Car hire while contracting?

[billybiro]

If you read what the OP wrote she has explained why she wants a car.

Yes, because the cold days are drawing in.

But instead of buying a car, why not invest in a decent warm coat, some gloves, a hat and a scarf?

[SueEllen]

Until you get home to London each day in your car and realise you need somewhere to park it. After which it ends up costing around £4 million in parking charges alone!

Depends where you live.

There are places in London where you can park free. Obviously not a good idea to advertise them to outsiders.

I use to live in a place where after 4pm Monday-Friday you could park free plus all day Saturday and Sunday so I only needed visitors parking permits.

[SueEllen]

All Im doing is giving an opinion based on experience. People like sue ellen really should have better things to do than chase people around forums telling them they havent read what the OP posted.

I also giving my opinion on actually living in London and owning a car in London plus working in London and the home counties.

London is actually bigger than the congestion charge zone but you know that right?

I have been speaking to a few people with diesel cars who live in London and they stated the charges don't bother them as they don't drive into central London.

[Hobosapien]

I wasn't aware that the anti-diesel rules were so far advanced in London. Up 'ere in't north there's no sign of it yet. ...

It's a new 'toxin charge' initiative that will be rolled out to major towns and cities, starting with London, and proposed to cost £20/day for diesel vehicles older than a certain age (as mentioned on this thread relating to EU emissions standards).

Getting accurate details of which towns/cities and how soon is not easy via google. Some (probably more reputable) sources say 10 cities initially, others (probably more sensationalist) say 20 towns/cities or more, so I guess the finer details are still being decided, based on the results of applying it to London.

For sure if it's a money maker the government will roll out wherever they can.

So everyone be 'green' and save the planet by scrapping your dirty diesels and go electric. Then the government can bump up the leccy taxes now they've got as many suckers into diesel as they can with the low road tax, which they're now using to get everyone interested in leccy cars (especially company car tax breaks). Deja vu, but if the trick works they'll keep using it. (just don't mention the cost of generating all that extra leccy they'll need )

[SeanT]

There are places in London where you can park free. Obviously not a good idea to advertise them to outsiders.

There are places near London where you can park free and then use the tube to get to it when you need it...

[BackupBoy]

Anyone ever done this?
I don't own a car in London. It's Uber or borrow a vehicle if I have to usually. I'd like to hire something as cheap as chips for my Swindon gig to get me to and from work as the cold days are drawing in. Any tips on the best and cheapest way of doing this?

You don't mind a 2-hour commute each way? The M4 can be a linear car park at the best of times.

[Elliegirl]

I am embarrassed to admit I didn't explain myself properly.
I live in Swindon during the week for the gig as it's much easier than commuting. I wanted something to get me to work while living here. I'm moving into new accommodation which is quite a walk from the bus stop and it's going to be horrible when the winter sets in. I don't do cold very well.
As for driving between London and Swindon every day....that's a big fat no. I have colleagues that drive from much further afield and they arrive at work aggressive and het up. Although some of them would even if they had a five minute walk to work.

[northernladuk]

I am embarrassed to admit I didn't explain myself properly.
I live in Swindon during the week for the gig as it's much easier than commuting. I wanted something to get me to work while living here. I'm moving into new accommodation which is quite a walk from the bus stop and it's going to be horrible when the winter sets in. I don't do cold very well.
As for driving between London and Swindon every day....that's a big fat no. I have colleagues that drive from much further afield and they arrive at work aggressive and het up. Although some of them would even if they had a five minute walk to work.

If that's the case I'd be buying a couple of hundred quid banger that you won't worry about over the weekend. At very worst it packs up at some point and you are a few hundred quid down..

[SeanT]

If that's the case I'd be buying a couple of hundred quid banger that you won't worry about over the weekend. At very worst it packs up at some point and you are a few hundred quid down..

Or you could buy a nice / interesting car and enjoy driving it at the weekend (plod permitting) like much of the rest of the country that don't live in the smoke

[northernladuk]

Or you could buy a nice / interesting car and enjoy driving it at the weekend (plod permitting) like much of the rest of the country that don't live in the smoke

I'm a contractor, when I say couple of hundred quid banger am thinking something like an 8 year old boxster or something