driving and costs and rip offs

[skintagain]

my son is awaiting his practical driving test which is 3rd of August he booked it a couple of weeks ago but there is supposed to be a long waiting list thats why it's taking so long, taking the test is not cheap at i think he said £60 plus the use of the instructors car and an hour lesson before so the total cost for the day is £94,
the thing i dont agree with is the hazard perception test the way it's marked, ive heard from loads of people who were certain they passed this at the Newcastle centre only to find out they failed, after 3 attemps there my son took his 4th at Sunderland and passed it no problem and way over the reqiured pass score, im sure there is something dodgy going on at the Newcast test centre, the hazard perception test and theory is not cheap at £31 a time,
some thing i find a rip off is car tax i have a 2004 Astra 1.7 CDTI tax is under £100 for a year ive just helped my son get a Skoda Fabia 1.4 MPI 2002 model tax is £104 for 6 months,
then there is insurance imust admit he got a good deal just over £1000 but if he wanted to pay monthly it was going to cost an extra £700 dont know how they can justify that,
now car repairs, luckily his car has a chain instead of a cam belt the chain is supposed to last as long as the car but sometime do need changing, im glad it seems ok, cost of the full kit around £39 time to fit 2 to 3 hours for a DIY person depending on how good they are, cost for a garage to do it £500 to £700,
then there is the price of fuel another big rip off as were paying about 74% tax on this it's never going to be cheap,
all in all i dont know why he didnt just get a yearly bus pass, but we all like our cars the freedom to go out and about when we like but it aint cheap.

[Ann1]

Wrong side of the bed copped for it this morning skint? Driving costs are bloody expensive though!!!!! Don't know anything about cams and chains, or TBH driving tests. Mine was that long ago, I had to pay the chap in front with the red flag ;D The lessons cost 3 quid ph, and I think I got change from a tenner for the test and an hours lesson first!!! Our insurance isn't too bad though, 20 quid a month, and the tax is 100 and something a year, 20 I think? It's the petrol that's the killer And that's the soddin' government!!!

What I cannot understand though, is why people have big gas guzzling cars?? I can understand people carriers if you have a few kids, but not otherwise!! Unless you're about 6' 5" a car the size of ours is more than adequate for a couple of adults!! It always makes me laugh when I see a huge 4 x 4, and a bloke about 5' 6" gets out of it ;D

[Deleted]

Sainsburys Benton road.

Petrol...........£1.29 pl

Diesel...........£1.33 pl

That's the cheapest I've seen put some in today.

[skintagain]

ASDA put their prices down to the same as the other stores but have now put it up by a penny, probably to pay for the Blyth stores mistake,
i went to use the air hose in a local garage last night and they have put the price up, a couple of weeks ago it was 20p now 50p, greedy gits charging so much for a bit of air, i was looking on a Skoda forum and it seems that most garages only charge around £80 labour to fit a new cam chain but some have been known to charge £500 to £700 that's one hell of a rip off,
car parts can be expensive my son wanted some new spark plugs over £20 for 4 at halfords he paid £9 at Euro car parts, i was looking at the steering wheel covers in halfords seen a nice one but was not willing to pay £12 seen the same ones on the market for £5 pity they did not have the colour i wanted but may have them next week.

[Shadow]

I'd like to see these rip off Garages named and shamed so people can avoid them.

Or even better-a list of garages which dont rip-off.

[Ann1]

We could start one on here, and ask people for their "donations" ;D