I was just thinking this the other day. Things need to change from the auto industry but in the meantime I'm glad to be in a place where a car is optional. For the first time in my driving life I actually don't have a car and 99% of the time I don't need one. The only frustrating problem is the already very overpriced train travel. It's only going to get worse because they know people aren't going to get so angry that they'll go buy a car. With the exception of short trips, it should never be cheaper to drive somewhere than it is to take a train and that is SO often the case. Always someone to take advantage of struggling people.
Unless you get some sort of month-in-advance up front deal, the cost of train travel in the UK is more than the cost of petrol (assuming you have a fairly frugal car). I'm considering a trip to visit my parents some time during the next fortnight - and I know I can do the 350 mile roundtrip on around £50 in petrol. The train ticket is £70.
This gets so much worse for a couple of course. My choice is £50 vs £70 - for two that turns into £50 vs £140 which is a no brainer. I doubt that a family of four would ever consider using the train.
The reality is that bus/coach travel has taken over from train travel for frugal travellers in the UK. The same journey costs only £20 return on Megabus, although it does take longer!
How do you calculate the price of driving?
Our Federal government says it costs >50¢ a kilometre to own, insure, license, maintain and fuel a passenger car in Ontario.
Fuel cost only is a much smaller number, for me about 13.79¢ right now.
Those calculations only really work for someone commuting or doing a significant number of miles a year.
For me, car ownership is a convenience. I didn't own a car for my first 12+ years in London - and I've now owned one for the last 6 years. For me, my mileage is low - and the costs of depreciation, insurance, tax and maintenance are therefore better seen as a fixed cost, independent of distance travelled.
I'd put these yearly fixed costs around £1800 per year (my car was cheap and has low depreciation) or £35/week. Given that that cost isn't going to go away, it makes sense for me to choose car over train for moderate journeys - because all it costs me as extra is the price of petrol.
(Worthwhile adding too that at the current £1.36/litre, I can travel about 13000 miles for an additional £1800, or 9000 miles at £2/litre).
If I didn't have a car, I'd use taxis a lot more. For that same £35 per week I could take 2 to 4 local taxi journeys. It's fairer to compare the cost and convenience of car to public transport + taxi, because public transport alone is often inconvenient.
----------
I would promptly buy an Electric Car, utilize some assets at my disposal for the credit. Petrol is already around $2 a litre here, an increase to $3 would justify an Electric car for me.
Probably a Tesla Car, Model S most likely.
Seriously, run the maths and electric cars are almost never cost justifiable.
Given the 50000USD cost of a Model S (60000NZD? much more I'd guess)... compared to a similar spec to a petrol car of half the cost, gives you something like a 30000NZD budget for fuel.
45 mpg is around 15 kmpl, or 5 km per NZD (at $3/l). So you get 150,000km of 'free' fuel for that $30k price difference.
Do you still think it makes financial sense?
