[Closed] Cost of commuting...

8-10%

given that it'll probably cost you at least £400 a month in fuel, tyres, servicing etc,

more than that.

It'll cost you about £10 a day in petrol assuming you car does about 40mpg.

My commute is 28 miles each way and roughly costs me a tank of fuel which sits at about £58 at the moment, i run a cheap as chips 1.2 Clio for the commute too, so can service it myself and do a lot of the work on it. insurance is £310 a year and tax about £87 from memory

A lot depends on what you factor in as a cost.

Some costs will be static - MOT, Insurance etc

You'll be using at least 5 times as much fuel (you're giving comparisons of commute distance but not how many days commuted in either job)

Tyres and parts will wear out 5 times faster (depending on what proprortion of your total milage is taken up by commuting at present)

Services will be more frequent

Your car will have more miles on it when you sell it - what consequence that has depends on what you're strategy is for buying and selling cars

However a lot of people don't feel the capital cost of cars or the depreciation 'counts' so while one kind of commute costs more than another some people only  really compare the costs that matter to them

Assuming 40mpg - about £45 - £50 in fuel per week.

Add in wear and tear, servicing etc. £400 per month is probably not that far wrong, although some of the cost you will already be paying now,

I would guess about £300 extra per month, although  a lot depends on the value of your car. If you run older cars and are lucky with breakdowns etc then the extra cost will be a lot less.

Absolutely no alternative to the car?

I commute 24 miles each way and it cost me £140 per month to get from Dunipace (south of Stirling) into the west end of Glasgow using public transport (buses) and Glasgow's Nextbike network. Wouldn't say it's a fun commute, but I don't drive a car so where there's a will, there's a way!

Electric skateboard.

400 a month?  To do an additional 1100 miles a month?  (3 tanks-iah, for me) My guess is more like an additional £170 a month, assuming he currently does 36 commuting miles a week and gets about 40mpg. Plus extra depreciation.

Or £3-4K off the gross salary, depending on tax bracket and student loan status...

400 extra a month would need a salary bump of 8K+ just to cover the commuting expense.  Madness

Depends on the type of driving you’re doing.

A 30 mile commute I’m guessing takes you to either Glasgow or Edinburgh, both of which will involve heavy traffic.

The big cost is the time and stress it takes though.

I’ve just swapped this week from a 20 mile self funded commute to a 7 mile work funded one via a fuel card and I’ll save £45 ish a week.

Not in Matt's line of work, canny see him having to work in the city.

You're right though, I have to go into Glasgow one day a week, that's one day too much, No way would I choose to do it daily. And compared to many suvvern cities, Glasgow traffic is pretty tame.

400 a month?  To do an additional 1100 miles a month?  (3 tanks-iah, for me) My guess is more like an additional £170 a month, assuming he currently does 36 commuting miles a week and gets about 40mpg. Plus extra depreciation.

You have just covered fuel at that cost really.

You need to tell your insurance your up by 13k miles a year

You will need to service the car more often

Tyres, brake pads etc will add up

Easily up to 250 or even 300

400 is not a bad shout for the overall cost if you were to count everything and change cars more frequently

A 30 mile commute I’m guessing takes you to either Glasgow or Edinburgh, both of which will involve heavy traffic.

I'm guessing not, if there's really no alternative to the car.

The big cost is the time and stress it takes though.

Agree with this though, you'd be spending between 5 and 10 hours extra in the car each week, as well as all the financial costs of the commute. Yuk.

Absolutely no alternative to the car?

Dunblane to Dunfermline = 2hrs to get train to Edinburgh, back up over bridge, long walk or cycle at other end...

£400 extra a month assumes I'm in an office every day - but like current job, lots of days will be to site and therefore company expense.

I already do 25k a year for current job and personal miles, older car etc. So perhaps difference won't be *too* much.

Can you put the bike in the car?

My work is 25 miles away but I drive to the edge of town, park up where it's free and cycle 6 miles to work. The 12 miles saved driving in town adds up, plus every few weeks there's a major snarl up and town is gridlocked but I can just sail up the middle of everything on the bike

you’d be spending between 5 and 10 hours extra in the car each week, as well as all the financial costs of the commute. Yuk.

And 5, 6 hours less on the bike!

I do similar to Connect2, drive the majority of the way, but its free flowing traffic. Just before hitting the City area I go to a Park and Ride. Get on the bike and ride the rest of the journey into the office.

It doesn't work out too much slower doing this as the traffic through the city is horrendous. Most of my fuel is used in the stop / start nature of the last 4 miles through the City. The only negative is the showering in work. We have showers but its an added faff, especially as I've only done 4 miles but got sweaty enough to need a shower.

think of the time as well as the costs - and all the costs.  You need a big salary increase to make it worthwhile especi9ally given the extra time it will take

looks like good cycle paths over that way on old train track. prime derestricted ebike territory, could easily be cruising along at 50 mph on a bbshd on those! 😆 25 miles... 30 minutes, job jobbed!

Salary increase would be biggest I've ever had - +30%, in cold hard cash it is worth it. The time commuting though....

I've always* banked on 50p a mile.

It's the time that would put me off. A half hour trip either way is ok, an hour is starting to feel a bit much and any more, thank you no.

* well, factoring interest and all that stuff, in today's money etc etc.

Get the boy to steal a few more drones and you can fly to work for free!

There's an idea - if I can't fly, a RIB down the Forth...

Salary increase would be biggest I’ve ever had – +30%, in cold hard cash it is worth it. The time commuting though….

have you tried quantifying that in cash terms, i.e. hourly recompense for time taken up by work?

If you're looking at £x / 45hours against £1.3x / 55hours, that's more like a 6% increase in the cash you get per hour invested.

Subtract additional commuting costs and you may have a slightly reduced 'hourly rate'.... albeit you're doing more hours so ending up with more money.

Er, I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here.  But anyway.

its a good cost / benefit analysis doris!

Regardless of cost, factor in how good the commute route is. There is a massive difference between a consistently straight forward commute on a quiet bit of road, compared to a stop-start journey from hell that will add a load of stress to each end of your day.

I currently commute 40 miles/day; a substantial part of which is on what must be one of the worst roads in the country; the A14. Couple it with the current expansion work & it's not a great commute. Just over a year ago I started a lift-share with 2 other blokes & the stress has gone down massively because I am not actually driving every day. I am sitting as a passenger & letting someone else fight the traffic. The cost aspect has also dropped massively, although the time cost is still there.

I used to have a savings account for car costs - that was £100 a month I think that paid for almost everything apart from fuel. It covered tax, mot, insurance, two services a yr & tyres. Obviously it didn't cover major repairs that were outside normal servicing. But, it definitely helps to have a slush fund.

Fuel; you are probably looking at £40/wk.....

I'm fortunate, in the 26 years since I first walked into my apprenticeship, I've never been further than 15 miles from work, though I have that down to 8 now, Even the 15 miles commute was never more than 17 or 18 minutes drive tops.

It's a huge consideration, not just the cost v salary, the added time onto your day especially at this time of year when it's permadark would be a total ballache for me.

 lots of days will be to site and therefore company expense

This may be true, but HMRC guidance is to subtract your normal commute. So you'll still be losing your mileage allowance for whatever that rate is.

The 45p a mile that HMRC allow you to claim when I added it up was about right for my new (at the time) car which based on fuel prices at the time was using 11p per mile of fuel. I think even with increased maintenance costs, the car would now be a bit cheaper, but then again many cars would use more fuel per mile, and it's a touch more expensive now than it was then.

I’ve just swapped this week from a 20 mile self funded commute to a 7 mile work funded one via a fuel card and I’ll save £45 ish a week.

That should go some way towards offsetting your bar bill from the Waldorf 😀

<p>Regardless of cost, factor in how good the commute route is.</p>

<p>This.</p><p>Fife is an utter pig to get to from any direction and you'll be at the mercy of the bridges being open with an hour to do the 27 miles (in ideal conditions) along the north bank if they are closed. Hell it's 45 minutes to do the "quick" 30 mile route via the M876.</p><p>If you were to get the train to Alloa (hello morning commuting costs) it's a 15 mile cycle from there but you would still be no better off time-wise. In fact it would probably cost more time and money that way.</p>

It's been interesting to see how many people can actually put a figure on car use, commuting by public transport and hire cars these days so I manage to put a figure on each journey I do, be interesting to see how a swipe before you travel costing would impact people and their driving behaviour.

A lot I suspect Mike

People do not flinch at putting £50 in the tank but a £20 taxi fare and they have kittens?

I know my public transport / hire car / taxi bill is far less than owning a decent car each year

aye - i sometimes ponder that.  if i got a job that needed a car commute, we'd have to buy & insure another car, petrol, etc - i reckon i'd need roughly a £3500 gross salary increase just to break even.  And then I'm getting fat in a car and not burning calories on the bike every morning...

 i reckon i’d need roughly a £3500 gross salary increase just to break even.

One of the reasons I don't have one at the moment as with 0 no claims due to moving back from Oz insurance was £800 upwards for just about anything, So a !k car is about 2k before I've driven it anywhere

be interesting to see how a swipe before you travel costing would impact people and their driving behaviour.

I'd agree with that sentiment, hence my concern.

It's so frustrating not being able to rail it really from Stirling...

Rail to clackmannon then cycle?  Is it Clackmannon the new bit of railway goes to?  Or alloa?

That should go some way towards offsetting your bar bill from the Waldorf

The bill was on the house. I was in a meeting with the management.

QS’s are too tight to get stung like that 😉

<p>Rail to clackmannon then cycle?  Is it Clackmannon the new bit of railway goes to?  Or alloa?</p>

<p>Alloa, as above.</p><p>As for cost, you can say what you like about car usage but I doubt peak travel is much cheaper if at all.</p>

under £4 on the train BOA to alloa

I find the opposite.  Trains almost always cheaper if you get the right tickets and count the true cost of driving.  MY commonest journey is 100 miles for under £17.  Thats compared to £40 for driving at least

Its a bad change at Stirling tho - 20 - 30 mins wait which probably rules it out

HMRC give 45p a mile for car use IIRC.  they don't give money away.  around that is the true cost of motoring including all the stuff people forget when adding up the costs

Rail to clackmannon then cycle?  Is it Clackmannon the new bit of railway goes to?  Or alloa?

Dunblane -> Alloa is 1hr10mins by train or bus, plus best part of an hour cycle to do 16 miles.... Or the car is 40mins.

its less than that by the trains I looked at  7.44 am 35 mins- but the wait in Stirling is too much to make it a useful option as the actual train journeys are only a few mins ( 8 and 12) and most trains have a worse connection

Recently moved from Liverpool to Bolton, commute has gone from walk & 20 mins train to 1 hour plus drive each way, cost is anout £3/4000 a year increase but the real cost is in my time! Be sure you want to sacrafice that time!!

<p>under £4 on the train BOA to alloa</p>

<p>WTAF? £4.10 single from Dunblane, Anytime Return £5.60.</p><p></p><p>Costs double that from Troon to Glasgow which is 10 minutes longer and £8.40 from Largs where the Anytime return is £14.80. On a train that is rammed.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, looking at that bike reservations may be necessary. If I had a journey that cheap I'd consider it. Still a bugger for weather either by cycle or car though.</p>

Matt oab

Around 2005-7 I was doing that length of commute.

Certainly in the South it was a royal pain in the arse and I had a company car so everything but washer fluid, oil and diesel was "free".

I used to do about 350 miles a week (16000 a year) in a 50mpg car. In current money that would have been about £200/month in fuel.£2400 per annum.

If you use decent tyres you can add £350-400 a year for them plus another service say £300 plus any unscheduled wear and tear items.

If you factor in everything I'd say it's going to cost up around £3500k a year including wear and tear items. That's after tax effectively.

If it were my current car I'd easily add another £1000 to that (a little bit sub 50mpg and this one's been a bit flaky mechanically). Thankfully I do 2/3 that distance now and only when the train won't do the job.