h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm gutted at the thought of losing my car but I can no longer afford to run it

It's been on the road a year longer than it should have been thanks to Ian paying for the welding which was required last year, and giving me half the petrol costs all this year. Now I've got the half-year car tax bill (£80) and next month the MOT, Service & RAC bills are due. The bank account has run dry and I will not go into debt, I'd rather walk everywhere. At least I'll be fitter, slimmer,

Who knows, this time next year I may be able to afford a new couch to go in my new living room.

It is possible to live without a car. I've been doing that since 1998. You can drive a long way in a taxi for what it costs to have a car. In particular here in Denmark where you pay for 3 cars when you buy 1 because of our heavy taxation

Having said that I'd love to have a car - and for you to have one also

Speaking of couches my brother-in-law bought one for my sister. - Just as expensive as our car, he told me. Mind you, they live n Germany where car taxation is much lower. But still, a couch as expensive as a car!
(And I didn't like that couch very much anyway )

I agree with Pierce, I have managed without a car day to day for many many years, except for when my son comes over. I use my feet or the buses, and a taxi if it is important.

You can get quite a few taxis for less than a car costs, and you don't have to worry about parking fines, breakdowns, theft, vandalism, and as you say you will get fitter. Walking is the only thing that seems to get my weight down, and I don't do nearly enough of it!

Websailor

is a pushbike a viable alternative? everyone here uses them all the time

my pap pap was nicked in 1987never got it back and never had money for one since. I miss a car, but NOT at the cost today

My newest bike is five times the value of my car

I've had cars like that

I once had a Rolls Canardly


rolls down hills and can hardly get back up 'em

I could use a pushbike but I'd never get Mum on a tandem

I'll have to sit in her house watching daytime tv even on nice sunny days and on anniversaries she'll miss putting flowers on her parents' grave out at Keelby unless I go begging to my brother for taxi fares.

Internet shopping is going to be a whole new obstacle. Ordering, making sure I'm there to receive it, checking it, and the sell-by dates. And the cost of delivery of course.

I'm half-an-hour's walk away from Mum's and don't mind walking, but if her personal alarm goes off in the middle of the night, I'm not walking there alone in the early hours, it'd be taxis both ways I'd be billing them. I'm not sure what I'll do if she gets readmitted to hospitalthere's a bus at the end of my road but it goes the long way round and takes over an hour to get there. Last week after I called out the GP I did a run to the chemist & back for her antibiotics. Things like that.

One of my old schoolfriends just contacted me on Facebook saying she's collecting her free bus pass in October, when she turns 60. I didn't get excited as I'm not 60 until next May, and fall foul of the age changes re pensions, I won't get my national pension until I'm 66. So I loaded my local council's website and the cut-off point is April 1955. I'm a month too young and will get my free bus pass in 2020 when I turn 65. I'm going to laugh, so I don't cry.
http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/resident/transport-streets-and-parking/public-transport-travel-and-travel-initiatives/bus-and-train-information/concessionary-travel-scheme/

oh dear, that all sounds rather a mess.

Aren't you registered as a carer? Does that enable you to any benefits such as bus passes., etc?

Yes, and no. But I am going to phone Mum's social worker and ask for options.

Knowing the area, I can understand why a car is needed, and would suggest getting friends and family to hunt around re: used cars. I have a neighbour who won't pay more than £250 for a car and then, usually, gets around 3 years life out of them , before getting a 'new' used car for the same price, and getting £100 for the old car as scrap.

Any chance of going for a car-share with someone else?

Just a thought. Hope you resolve it.



MMF

Hello Galaxy Babe

I hope that the social worker is able to come up with something.

I am sorry that you would have to lose your beloved Ka and cross, because it just doesn't seem right. I have had a look at the exemption from tax as I read it to claim it would seem that you would need to transporting your Mum places, where it should be stretched to allow you to carry out your role as a carer, ie transporting you to and from your Mums place etc

I think there maybe insurers who give a deal to carers, I'm not sure where I picked that up from.

I think this is something you should be afforded by right, anyone who applies for a carers job has to have own transport as an essential requirement of their job, they of course get paid a minimum wage and petrol costs, whereas carers get paid a pittance and that is what making me cross.

I forgot to say about the shopping, I did my first online shop with asda as they offer delivery slots for £1 with a minimum spend of £25 some evenings

It was great for me, I hate shopping, everything was fresh and as I would have chosen it.

If they don't have what you want they substitute for something similar, you can accept this or decline it on the doorstep and be refunded. They don't charge you extra for the subs, which in my case meant two upgrades for same price

I know I have only done it once but I am seeing the way of the online shopping.

The car itself is not very expensive, it's all the costs that go along with it, eg the car tax which has broken my back this month. I'd still have that with a second hand car. I am truly flummoxed at the attitude of my family. My being a carer to our mother has saved their expected inheritance from whittling down by her not being in a care home. Ergo you'd think they'd place "some" importance on the health and well-being of her carer, and make her life as comfortable as possible. If the roles were reversed, that's what I'd do. Instead I feel like a whispering voice in the darkness. No-one sees me, or hears me. I fear that if my mother lives to a 100, she will outlive me.

Tell your family you need them to pay for all the expenses of your car, since you can't afford it and they need you to have a car.

Gnomon is right, GB

I am very worried for you because I think not having the car will make things difficult for you and quite drastically diminishes the quality of your life as well as your Mums and makes an already very demanding role much harder and that just isn't on

We had this exact conversation in February when I couldn't afford the car tax then. My brother who controls Mum's finances agreed to advance me £500 out of my future inheritance but then issued the same cheque to my older brother and my sister and himself. He said he wasn't prepared to do this again. I've taken him at his word. But I am no longer prepared to put myself out for the family again. I will continue to care for Mum but the rest can go hang.