usage, wear & tear
Why use a train . . .
If I use my car anytime £48.00 including bridge toll and usage wear and tear etc.
HMRC will give you an allowance of 45p towards fuel, wear and tear, which is about £120 for the return trip. Add £13 for the toll fees and you have a total of about £130.
With a Family and Friends Railcard, the train fare is £123.95.
If you have to buy a railcard it's another £30. But then you have to add HP charges, parking, and insurance costs to the road price, so it works out about the same.
Won't my insurance and HP cost be the same if I don't go or does Devon have higher taxes I don't know about and bridge toll is £6.40 as you only pay on the way back.
I can only use my car as a guide, it's a 260 mile round trip and when i get there it's staying in a hotel car park until I leave next day, my car will return 60 mpg loaded up which is 4 gallons of diesel about £28.00 total so with the wear and tear my guess of £48 total cost looks way to high.
60mpg makes your car one of the most fuel-efficient around. Unless of course you get stuck in traffic.
my car is returning a real world 58mpg.
I would still rather catch the train though.
I do love all the 'I did a 4 hour train journey and my train was 90 seconds late, how do I claim compensation'* threads we have bearing in mind the same journey by road could be anything up to an hour or 2 longer that expected but, of course, people will just accept that. If the train gets cancelled they want the world.
* slight exageration for effect!
my car is returning a real world 58mpg.
I would still rather catch the train though.
I do love all the 'I did a 4 hour train journey and my train was 90 seconds late, how do I claim compensation'* threads we have bearing in mind the same journey by road could be anything up to an hour or 2 longer that expected but, of course, people will just accept that. If the train gets cancelled they want the world.
* slight exageration for effect!
Wow just enquired a return fare Cardiff to Paignton, 3 adults 1 child, cost £200 off peak return.
If I use my car anytime £48.00 including bridge toll and usage wear and tear etc.
Car wins every trip.
Why use a train it cannot compete.
Wow just enquired a return fare Cardiff to Paignton, 3 adults 1 child, cost £200 off peak return.
If I use my car anytime £48.00 including bridge toll and usage wear and tear etc.
Car wins every trip.
Why use a train it cannot compete.
It is an error. The fare being suggested is a Freedom of South West 8 in 15 Days Rover.
The actual fare is two singles for a total of £10.
I wish some people would try to understand what the 45p HMRC mileage 'allowance' actually relates to. It is merely a notional maximum rate per mile at which people can either claim allowance from their employers without incurring a tax liability as a benefit in kind, or the rate at which the self employed can offset against their tax liability. There are maximum mileage allowances in both cases before the rate reduces. In many cases, it has little relevance to the real costs of motoring.
The railways problem is that whilst the comfort and facilities of the motor car - even basic models - are improving all the time, the railway is turning itself into RyanRail and making the journey experience far from pleasant. This is probably part of the reason why only around 11% of all journeys in the UK are by rail.
At £200 from Cardiff to Paignton, if the journey was by HST and direct, I might just consider it on a hot summer Saturday. Only the most enthusiastic rail enthusiast would pay that price rather than travel by car.
my car is returning a real world 58mpg.
I would still rather catch the train though.
I do love all the 'I did a 4 hour train journey and my train was 90 seconds late, how do I claim compensation'* threads we have bearing in mind the same journey by road could be anything up to an hour or 2 longer that expected but, of course, people will just accept that. If the train gets cancelled they want the world.
* slight exageration for effect!
Notional or not, there is a cost per mile for car usage. So how do you explain the fact that rail passenger numbers are at an all time high even if only 11% of all journeys are by rail? Isnt it true that the average fare paid for a single journey is just over £5?
I wish some people would try to understand what the 45p HMRC mileage 'allowance' actually relates to. It is merely a notional maximum rate per mile at which people can either claim allowance from their employers without incurring a tax liability as a benefit in kind, or the rate at which the self employed can offset against their tax liability. There are maximum mileage allowances in both cases before the rate reduces. In many cases, it has little relevance to the real costs of motoring.
but it's not always as clear cut as it looks. People just add up the petrol price and decide that's the cost of driving, without factoring in any of the on-costs.
Once you're 26, not only does the cost of rail travel go up, but you could buy a zero depreciation, VED except car and pay under £100 a year insurance.