Cost to learn to drive and run a car

People that have recently done this what would they say the total cost was for them to learn to drive and run a car for year.

I realise this is going to vary from person to person but im trying to get an idea if I can afford to do this.

Reply 1

Economistician

Original post by skeptical_john

Driving lessons and tests: a little under £1000
First year of insurance: £1250
First car: £1900 for me but you can get a good first car for less
Petrol: around £500 for my first year
Road Tax: £135
Mot: £0, came with 12 months mot
Repairs: ~£40, only problem in the first year was a battery failure which was solved with a new battery
Service: ~£100

Total came in at around £5k to learn to drive and buy/run the car for the first year. The costs significantly fall in the later years as you don't need to buy the car again every year, you don't need to do driving lessons or tests again and the insurance gets cheaper.

Reply 2

Jackieox

I passed my test about two years ago but i recently got my car

Lessons: I'd say around a thousand pounds (I had about 50 hours at £20 per hour)
Driving test: £61 but more expensive if you do at the weekend. Probably around £150 including test fee and use of my instructors car for two hours (I had a pre lesson)

fast forward two years
Car: £3500
Checks on the car: £200 (my parents helped out with this)
Insurance: £800 for three people full business insurance
Tax: £130
Fuel: £40 to fill the tank, it's a 1.4, I fill it every 3 weeks or so
Maintenance (My car is currently in the garage due to it being 10 years old and theres an issue with the engine) That'll cost £500 to fix

Reply 3

skeptical_john

Thanks for the replies.

I'd guesstimated £1k for learning to drive and the same for insurance. I think id be doing 6k miles a year so thats another £650.

What do you think the depreciation costs are on your cars?

Reply 4

Economistician

Original post by skeptical_john

On my first car, the one I used to calculate this, the depreciation wasn't too much. Maybe £200-250 in that year. On my current (second) car I would say that I am not suffering any depreciation costs.

Reply 5

Tyler12mate

Lessons: £300.00 (17 hours - only learned to drive during lessons)
Practical: £62.00 (passed first time, no minors)
Theory: £23.00 (passed first time)\
In total passing cost £385.00

Car: £250.00 (2.0 Ford focus - 85k miles, 10 months mot - off a friend of the family)

Yearly I pay out
Tax: £295.00
Insurance: £2800.00 (with a blackbox)
Fuel: £2600.00 (180 miles = £50.00 a week, average over a year)
Yearly running cost £5695.00

So far the car has only cost me £90 for 3 new tyres. I've been driving for about 4 months and put almost 5000 miles on it (I wasted a lot more than £50.00 a week when I first started driving. 5000 miles works out just over £1000 worth of fuel).

Reply 6

allnewmaterials

Lessons: £200 (10 lessons)
Practical: £62
Theory: £23

Car: £90 a month for 2 years

Tax:£0
Insurance: £760
Fuel cost for 6000 miles a year: £680
I also did a £139 IAM advanced drivers course.

Overall it was about £2.5k a year once I had passed my test.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

IWMTom

Original post by Economistician

On my current (second) car I would say that I am not suffering any depreciation costs.

All cars depreciate.

Reply 8

GiantKiwi

Original post by IWMTom

All cars depreciate.

Standard consumer cars depreciate, not all cars though. Anything which is a specialist car, limited run, import etc have a tendency to appreciate at the moment. Just look at McLaren limited run stuff, 675LT variants are now selling in excess of £100k more than they cost new for ones which are sub 10k miles.