. However, depending how often you drive your car, consistently refuelling can be a financial burden. If you commute to and from work between Monday and Friday, then utilise your car for leisure at the weekend, running costs could amount to over £50 per week. That is an astonishing 10 per cent of how much an average household spends per week.
My first ever car
Car maintenance costs
No car that money can buy is perfect. At some point, you are going to have mechanical faults that will need to be fixed and your car will need to be serviced on multiple occasions. Mechanic fees can be ludicrously expensive, so ensure that you purchasing a car with a long warranty, or utilize websites such as whocanfixmycar.com to find the cheapest mechanics in your area.
Car cleaning costs
Particularly during the winter months – when roads are lined with salt – keeping your car squeaky clean can be tricky and also quite expensive. Drive-through car washes are obviously more expensive than cleaning your car at home, however purchasing cleaning utensils that will not damage your car will also cost a substantial amount of money.
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