The car above used to be mine. I say used to because it was cruelly taken away from me by 'the man'. Apparently it's unsafe to drive without over £500 worth of repairs, as I got £100 for it when I did sell it you can see why I didn't bother repairing it. However my problem is that why should someoen else tell me when my car is unsafe to drive? In my opinion it was fine, my mind would have changed when the brakes failed. It should be up to me when my car is unfit to drive because ultimately it's me who it's going to affect. OK, so I could cause an accident with my faulty car and seriously hurt someone. In that case I'd expect to be severely punished through a fine, possibly a jail term and a lengthy driving ban. That way I'd take some responsibility for the safety of my car rather than just letting it rust away as I'd be tempted to do if it didn't need an MOT.

MOTs are just one of four things you need to put a car on the road. The first thing is obviously a driving licence. I have no problem with the current system of licencing. The main gripes I have are with running costs and so I'd have to say that the cost of learning to drive is astronomical. I think I paid £15 an hour, if you pick up driving quickly this isn't too much hassle, but I had to take my test 4 times and so the costs spiralled. The actual purchase cost of a car isn't too bad also, but for a first time buyer the figures can be quite daunting. Petrol costs are shocking, it used to cost £30 to fill that thing in the picture, I'd drive about 300 miles before doing it again, thats approximately 10p a mile! The justification for such high prices is the scarcity of fuel. Fair enough, it's running out, so why is it taxed more highly than anywhere else in the world? I think America tax it at about 20%, for us it's nearer 60. There's no need for it. If the fuel situstion really is as bad as has been made out then there needs to be alternative fuels available, sorry WIDELY available. Apparently you can get your car converted to use a more ecologically friendly fuel (don't know what it is, can't remember), but the conversion costs are about £2000. If its so beneficial to the environment and eases the burden off petrol then why isn't it cheaper to convert cars? In fact, why isn't it free (all work subsidised by the government)? Of course you can get electric cars (never seen one for sale though), but let's face it, they're a bit rubbish. The main reason that there are no alternatives is that the government aren't offering enough incentives for companies to come up with new technology and quite frankly are happy reaping the vast amounts of tax they receive when you fill a car up. Oil companies have no incentive to come up with alternatives, they can hike up prices as much as they like and hide behind the excuse that it's all running out.

Cars also need taxing. The tax is based on emissions, it's here that a cleaner fuel is rewarded. But the amount saved is minimal compared with all the other costs. My old car cost about £60 to tax for 6 months, my new car, with 9 years more technology in, costs £56. Brilliant! Oh by the way, did I mention this was another tax to add to the fuel tax as well? I'd love to know how much I've given the government in taxes on my car (and VAT on my £1900 repairs over  5 years worth of repairs (well, probably 10 years worth of repairs in 5 years, my car broke a lot)).

So you need a licence, MOT, tax disc, what else? The most expensive bit: Insurance. For my first year of driving it cost £1800 to insure me. Now I'm 22 without a claim in 35 months and it still costs me the best part of £700 to insure me. I hate that insurance is compulsory, I think it should be a choice. Obviously you'd expect loads of drivers to say no. But, as with the MOT situation I proposed above, the consequences of an (at fault) accident without insurance would be dire. If you could pay for the repairs to the car you hit then you would have to do so (chances are you'd be able to having saved vast amounts on not having the insurance in the first place), if you can't then it's a driving ban and forced repayment over time. Using me as an example, I had an accident a while ago, I did about £600 worth of damage to my car (the BMW I hit was unscathed), yet I've paid probably over £4500 in insurance, with all that money saved I could afford to buy a safer car, hell I might even consider converting my car to run on manure or something equally daft!
In conclusion. Never buy a car. They're too expensive. 

 

Have I mentioned how much Lisa Scott Lee rules? . . . .I have? Well I haven't in ages so I thought I'd better remind you.

Here's a small guide to the sweetest woman in pop