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Comment by t43562 | Hacker News Reader

I think the real way I've lost money is on depreciation - that's more severe than anything else that happened - even though I always buy second hand.

If you're buying second hand, like it would appear from the price you quoted, then reliability could be the thing that makes the price worthwhile.

I also don't do high mileage but as our petrol car gets older, it's starting to be less reliable. I've had brake issues - EV regenerative braking should ease that problem - and the engine is starting to use more oil. My car has a reputation for gearbox issues from the Uber drivers that I know.

Every time there is some problem my wife gets more freaked out. To avoid total disaster I'm going to have to get something and if it's an EV I just hope that it will give us some years of plain sailing.

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I bought my car 4 years ago with 12 months MOT. It’s just passed again, with two new tyres and some suspension work. And a new bulb. It’s only needed tyres, wipers, and a new wing mirror in previous years.

Not bad for £1200.

The killer cost is the massive VED, way more than petrol Tax. I’d far rather VED were removed and the revenue reclaimed by taxing per mile. Seems crazy to have high fixed costs and low marginal, that just encourages driving.

VED is coming in on electric cars, and so is per mile charging. Meanwhile politics won’t allow fuel to return to 2012 levels in real terms let alone expanding beyond.

Far better ways to invest cash - home battery for example - than in an electric car. Maybe in 5 years there will be reasonable specced second hand ones.

You're fortunate on what you've spent so far. The problem is that the moment something does go wrong it can be brutal.

Personally I think cars can't be considered an "investment" because they just suck up money.

I do get this view and in many ways I agree - for me a car in an investment in flexibility.

I could hire a car/van as an when I need one, and send my kids to school by taxi and do my local shopping by bike (which I already do other than the 'big' shop that my wife does).

But investing £3k 10 years ago on a 10 year old car (now 20 years old) has proven a great investment. In a bad year it has cost £500 pa in maintenance, but in an average year I pay more in VED(tax) than I do on a service and mot.

I could have bought £3k of ftse 100 stock and have used the dividends and growth for transport, but I think that has turned out better for me. But I'll be honest, I've not done all the maths, but I don't think investing £3k would cover my costs and I would have eaten into the principle long ago. At best I have a £250 (scrap value) asset now, but realistically if I continue to spend £200-500 a year on looking after my investment, I'll get flexible transport.

Of course it’s not an investment on its own. They’re a consumable. But without the car it limits your options - my kids can’t do after school clubs unless I can transport them as we live too far from the nearest school and the bus doesn’t cover after school clubs. So the car is an investment in their future.

Unless you’re doing higher than average mileage though a cheap car with 12 months MOT is going to last several years, enough that the cost of tax and insurance is going to dwarf the cost of the car.

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