Day 56: The Benefits of Being Without Car

This evening, I have a very special event to attend.  A friend is being ordained to a country church south of Edinburgh, and I very much want to be there.  This, however, is where my carless status is going to bite.

Yes, there are buses to this small town, and direct ones at that.  So I can get there fine as long as I allow a good hour and a half for the journey.  The problem is getting home again.  The last bus from this town to Edinburgh leaves at 18.05 hours.  The ordination service begins at 19.00 hours.

Fortunately, I have a day off tomorrow.  Even more fortunately, Friend Julie lives nearby, and will also be attending the service.  Most fortunately of all, Friend Julie is the hospitable sort, and so my tentative request for a bed for the night has been met with a hearty welcome.

This being-without-car is going to be quite a problem at times, I can see.  In  particular, I have a big family event to attend in about three weeks time, on a Sunday afternoon.  I have as yet no idea how I am going to get there, and less idea how I am to get back.  Though there might be some mileage in a car rental, or a city car scheme.  I shall have to investigate this possibility.

But while it is a great restriction on my movements, I can see that being-without-car is going to have the benefit of forcing me to be more sociable.  Up till now I have tended towards the fiercely independent, and I probably wouldn't have asked if I were able to leap in the car at the end and drive off.  But now I am really looking forward to catching up with Friend Julie.  What is so great about independence anyway?  A little bit of dependency upon others could turn out to be rather more fun.

So no more flying visits from me - when I come to see someone, I stay!  Friends have been warned.

Day 54: More about the Car

I can't thank everyone enough for all the suggestions re. the car.  The consensus seemed to be to sell it, which was very sensible, and I looked seriously at some of the auction places in Edinburgh.  However, the car is 11 years old, and the various auction websites advised that because of its age, there would be no reserve price.  So I might have got a decent price, but equally, I might have ended up with only a couple of hundred.  And even if I got a decent price, short of an unlikely bidding war for an 11-year-old Renault, its trade-in value would still be greater.

So I spoke to the garage man at home, and have decided simply to take the car off road for a year.  I am lucky, because this is easily done on the farm - I have spoken to Mother, and she is quite happy for me to tuck it away in an empty shed.  The garage man says he will come down to the farm and disconnect the battery, which means that I can declare it off-road, so I don't have to tax it, and nor do I have to insure it except perhaps for theft and fire. These are pretty substantial savings, and so I am content with that.  I just wish I had thought of it before getting it MOT-ed.

So the little car is going to be mothballed until such times as I need her again.  Then it will just be a matter of a few phonecalls, and I can be driving her within a week.  And meanwhile, if I desperately need a car to go somewhere off the beaten track, then Mother has offered to lend me hers.

So thank you again for your support and ideas.  They helped galvanise me out of depression and into action, and I am happy with the decision I have made.

Total Expenditure: £2.80

Day 47: Car Woes

What to do with the car?

Here's the thing.  The car has been essential for work for the past few years.  There is every chance that it will be essential again.  But this year, it is not essential.  In fact, living where I do right in the centre of town, it is downright inessential, and would not be particularly safe if parked here.  Instead, it has been lodging at Friend Nik's house just outside town, from where it is pressed into occasional service.

However, even cars which are doing very little still cost a lot of money.  Especially, in my case, at the end of August.  First its MOT.  Then a full service.  Then AA membership.  Then Insurance.  Then Road Tax.  There is no way of saving on any of this, and the total is going to be something approaching £800.  I got rid of my last car at the 12 year stage, when it started costing more in repairs than a monthly repayment plan on a newer model, and I am afraid that this car may have reached the same stage.

I am not extravagent when it comes to cars.  I have only ever owned two in my life, both of which were 4 years old when I bought them.  My current one is now 11 years old, and on the whole still runs well.  But there is no doubt that it is showing its age, and has sadly failed its MOT until the garage can sort out a list of fairly minor problems, but which taken together mount up considerably. 

Yeah, right.

I have considered getting rid of the car altogether.  There is no doubt the money would be useful.  But looking ahead a little, without one to trade in, the purchase of the next one will be that much more painful.  And if I was going to sell it, I should have done so before now.  Now that it is (of necessity) being serviced, taxed, and MOT'd, I may as well keep the thing for another year. 

So for now the garage has it, and I had to take the bus back from the farm to the town.  It was a later bus than I meant to take, because the online timetable was wrong, and I got soaked waiting half an hour for one which had left 10 minutes before I arrived.  One of only four buses a day, mark you.

Am depressed now. 


Total Expenditure: £9.15