Car Drama

2 years ago in July I treated myself to my first 'nice' car. It had been a dream of mine for such a long time, to have a car that I could rely on and ultimately enjoy. I set my heart on a Mini Cooper, and soon found myself sat in a rather swish Cooper S convertible, and I knew there and then that I was going to be driving away in that very car at some point in the not so distant future.

Buy the car I did, and now 2 years later it is costing me a pretty penny or two. As much as I still adore this car, it has defeated the object of purchasing it... You see I put this car on a finance deal with the mindset that if I spent more than I would ordinarily on a car, it would be a more trusted vehicle that would NOT be in and out of the garage all of the time. 

If only that was the case...

In November alone I managed to break down 3 times. One of which times was on the side of the motorway on  my way home from Nottingham, it was cold, it was rainy and it just so happened that I was in my sports kit complete with shorts. Of course I had decided I wouldn't need to bring a change of clothes as I would be heading straight home for a shower.. Of course that's not what happened. So there I was forced to get out of the warm car, and stand behind the safety guard on the hard shoulder. It was then I remembered that I had my yoga mat and umbrella in the boot, so I set up a make shift camp on the side of the motorway until help arrived!

 I only have to call up the garage now and say 'Hi! It's Laura with the Mini..' and they will simply ask 'What's wrong this time!?'. When your car is in and out of the garage as much as mine is, you will get pretty pally with the team who fix your car up and take ££££ off you every few months or so! 

I have just been sitting here and thinking about how much my beloved car is costing me, and how much I still have to pay on it. I was pondering the idea of cutting my losses and selling it early and paying off the remainder of the finance and putting whatever was left on a newer car, but it just seems like a few too many hoops to jump through, but then I think about what could potentially go wrong next and suddenly i'm back to the initial thought. 

When I take into consideration the actual running costs on top of all the unexpected repairs, it's all pretty disheartening. The tax alone is just under £300 for the year thanks to the sports car addition on my model, that was a pill I was more than happy to swallow on an annual basis when I thought I would be waving goodbye to the guys at the garage in my shiny Mini. 

You can use the online Car Cost Calculator from Motorparks to work out what you spend on your car on a day to day basis, I have just been having a play, and when it's broken down into £ it doesn't seem overly bad, but I know that I could be paying much less. 

It's true what they say, we live and we learn. 26 year old me has grown up a lot in the last 2 years, and if I was to purchase a new vehicle now, I wouldn't be fantasizing about the car colour (well maybe I will), leather seats or the soft top roof...I would be thinking about the running costs, the petrol consumption, the car tax and all of the more economic factors. 

Next time around I will tackle the car hunting process with a much more leveled head.