Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Oh man. Petrol going up? Insurance going up? Road tax going up? Man - if ONLY there was some way I could cut all these costs out of my budget.




oh, actually.........

Genius! Why didn't I think of rendering myself immobile or beholden to a crappy and expensive public transport system before?

Originally Posted by Tax_Tw-t

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Oh man. Petrol going up? Insurance going up? Road tax going up? Man - if ONLY there was some way I could cut all these costs out of my budget.




oh, actually.........

How about some form of Internet site where one could go and compare different quotes from many insurers? That would help wouldn't it? Surely it can't be too difficult for some clever programmer to work out how to do it.
Why's no-one thought of it before?

I suppose it'd be a bu**er to advertise though - it's a difficult concept to get across in 10 secs so they'd probably have to rely on talking puppet animals!

I saw what you did there.....















simples

Originally Posted by Tax_Tw-t

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Oh man. Petrol going up? Insurance going up? Road tax going up? Man - if ONLY there was some way I could cut all these costs out of my budget.




oh, actually.........

How about some form of Internet site where one could go and compare different quotes from many insurers? That would help wouldn't it? Surely it can't be too difficult for some clever programmer to work out how to do it.
Why's no-one thought of it before?

I suppose it'd be a bu**er to advertise though - it's a difficult concept to get across in 10 secs so they'd probably have to rely on talking puppet animals!

Thank you - that is one of the funniest and well-thought out posts I have ever seen on here.

Tickled me, it did.

Originally Posted by ottar

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Oh man. Petrol going up? Insurance going up? Road tax going up? Man - if ONLY there was some way I could cut all these costs out of my budget.

oh, actually.........

There isn't: you pay for those costs every time you buy something.
Transport costs can be the difference between success and failure for many small (and some not so small) businesses. Unfortunately, government policy makes it increasingly difficult for people to start or continue their own business - which isn't good for the economy, especially in times of high unemployment.

Really? How about you locate yourself close to your suppliers and customers? Improve your processes to use less inputs? Develop knowledge-value products? Share delivery costs (and therefore emissions blah blah blah) with other businesses?

Porter mean anything to you? Five forces? Diamond? Value chains?

Government policy is (in this instance) driving us to look at different ways of doing business. I would predict (yes, that thing I normally shy away from) that in the future a huge number of small businesses will grow and increase in size by following the very path I have mentioned above. Those that don't will, as you have identified, fail.

Man, change is a killer, eh?

Originally Posted by miles_gloriosus

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Oh man. Petrol going up? Insurance going up? Road tax going up? Man - if ONLY there was some way I could cut all these costs out of my budget.




oh, actually.........

Genius! Why didn't I think of rendering myself immobile or beholden to a crappy and expensive public transport system before?

Having had my own car for ten years I got rid of it three years ago. I save (about) two hundred quid a month, I am less stressed, have a full social life. All by thinking about how I do things and altering my life to make it work for me. As another respondent states:





simples

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Having had my own car for ten years I got rid of it three years ago. I save (about) two hundred quid a month, I am less stressed, have a full social life.

Hmmmn. I'm very lucky at the moment that where I live there is an excellent train/bus/shanks' pony service to my office. However the post I was filling eighteen months ago was nigh on impossible to reach by public transport.

As for a social life I don't really have one at the moment and when it comes round to the touch rugby season in a couple of months I'll be stuffed as the ground is inaccessible without a car. Sharing a lift isn't possible as it's an hour's train ride followed by a 45 minute drive on the other side of the venue from where my team mates live.

If it was financially viable I'd prefer to have a car, if only to increase my quality of life. I don't mind paying all the taxes, but what sticks in my craw is that this money is not reinvested in transport & a five-a-day-BME-lesbian-dance-real-nappy-coordinator ain't going to give me a lift anywhere...

Originally Posted by ottar

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Oh man. Petrol going up? Insurance going up? Road tax going up? Man - if ONLY there was some way I could cut all these costs out of my budget.

oh, actually.........

There isn't: you pay for those costs every time you buy something.

You don't work at LSE do you?

Remember 1997, when Tony still had hair? There was much outrage about 'rip off Britain'. Evil, top hatted capitalists were undoubtedly ripping off the salt of the earth, flat cap wearing public who could barely afford to keep their whippets in tripe flavour Kennilmeat.

It was standing room only on the outrage bus. Tony appointed a minister to put the fear of god into the evil capitalists. The minister appointed a brace of economists to find the evidence that would prove Tony right.

The economists pointed out within days that Wrangler jeans cost double in the UK than they did everywhere else for a very simple reason. With just about the highest road fuel taxation in the world and a railway system knackered by half a century of neglect, it didn't take a Nobel laureate to work out what was going on. Chuck in an underclass that was already soaking up a quarter of government expenditure when John Major got the boot and you get the picture. The running costs of UK plc were, and are, unsustainable.

Originally Posted by CaptainPlume

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Having had my own car for ten years I got rid of it three years ago. I save (about) two hundred quid a month, I am less stressed, have a full social life.

Hmmmn. I'm very lucky at the moment that where I live there is an excellent train/bus/shanks' pony service to my office. However the post I was filling eighteen months ago was nigh on impossible to reach by public transport.

As for a social life I don't really have one at the moment and when it comes round to the touch rugby season in a couple of months I'll be stuffed as the ground is inaccessible without a car. Sharing a lift isn't possible as it's an hour's train ride followed by a 45 minute drive on the other side of the venue from where my team mates live.

If it was financially viable I'd prefer to have a car, if only to increase my quality of life. I don't mind paying all the taxes, but what sticks in my craw is that this money is not reinvested in transport & a five-a-day-BME-lesbian-dance-real-nappy-coordinator ain't going to give me a lift anywhere...

Yes, sorry. I am not being unrealistic. Yourself and AM make a very good point. In order to solve this we DO need fundamental changes to the system we currently use to transport goods and people around. I am lucky in that when I change jobs (which I have done twice since I was post-car) I move closer to the work - and on direct traffic lines. So there is a bit of give and take:

We need massive, targeted, structural improvements to our transport system. One that doesn't mean we pay huge subsidies to get better freight rail and passenger rail that immediately go into beardies pocket (amongst others). Labour have really screwed the pooch on this one.

We also (as individuals) need to think about how we can best serve ourselves. Live near work and the amenities we want (or near decent trasnport routes for them) rather than spend £400 a month on a car.

Better quality of life - what with £400 less in your skyrocket? You are having a giraffe. However, for some people I do realise that a car is an absolute necessity because of commitments. But do we really need to have two cars in pretty much every household in the land? Not on your nelly. Still those adverts, they are so DAMN convincing of that, aren't they?