Scottish Elises

From Wake up to Money yesterday (source was the Sun )

27 billion in fuel duty.
5.4 billion in VAT on fuel.
6 billion in car tax.
2 billion in insurance premium tax.
1.5 billion parking charges.
1 billlon penalties.
43.7 billion in total for HMRC per year.
£1183 per driver per year.

Getting drivers onto public transport is NEVER going to be a priority

indeed! And as far as I can see, doesn't include VAT on the purchase or lease of the vehicle in that calculation.

1.5 billion parking charges.
1 billlon penalties.

Wait, they take more in parking fines than speeding tickets?! :O

...and more to the point, how can that many people not understand parking laws and read signs? I've managed to get 2 parking tickets in 18 years driving. The first was in a place I'd never been before, and the metre and sign was basically surrounded by hedges.
The 2nd was because the attendant didn't look in the windscreen where the ticket was!

Chris - I reckon we're a bit blinkered in such a relatively sparsely populated part of the country (bonnie Dundee)

Think of the likes of London/Brum/Manc with their sheer vehicular volume and consider how difficult it must be to park in certain areas at certain times of day - plenty folk must just risk it and take the hit.

£1183 per driver per year in tax was a shock to me.

My cost to run the Nissan Note per year:

£200 MOT
£180 Insurance
£480 Petrol (£40 per month)
£140 Road Tax

£1000 per year all in ... cheap motoring and way less than the average motorist pay in tax alone apparently

Granted swap to an Exige V6 and I am expecting that to multiplied by 4 but it will be worth it.

Corranga wrote:1.5 billion parking charges.
1 billlon penalties.

Wait, they take more in parking fines than speeding tickets?! :O

...and more to the point, how can that many people not understand parking laws and read signs? I've managed to get 2 parking tickets in 18 years driving. The first was in a place I'd never been before, and the metre and sign was basically surrounded by hedges.
The 2nd was because the attendant didn't look in the windscreen where the ticket was!

rossybee wrote:Chris - I reckon we're a bit blinkered in such a relatively sparsely populated part of the country (bonnie Dundee)

Think of the likes of London/Brum/Manc with their sheer vehicular volume and consider how difficult it must be to park in certain areas at certain times of day - plenty folk must just risk it and take the hit.

Indeedy - I do understand parking laws and can read signs, but often decide to ignore them. If I am popping in somewhere for a minute or two I'll take the chance and accept that once in a while a might get a ticket, but overall save on the parking costs. Back in my uni days I worked in Glasgow city centre. My colleagues and I worked out that if we did not pay and display ever for the on street parking outside the office, and just pay parking tickets, we would be cheaper than paying and displaying. This set up was helped by our office overlooking the street where we parked, so we could move the cars if a warden came hunting. I can't recall the exact figures involved, (it was a while ago afterall ) but over 10 weeks I got in the region of 10 parking tickets, which worked out about half the cost of pay and display for the same period. Just playing the system really.

We are currently paying £450 a year VED for one vehicle alone, (actually the dealer is due to a pricing error on their part) but the VED on cars over £40k is surely going to damage sales in that segment. £2250 tax over 5 years against £150 if it was below £40k

j2 lot wrote:We are currently paying £450 a year VED for one vehicle alone, (actually the dealer is due to a pricing error on their part) but the VED on cars over £40k is surely going to damage sales in that segment. £2250 tax over 5 years against £150 if it was below £40k

Indeed - my current daily is just shy of being a £40K car. I had been thinking about it's replacement, a few options over that price point have been ruled out, largely for that very reason. Afterall I spend my working life getting my clients' tax liability down... need to do the same for myself

Some things you shouldn’t work out, but I just did
VED, insurance and fuel for our fleet for the year- just over £6k
No one can tell my other half ......

j2 lot wrote: VED, insurance and fuel for our fleet for the year- just over £6k

Wow, that is mental and exactly the reason I would never go down the PCP / lease route in addition to other vehicle expenses you outlined. Add monthly payments to that and its an eye watering amount per month, crazy IMO. Vehicle purchase outright is the way to go IMO.

We don’t do lease deals or PCP but if you factor depreciation into ownership its eye watering anyway. I take the view that if you don’t spend your money on cars what’s else are you going to do with it

scott_e wrote:

j2 lot wrote: VED, insurance and fuel for our fleet for the year- just over £6k

Wow, that is mental and exactly the reason I would never go down the PCP / lease route in addition to other vehicle expenses you outlined. Add monthly payments to that and its an eye watering amount per month, crazy IMO. Vehicle purchase outright is the way to go IMO.

Its not as straightforward as that. Depending upon your approach and how flexible you are with vehicle choice / spec, the some of the lease deals will allow you to have a new car for 3 years for considerably less than even a used one of the same model, taking into consideration the depreciation you would incur on ownership. In a lease deal, you are essentially paying for the deprecation on vehicle while you have it. However, there are some big discounts to be had from time to time with leases. Add into the equation if you can get a business deal, and the different accounting for a lease vehicle and tax treatment and you can see that leasing a vehicle for 3 years compared to owning the same vehicle for three years is much cheaper. It's not a hard and fast rule, but it is not the case that outright purchase is always the cheapest option.

Dominic wrote: It's not a hard and fast rule, but it is not the case that outright purchase is always the cheapest option.

Good point Dom, I was appraising a month cost basis only. I guess without knowing the details of an offer and doing the sums over the period of ownership that makes perfect sense. With 9 out of 10 sales being some sort of finance model and sales people heavily incentivised (spelling ?) to to offer finance then there are deals to be had.

Apparently the lease/pcp deals in the last few years have been too good and cars are going back at a loss to the finance companies. Final values have been too high and the cars aren’t worth that.
Anyway future deals may not be as good as the finance companies try to get some money back.