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Shetland New / Used Car Buying Advice


BigMouth
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'Twas a few year ago now (maybe 3 or 4) that I bought a brand new car from Arnold Clarke in Aberdeen. I checked out the prices to get it shipped up and was quite surprised to see the differences.

 

I tried phoning Northwards (I think) and they immediately told me that it would be cheaper on the ferry (Strange way to do business but I like honesty). I then tried the ferry. Like you say, the freight charge was astronomical.

 

It worked out cheaper for me to go down on the ferry and bring the car back as it did to ship the car on its own.

 

It ended up to be cheaper to buy my partners sister (who was at uni in Aberdeen at the time) a ticket up to Shetland with a valet service (so she didn't have to drive it on/off the boat) than it was to get it shipped on its own.

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I was told, and do not shoot me down for this as it is someone else's maths, that it would be cheaper per year not to own a car but to pay for taxis, even rent a car for a day, when you want to go anywhere. So, the money you would have spent on a car, ie running costs, insurance and tax saved up is more than a taxi a couple of times a week to Lerwick or wherever.

 

Not sure how realistic that is, but it is a thought.

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There is certainly a lot to be said for the hire car idea. It is something that we have done up to now. One day though I went to pick up the hire car and when I pointed out that the fuel needle was only at just above 3/4 I was told that the gauge was knackered and that was as far as it went. When I filled it up at the end of the weekend the needle went to full. Although I have used that company since, they have lost a lot of business with that little scam.

 

Through the winter if you live in Lerwick you really don't want to go far so a car is fairly pointless. It is also rotting away with all the salt that is in use and if you don't have a garage to put it in it is going to look rather shabby in no time at all :cry:

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I was looking at running costs of a car to check on Frances' suggestions and

came up with the following: -

 

This assumes the purchase of a car at £7,000 which after 3 years sells for

£3,000. If anyone thinks the figures are out then please let me know.

 

3 Year period

Cost 4000

Insurance 450

RFL 300

Maintenance 1200

 

Weekly costs

 

Cost 25.64

Insurance 2.88

RFL 1.92

Maintenance 7.69

Total 38.14

 

 

Monthly Costs

 

Cost 133.33

Insurance 15.00

RFL 10.00

Maintenance 40.00

Total 198.33

 

RFL is road fund licence. I have put that down as £100 for two reasons: I

have no idea how much a tax disc is, I have guessed that £100 will be

average between the cheapest and most expensive.

 

I have allowed £1,200 for maintenance. This assumes £300 a year for

servicing and £100 per year for other costs such as tyres and repairs. This may not be enough?

 

I have not included fuel as that would be an expense whether you used a hire

car or not.

 

I understand that you can get a hire car for about £35 a day.

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it all boils down to how much you use a car.. if like me your using it every day of the year just about.. £6000 compared to the £12,500 it would cost you to hire a car for everyday of the year.

 

most of your figures are about right.. I would maybe say £1500 for services and general must be fixed items.

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Thanks Twerto. I must admit that my car sat on the drive most of the time. If I went shopping I would rather walk and take a rucksack. Colleagues at work had difficulty understanding why I walked to work when I owned a car. As I have said before nowhere in Lerwick is too far to walk.

 

The onset of the good weather means that I would like to get out more frequently and further afield. Public transport provision is insufficient to meet my needs for most locations.

 

The irony is that I am normally really decisive. If I want something then I know what I want and how much I want to pay. If it isn't available then I wait for it to become available at that price.

 

Perhaps I have too many choices!

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Ive had loads of cars but mostly Citroens and have had excellent running out of all of them with very little bother , I do all my own servicing but I can highly recommend both Jims and Central garages to deal with. I wouldnt discount a higher mileage well maintained car either as Ive had several with between 100 000 and 200 000 miles and have served me well. :)

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Thanks for all the advice. We were concerned about the diminutive size of the C2 / Yaris / Aygo in the end, although we liked the idea of cheap fuel / insurance / tax etc.

 

We have bought a low mileage Citroen C3. This should give us the best of all worlds.

 

Thanks again one and all.

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To be honest GR it has been a long tale of woe: -

 

Lambretta 100 Cento

Villiers 123 ???

James Captain

Ariel Arrow

Honda CB250 G5

Honda CG125

Suzuki GP125

Suzuki GSX400-4

Suzuki TS250ER

Honda CX500

Kawasaki GT750

Raleigh Wisp

Raleigh Runabout

Yamaha V70

Yamaha YAS3 ???

Gilera Runner SP180

Honda Goldwing GL1500

Honda Africa Twin XRV750

Honda Pan European

Montesa 247 Cota

Husqvarna CR500 (Super motard'd!)

Suzuki (Beamish) RL250

 

Plus many other that will come to mind as soon as I press the Submit button

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