Six Years Driving and Hoping my Car will last me another Decade....
After your house(s) (and maybe your kids) your cars are probably going to be the items you spend the most on during your life.
I managed to get through most of my life without one - I never really needed one until I was 28 and got my first job and then bought one to facilitate that - I moved for the job to somewhere which required a commute initially, but within 6 months I'd moved to the town where I worked and spent the best part of the next 15 years walking or cycling to work.
I finally bought my current car in 2016, a 2015 Hyundai i30 with only 9000 miles on the clock, I was quite pleased with myself - the guy in the sales room agreed to get a black model transported down from their Liverpool branch (I agreed the purchase in Oxford) as the particular colour car I'd test-driven wasn't in the colour I'd wanted (when they're this new, there's little point test driving a particular car), and the next day I got a phone call from his manager asking me if I wouldn't mind taking one from their stock as they wouldn't make a profit once they'd transported the car down for me.
I said no, and went and picked up the black model a couple of days later.
Anyways, it cost me £11 000 in 2016, and it spent most of 2016 and 2017 and half of 2018 not getting very much use, I think I must have put about 10 000 miles on it in those 2 and a half years, i didn't have much need for it, but I just fancied a car then.
I actually bought it because by 2016 I knew I'd be quitting work the next year or the year after and needed that car to go explore other places to live and, eventually, to help me move (I mean I ended up hiring a van too, but the car was VERY useful for odds and ends!), and it was extremely useful for a month of commuting to work as my flat sale went through a month before I quit.
It came in a lot more handy in 2018-2020 thanks to my new part-time job teacher training in various parts of the country, essential in fact to get to some more rural places.
Finally, it was invaluable in getting me to Portugal with all my stuff - I drove the roughly 1300 miles from the UK to where I am now.
And where I am now, in Penamacor, with land 10Ks away in Aranhas, I really NEED my car. I wouldn't call it 100% essential, but it's certainly handy, especially for GAS BOTTLES and WATER RUNS - I mean I could adapt to living without one if required, but honestly, it's NICE to have it.
But it's reaching middle age....
My car now has 36 700 miles on the clock, so I can't really call it young anymore, it's a middle aged car, and it's been 100% reliable so far, I have literally never had one single problem with it, and it sailed through its latest Portuguese MOT....
The only thing I've had to change is tyres - one new set in 36 000 miles, it's obviously pretty kind to tyres!
By the next test I imagine I'll need more tyres, probably some new brakes and It really is about time I changed the battery too - I'm impressed it's lasted six years already, I think that's a good run.
Rationing Mileage....
I'm getting a bit obsessed with keeping a check of the mileage. My brain thing tells me that 120 000 miles is quite a lot for a lifetime total, probably enough for my car, that's around 150 000 Kilometres.
I could probably do more miles in total, but I think that's the point at which I'll want to (sadly as I like my car!) buy a new one.
So, how many more years do I have at my current mileage?
I am driving more than ever now, and based on my last year's driving I'm doing around 8000 miles a year, although that excludes trips back to the UK.
So that means that assuming I end 2021 on 38K miles, my total mileage going forwards will accumulate as follows:
- 2022 - 46 000
- 2023 - 54 000
- 2024 - 62 000
- 2025 - 70 000 (officially getting on a bit now!)
- 2026 - 78 000 (probably a new clutch by now?)
- 2027 - 86 000
- 2028 - 94 000
- 2019 - 102 000
- 2020 - 110 000
- 2023 - 118 0000
So IF I can stick with 8000 miles a year, I should be able to get another 10 years out of my car, which sounds pretty good to me, that means I would have had it 16 years in total, which sounds like a pretty good innings to me!
I'm not 100% sure what work I'll need to do with it along the way - certainly a couple of brake changes, four or five new sets of tyres, at least one new clutch, but I don't know what else I can predict, a battery or two refreshed too, possibly the suspension at some point given the tracks around here, but nothing too expensive I don't think.
And at and £11K initial purchase - along with the bits and bobs I'll need to replace along the way I'm looking at around £1K a year capital costs to keep the car maintained.
It would be nice if I can make it last another 10 years - my mortgage is paid off in 8 and the extra two would give me enough time to save up for a decent replacement, hopefully to last me a further 10-15 years, and then one more after that and I'll probably be dead before the car.
Sounds like a plan.
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