.....most UK residents have a huge blind spot about the obscene amounts of time and money that seem to get spent on their cars.....
True, but then
Part of the problem is the balance of cost between vehicle ownership and vehicle use. Most people need a vehicle for a basic quality of life, or at least think they do.
is precisely the major and more or less unsolveable part of the picture. Most of us do (believe we)
need a car available so that we can do the things simply not catered for by existing public transport. Hence, as I've said before, we can arguably discount the capital and tax costs and the age related depreciation, annual test, and (in most cases) time based servicing as
necessary fixed costs, already accounted for. Thus, we need only concern ourselves with direct costs where we do have a genuine choice. And there, there is absolutely no competition on price, quality or convenience. Price, especially when more than one travel. It's compounded by a disconnect between fuelling costs and fuelling use. (Referring to my previous car) I make once or twice a month visits to a filling station and spend ~£50. That event occurs at a different time and place to the 400 miles that fuel will take me (and up to four others); So, those journeys cost nothing at the point of use. Yes, I know it's not valid, but it is part of the psychology. If it were not, you'd
never see someone sitting in their car, parked and going nowhere, playing with their phone (etc),
with the engine running.
Going back to price, some further points:
- if I change my mind about the destination after setting out (for any reason) - compare the additional costs incurred with conventional public transport fares vs. driving. Compare the costs if (for any reason) the trip is cut short with an early return home. etc.
- if the outbound and inbound journeys are on different days, driving costs no more than if they were on the same day.
- if the journey is made at short notice, driving costs the same as if it were planned well in advance
- if a planned journey needs to be delayed (either or both ways) due to something unforseen; if it's more than a month
This list goes on and on.
As to price and convenience
My local train service is 1x per hour and is 25 minutes' walk away. In (up to) 1hr 25 minutes, I could have got a long way to a given destination. Mrs. visits her mother, 85 miles away for the weekend from time to time. It
can be done by train and bus. Trip time out 4h 10; back 3h 30. £40.50 total.
It is done by car. Car already paid/accounted for. Fuel (in our case) £10, but we could do it for less; that fee pays also for a locked garage which we don't
need. A less economical car might cost £20. Wear & tear including tyres - generously another £20, but probably less. Trip time 1h 30 - 1h 45 each way. No contest.
That's for ONE person travelling alone - the worst case scenario.