Re: People are forgetting how to drive
Originally Posted by
mart
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I haven't driven the car since the lockdown, so my driving may or may not be OK. I've soon got to renew my licence for the second time since turning 70. I did debate whether to do so or not because I think we could quite easily manage life without a car.
I probably will renew this time but not next time ..if I'm still around.
After that, I won't bother with owning a car any more. It will be, "Come in mart, your time is up".
I had all this years' ago when my father was around 60-61. After a lifetime of driving everything from motorcycles, vans and cars to lorries and even tanks he was showing signs of not driving too well. We sat down with a calculator and worked out what it would cost to give up the car and use taxis. It worked out far, far cheaper and for him and my mother, safer too.
I know from my own costs it is very expensive to own and run a car. I bought a new VW Golf in 2014 and have covered just 22,000 miles since then. The car is very good on fuel, it's a diesel returning 58-61 to the gallon. No Road Fund Licence and insurance is around £325. Servicing and MoT costs about £350-£400 a year. Depreciation though is £50 a week! To date I've lost around £15,000 that way.
If planned taxis would have been cheaper and there's usually enough around to just phone and get one within about 10-15 minutes. My car will never be worn out at this rate and I have no plans to stop driving. I don't need what the car would fetch if sold and am in my second of the three years of having to reapply for a driving licence every three years, so will continue and just take it as it comes.