I am sure some Ozbargainers have done this.
My wife and I work in two separate places, both 10km or so from the end of the common path, she drives east I drive south etc.
The first 40km of the commute is the same. Is it possible to leave one car permanently Mon-Thu overnight in a street in order to save fuel.
The only thing i can think of being a problem, is letting the insurance company know where the car is parked overnight, and explaining the plan, but I doubt they would understand.
yes i dunno how to format
Have you googled parking garages along the route? Or if you don't want to pay check out this and hope for the best as far as car security. I wouldn't bother with telling insurance, it just makes things more complicated.
Get a tow bar and install a bike carrier for you to use at point X
Or buy a Honda City with a made-to-fit Motocompo in the boot:
http://www.banpei.net/files/motocompo-ad02.jpg
Or a Z50..
I miss the diagram. I was playing Hangman with it and it has just gone… lol
Thanks. :+)
it looks like a nightstick.. Is that what those things are called?
Have you spoken to your insurance company?
is car number 2 (the left car) a piece of shit with 3rd party insurance? or a car of value?
Hopefully it's not a 80k investment vehicle
With a nice bonut
And a smashed avocado to go compartment
Is it possible to leave one car permanently Mon-Thu overnight in a street in order to save fuel.
Of course it's possible.
Can one of you take public transport to your final destination?
Bikies
Boring
not a bad idea but ends up saving no money.
Find any railway station parking under cover if you can. Or shopping centre undercover which will follow insurance needs and make sure parking unlimited lol. Might ask suberb where you want park might some oz bargainer help you out if they got extra room in there parking and pay some money $$$always excite them lol.
yeh can do that
basically the stop point is robina, might just do the robina hospital
Free parking at a hospital? Good luck, mate…
There's free parking next to picadilly
if you're talking about Robina Hospital on the Gold Coast, parking at the train station might be better than the hospital, there is free parking just to the left of the train station
Is this for some sort of insurance scam?
I want in.
Doesn't look like a promising scam
It may involve stolen hub caps.
Call the cops and write to your local MP
I understood this reference
Folding electric bicycle for the win. You get out 10km from work, ride the rest while she drives the car to her workplace.
Know of any good electric bikes for sale in Australia?
Why pay an extra $1000+ to get less exercise? 10km ride on the Gold Coast should not be arduous.
That depends. The western suburbs are pretty hilly.
Wheres the equality in that? … take turns on the bike i say!
How about you take turns driving each other to work? An extra 10km or so doesn't seem bad after a 50km ride, especially if you have to deal with the hassle of leaving your car in a public place.
be an extra 30 minutes- hour in traffic both ways
to be fair this is probly a better option, i know who is going to halve to do the extra driving though.
Ah, I see. That's pretty bad traffic.
Correct me if I am wrong but most insurance companies use the ambiguous term "usually"? So how would your insurance company "know" where you park your car at night is "usual" or not. It could be that if your car ever got stolen/damaged it was the first time you parked in that area.
Exactly. And since you can only specify one location, I don't see how it can be fraud to park somewhere else.
If you nominate another address, your car can still end up being stolen on a weekend at home and you'll end up in the same situation.
I am using on street parking which means I end up on a different street almost every day. How am I supposed to put this into a one line text field in the insurance form?
That's exactly what I'm thinking too.
(Now I'm waiting on some holier-than-thou person to come along and accuse you of being a dishonest person, committing insurance fraud, blah blah blah.)
Is the cost saving even worth it? i.e. have you done an accurate measure of current fuel consumption versus projected by carrying out this methodology? In short, is there a more productive methods of cost saving? i.e. diet/alchohol consumption/tobacco consumption/type of car?
Also I wouldn't tell insurance I would just do it, and if something goes wrong and they question it just say it was the first time you parked here?
10km one way. 20 km a day. 4 days a week= 80kms. fuel consumption in city driving , let's guesstimate(as we don't know the car) ~8 km a litre, 8km/80km = 10 litres a week @ $1.20 p/litre = ~$12 a week. 46 weeks a year = $552. potential saving in fuel
saves the car from doing ~3700 kms a year
approx $1.50 per day vs worrying about your car every night.
I think the calculations are way off?
Current Situation, 2 separate cars with 2 daily ~50km commutes both ways
| Car1 | Car2 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Home-to-work | 50 | 50 |
| 2. Work-to-home | 50 | 50 |
| Total Travel | 100 | 100 |
Suggested situation; +another 40 leg on monday for drive to work and fridays for drive to home for car2
| Car1 | Car2 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Home-to-Parking | 40 | 0 |
| 2. Parking-to-work | 10 | 10 |
| 3. Work-to-Parking | 10 | 10 |
| 4. Parking-to-home | 40 | 0 |
| Total Travel | 100 | 20 |
@loke: So in A there is 1000km/week. In B there is 680km/week. Saving 320km/week. approx 25L/week, approx 1150L/year, approx $1725 savings.
@sparathecat: since the official supplier of Eneloops to Ozbargain folded (DSE bricks & Mortar), I think the currency is shifting. Not sure if it's Xiaomi powerbanks, google Chromecasts, or fidget spinners….
@sparathecat: > I thought the official Ozbargain currency was Eneloops?
They are just looking for a bit of arbitrage on the deal.
Isn't the first 40km from home the same, then 10km different directions. In my book that would be an 80km/day saving.
Correct. 80km/day savings * 5 days = 400km / week.
But, assuming you don't want the 2nd car to stay parked over the weekends, you'd need to drive 2nd car back home on Fridays (40km extra than other days), and to work on Mondays (40km extra than other days) = an additional 80km traveled, so only 320km saved for the week.
$12 a week. 46 weeks a year = $552. potential saving in fuel
You're not factoring in the cost of owning a 2nd vehicle, registration alone would wipe out that $552. I did a quick FT3P quote on a 1995 Corolla and that came in at another $300, then there's fuel & maintenance.
Unless OP stood to save $2,000+ it's not worth it IMO.
of course there is a cost saving
i am doing 80km less a day, unless petrol is free, how would you say there is no cost saving.
I'm just talking from a looking at alternatives perspective. I.e. what you are proposing is such a big hassle (for me personally it falls under the is it really worth it category) because it would work on the basis that your wife and yourself will perfectly finish work at the same time all the time and not hit traffic or some kind of incident at all. Maybe if you had some other unnecessary expenditure like smoking/drinking/pointless hobby, you could probably cut that out instead and just drive to work separately and have the convenience and flexibility of making it home as needed?
…then the loss adjuster knocks on a few doors and finds out it's always parked there, so you're up for a fraud rap. Good advice.
Your totally right I didn't think about that. I totally forgot that there is only 1 possible spot OP can park in - and not multiple streets in a suburb or multiple parking possibilities to change it up - or even worse a commuter car park next to station or bus stop.
You'll want somewhere reasonably safe to leave it, and ideally not a constant location. You don't need someone spotting that the car is there every day and stealing it or vandalising it
Even worse when it's there every night.
They could alternate which car they leave parked, so it would only be there half the time.
Push bike, and even if your wife needs to detour out of her way to make your ride shorter it'd be worth it not to have a car left on the street every night away from your home. You can ditch your gym membership too because the bike fitness will be enough.
10kms on a bike - 30mins, plus 5-10 to cool down and 5-10 to shower and ready for work. Assume the extra time for you to travel the 10km is used for your wife for productive things like grocery shopping and you win all round.
Also there might be some hanging around at point X on the way home waiting for the other person to turn up to share the lift all the way home. I don't know how easy it is to judge driving times from your respective work places to point X (but if its e.g. +/- 10 mins that could add up to 20 mins waiting around for whoever gets there first)..
Google 'last mile commute' there's hundreds of options - scooters, e-bikes, folding bikes, electric skateboards, hoverboards.
10km is probably right at the range limit for most of these things though.
The main problem is with them is
1) weather
2) heavy if they run out of batteries
3) probably illegal (depending on the state you're in).
Just find a street with lots of residential townhouses where the residents are parking on the street. Your car will just be one of many.
possible plan, i know a friend who lives at the split point in a town house complex, who will give me a entrance pass so i can secure it to
No problem and no need to tell the insurance company.
My wife and I had a similar situation - I simply drove her to work and then went to my office after. It meant I drove more, but it was cheaper than running two cars and we had some more time together to chat, and we frequently left home earlier (beating the traffic) and had breakfast near work.
Two cars - 100+100 = 200km per day
Two cars, leaving one at 40km - 40+10+10+10+10+40=120km per day
One car - 40+10+10+10+10+10+10+40=140km per day
So a saving of 60km. You could save an extra 20km per day if you left one car at the 40km spot, but I suspect it's not worth it when you factor in risk of car being damaged/towed/whatever. If one of you is sick, then you will be stuck at home and can't go to the doctor as your second car is 40km away. You also don't mention if there is any cost for parking at work - if there is, then you need to factor that in as well.
probably do that too to be honest, my wife is a shift worker, so i guess i am too now:(
she will just have to hang around 30 mins after work
Feel your pain. My wife is a nurse. She can always be the one who drives you to work and comes to pick you up….. can always take turns as well. Plus if the weather is nice, one of you can always take a bike and ride the 10km in the morning and if feeling energetic back again in the afternoon. Or you can even both ride bikes for 10km from where you dump the car & ride back in the afternoon…. work out how much money you're saving and put that towards a holiday fund (so not only are you getting healthier, you also are getting a vacation out of it eventually. Although personally I hate riding my bike in peak hour as - except when there is a separate bike track - it scares the heck out of me, and a few of my work mates have been skittled on their way to/from work.
we had some more time together to chat
That's the downside.
Man up and buy a motorbike
i prefer to stay alive thanks.
Meoow
But what about feeling alive?
guaranteed if you tell the insurance company anything the premium increase will wipe out any savings, as will the cost of any sort of secure parking.
New startup called Kerb dot works. Apparently provides listed spaces for you to park car securely. Provided you can find a reasonable suburb that allows both of you to commute to work - the cost is quite reasonable per day - AUD 10 to AUD 20 for a full 24 hours. Linked to a specific person's available space - so most are undercover and secure spots (again search criteria there).
It may be that you drive to nearest suburb - catch train - partner heads East and you head South. Car is in a safe spot, you guys come back together (where applicable) - otherwise keep two sets of keys. Whoever gets to the car first, WINS! Or can spend 30 minutes doing quick shopping before your arrival.
This would ideally cut down your fuel cost, the number of excess KMs and keep you both sane?
Lol @ $10 - $20 per day.
Not sure why was negged - but the link is showing the said prices within the city areas (Sussex St in Syd).
Oh well, each to their own I guess.
I didn't neg you. What I was pointing out is the fact that you suggested saving petrol by spending $20/day for parking. It makes absolutely no sense.
@MadMaxBargainRoad: Agree. But rather than racking up extra KMs and depreciating an already depreciating asset faster - might be better - believe you could claim the cost as a business expense and get money back in tax.
Loopholes exist - depends on OP current running costs - I'm pretty sure that the extra kms will result in a higher variable fuel cost and that's a crapshoot. This is still a fixed cost - again, cost-benefit analysis needed. Roll out the spreadsheet!
Edit:
Had a think about some of the variables:
- Current KM/L consumption
- Current value of car
- Traffic flow - average KM speed
- Opportunity cost of depreciation
- Maintenance costs (averaged)
Obviously what you are suggesting is possible, whether it is prudent is another question. It seems to me the real problem is you have a 60km commute. I suggest buying a house closer to where you work.
I know right. It's not like you have to be a millionaire to bu……oh wait.
buy yours and your wifes company and then shut them down. and then you have no jobs that you have to drive to. it's so simple.
Maybe in Sydney or Melbourne, but not in Robina.
sure, and then what happens if/when your made redundant and there are no other places to work…plus i like living where there is acreage, not 185m2 blocks.
Looks like a perfect reason to find a new job with public transport, close to home or to SO's workplace?
I like the intention but honestly you aren't going to save much with this plan, you are ignoring the biggest money pit in this situation in that you own two cars. An extra 40km or so in petrol and tyre wear is a drop in the bucket compared to the major costs of owning the car itself which are depreciation, government rego/fees etc, insurance and servicing.
If you are really keen on saving dollars by adjusting your commute I would really suggest finding a way to reduce from two cars to one. Sure this may incur short term costs as you adjust to the new paradigm but the payback will be quick once you get rid of that second car.
Just to put a level head to all the suggestions about "bicycles/scooters/ebikes" etc, while this is all possible there is a not insignificant initial buy-in to this type of activity that will make the payback period a bit longer (maybe a year if you both get bikes and some basic equipment). However it's not going to work if you get the bikes and still keep both cars, it will end up costing you more! The benefit of converting this last-mile to an alternative method will only be realised if you get rid of one car.
Well said.
Perhaps replace the second car with a $1000 beater. You can get something like a Getz with 150k+ on the odometer, in decent working order. You'll save on having to comprehensively insure it, and there's no depreciation.
That diagram though…shouldn't M have a line to X?