What's the latest in people's lives?

[Aaron]

Lol, get a Skoda Roomster

[Reliant121]

The Focus gives reasonable performance in a 1.6 whereas the Mondeo will need a bigger engine and cost a lot more to run. If that's important, and I suspect it will be, then you may well have an answer. I wouldn't go near a Vectra, Vauxhall's have been bad up until pretty recently. Unless you're buying new, which seems unlikely given it's a first car.

The only reason I've been looking at the Mondeo is I might be able to get a relatively cheap 1.8 from my grandfather; its a 1999 and its done barely 45,000 on the clock. I can afford the fuel cost on either realistically as I rarely have to drive far but the tax on a Mondeo could be an interesting conundrum.

As for the Roomster, I'll pass Skoda Rapide or Octavia, sure but not a van with windows.

[Aaron]

Is tax on vehicles based on engine size rather then a percentage of the price?

[Reliant121]

Is tax on vehicles based on engine size rather then a percentage of the price?

CO2 emissions; logically, the larger the engine the larger the CO2 output.

[Captain Seafort]

Is tax on vehicles based on engine size rather then a percentage of the price?

Neither really. When Reliant talks of taxing a vehicle, he's not talking about that added to the basic prince on sale, but to the annual road tax that has to be paid for the vehicle to be legally allowed on the public highway. It's split into a number of bands, based on CO2 emissions.

[Reliant121]

Precisely; the 1.8 Mondeo would mean a whopping £220 a year in tax.

[Aaron]

Holy shit. I pay 72$ a year, up from 56$ in 1999 when I bought my first car.

Of course its just a flat fee here.

[Teaos]

In nz you don't need insurance but most people get third party which can be pretty cheap. I think I paid about 120 a year which is about 60 pounds.

[Reliant121]

My insurance, and this is with some significant wheeling and dealing, will cost me £400 in a lump sum and then a further £100-£120 a month depending on car and engine size. Thats with "smart box insurance" which is inherently about a £1-2K cheaper than standard third party fire and theft.

[IanKennedy]

Is tax on vehicles based on engine size rather then a percentage of the price?

Almost, with modern cars it's based upon CO2 emissions. For older cars, produced prior to the change, it's a fixed price. That said a car with a larger engine will use more fuel and thus cost more to run.

[Tsukiyumi]

In nz you don't need insurance ...

So, what happens when someone runs into you? Tough luck?

[Teaos]

Well any smart person knows that if your car is under 20k that Oder time statistically you save money not having insurance so they only buy third party.

If you get hit by someone with no insurance they have to pay you the cost of repair. If you don't have all the money they take everything you own apart from essentials and then take up to 60% of your wage until you pay.

Since third party is so cheap most people just get that.

[Tsukiyumi]

Wow. Wish it worked like that in the US...

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

My vacation in January got approved. I am doing... NOTHING!

[Teaos]

My idea of a holiday!