Is your car worth it?

On Monday London's congestion charge will add to motoring's growing bills. Patrick Collinson looks at the cost of staying on the road, while we ask drivers whether they will keep their vehicle
How much does it cost to run a decent family car? £1,000 a year? £2,000 a year? The true cost, according to motoring organisations, is closer to £5,000, And on Monday anybody wishing to commute into central London can add another £1,300 a year to their bill.

"If people added up what cars really cost them, they would have a shock. Not until they come to sell their car do they realise how much they have lost," says Bob Blackman, whose company, Emmerson Hill, prepares motoring cost data for the RAC and big car fleet operators.

Put another way, the £5,000 running costs of a 1,500cc car means that even a basic rate taxpayer has to earn nearly £6,500 a year to cover the cost, while someone on 40% tax will see around £8,300 of their pay eaten up in car costs.

When questioned, most car owners name petrol and insurance as their major costs. But as the RAC figures reveal, the biggest costs are finance charges and depreciation. The figures on the right show that a typical 1,500cc car priced at £10,850 in the dealer's showroom will cost its new owner £14,726 over three years.

Buy a larger car and the costs spiral up frighteningly. The RAC reckons that a 1.8 litre will set you back nearly £20,000 over three years, with a 2.5 litre car costing £35,000. The estimates assume the driver covers 12,000 miles a year.

Figures compiled by the AA paint a similar picture, and its website,, has an interactive section entitled 'What is your car costing you?'. The site allows you to input your car model and its annual mileage to calculate how much it is setting you back.

For some, the costs and the hassle of car ownership are becoming too much.

"Three years ago my partner and I moved into central London," says design and art director Roger Whiting, 37. "Our insurance costs went up and we were forced to pay for residents' parking (though in the area we live there were far more residents' cars than spaces for them).

"We quickly realised that our car, which neither of us needed for work, had become an expensive luxury. To make matters worse it was dented several times by careless drivers using our narrow street as a rat-run."

So how has he coped without a car? "The adjustment to non-car life was made easy for us by the proximity of several tube stations, a supermarket, a cinema, art galleries, restaurants and a number of bus routes. Whenever we go away for a weekend we either catch a train or hire a car.

"Taking into account depreciation and running costs, we are saving thousands of pounds a year even with the extra we are now spending on public transport, taxis and car rental."

But Mr Whiting is rare. As the graph on the right shows, sharply rising costs and congestion have done nothing to stop our appetite for four wheels. Since the mid-70s, an extra 10m cars have somehow squeezed on to Britain's roads, with most of the new drivers being women.

In 1975 only 6m women held driving licences, but the figure now tops 14m, according to the Department for Transport. Over the same period the number of males with driving licences has gone from 13m to 18m.

Falling prices combined with a strong economy have fuelled a car sales bonanza. Last year sales hit a record 2.5m, making Britain the second largest car market in Europe after Germany.

In its 2002 Annual Report on Motoring, the RAC said: "Everyone adapts to regular congestion and is unwilling to switch to public transport or give up the journey to avoid it."

When it surveyed drivers, it found that 83% would find it very difficult to adjust their lifestyle to being without a car. Willingness to use public transport was just 36%, and 7% lower than when Labour came to power in 1997.

"All these point to the difficulty of persuading drivers out of their cars, despite the increase in traffic and the resultant congestion," concluded the RAC.

When Jobs & Money asked drivers in the two congestion charging zones, Durham and London, the responses echoed the RAC survey. Even where drivers agree with con gestion charges, they were near unanimous in saying that the extra costs will not dislodge them from their cars.

But there are organisations which are trying to find a third way through the sterile car vs public transport debate. One such is the Environmental Transport Association, ( which likes to describe itself as "the green AA".

Its chief executive, Andrew Davis, admits that he has two cars. All its 20,000 members own cars; the organisation offers nearly all the same breakdown and recovery services provided by the AA or the RAC. It even charges roughly the same as its bigger brethren.

But the organisation also campaigns for car-free days, reduced car dependency, slower speeds initiatives and car sharing schemes. It is opposed to new road building as a solution to congestion, believes that car-only, out-of-town shopping developments should be stopped and works with local councils, schools and businesses towards environmentally sustainable transport systems.

"I may live in a two-car household, but I walk my children to school every day and use the public transport whenever possible. People need to step back and decide: do I really need to make that journey by car?"

How the costs mount up

What you must pay for a 1500cc car over three years and 36,000 miles:

Typical cost delivered new £10,850

Average value after three years £4,250

Depreciation £6,600

Financing charges £2,062

Fuel cost @ 74.9p/L £2,914

Servicing & maintenance £565

Tyres & replacement parts £410

Insurance premiums £1,380

Excise licenses £300

RAC membership £495

Total cost £14,726

Annual cost £4,909

Cost per mile 40.9p

· Figures prepared for RAC by Emmerson Hill Associations. Assumes car is in insurance group five with fuel consumption of 42mpg.

What they say in the congestion charge cities

Aaron Barbeau, 33 is a sales rep from Romford. He isn't put off by the congestion charges as he says: "I don't own this car - the company does and they pay for all the costs."

If it were his own car he says the charge would make him think twice about driving to London. But he adds: "The only reason I come in to London is because I have to.

"I'm here four times a month - which costs the company around £40 in parking. They wouldn't be put off by an extra £20 for congestion charges."

When asked if he would scale down the size of his car - he said he wouldn't. "The amount of time I'm on the road I need a comfortable car," he says.

What would make him give up the car? "Not much - it's a necessity. You get so used to it. It would be difficult to give up - especially when I don't pay for it."

Peter Shepherd, 48, is a structural engineer from Hemel Hempstead. He regularly drives to London in his company car and says the congestion charge hasn't changed his mind about that. "I need my car for business and the company pay all the expenses."

He spends about £150 a month on petrol then has to pay for his tax, servicing and MOT on top. Would he trade down to a smaller car? "My car isn't that big at the moment - it's only a Ford Focus. Plus if I got a smaller one I wouldn't be able to fit my golf clubs in it."

Gordon Hogg, 35, is a self-employed jeweller from Fulham, London. Would the congestion charge affect him? "Yes, I'm going to stop driving in," he says. "I'll either cycle or be back on the Tube again. I just won't drive in to work any more unless I really have to."

But he won't give up his car or scale down the size. "There's no point - it wouldn't make any difference to the charges." He estimates he spends between £4,000 and £5,000 a year on his car.

What would make him give up his car? "My car keeps my sanity - it helps me get out of London at the weekend."

Alison Shell, a lecturer in English from Durham, owns her own car. The congestion charge has not changed her mind about having it. She says: "We live sufficiently near to the city centre to walk in. I wouldn't give the car up. We have to keep it because I have an eight-month-old daughter and public transport is not easy." She finds owning a car expensive but "affordable".

· Interviews in London and Durham by Juliet Shedden and Sarah Sheridan

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