Had a colleague that commuted Auckland to Tauranga in the company vehicle with company gas once. could explain some!
It's more the soccer Mums that drive absurdly thirsty people movers (Like Elgrands etc) often carrying only two kids and of course driving in the least economical conditions that amaze me. They just have no concept at all of what a car should cost to run. Funny thing is. it's often the same ones who are struggling financially and/or laughed at my running a Multpla and saving enough cash in a year for an overseas holiday vs their costs.
berg,
Sep 17, 5:06pm
Mrs Berg's run isn't quite that far but is 162km per day. She uses her motorbike because it's quick through the traffic and, if the weather is really garbage, takes Hondararri, our 1300 Jazz which runs on the smell of a greasy Arab. It's a trade off for us. Nice house with a river outlook near the beach, but have to travel, v small box in the middle of Wgtn that's noisy and cramped.
dublo,
Sep 17, 7:41pm
"Runs on the smell of a greasy Arab." Love it! Can I use it? (The term, not the car!)
,
Sep 17, 8:05pm
They buy a Nissan Leaf. I do 100km to work and back each day, costs me about $1.60 in electricity.
tweake,
Sep 17, 10:05pm
the affording it part is easy. what you save in house prices more than off sets the running costs. you save huge amounts by buying out of auckland and commuting. we have a lot from up this way traveling to auckland every day.
biggest issues is the added stress, the lack of time at home and tired drivers.
poppy62,
Sep 17, 10:17pm
At 10-20 hours a week stuck in a car traveling to work, equates to years spent in the car over even 1/2 a working life span.
richynuts,
Sep 17, 10:20pm
People who travel 1hr+ or 100kms + a day would be better of just buying a propety in the city, Unless they have a company car the $100+ a week they put in the fuel tank would be better off putting on a mortgage, the 2 hours a day in travel may even be better used in the workplace ie overtime, so in some cases living outside the city could in fact be costing thousands of dollars a year in lost income and capital gains.
franc123,
Sep 17, 10:33pm
Dead right, and that $100 a week is just fuel costs, not tyres or maintenance or wear and tear on your vehicle. Long distance commutes are stupid unless like you say someone else is paying the bill.
nice_lady,
Sep 17, 10:40pm
When you take into account that's about $5000 per year more on the mortgage and the consequent reduction in overall mortgage repayments, also the capital gain of the value increase of a property over time, and the actual and unpaid time spent in the car travelling it's quite possibly more economic to buy in Aucks - IF you can afford to do that for a start !
timmo1,
Sep 17, 10:41pm
not the Arab? :P
mrcat1,
Sep 17, 10:52pm
I live just north of Tauranga, but end up going to Huntly, Hamilton, Thames coast, Opotiki and Kawerau daily for work, quite often I'm also towing a heavy trailer with a drill rig, piling gear or small digger, I've just bought a brand new Ram for this exact job, nice and comfortable, heaps of room in the cab and also in the wellside, and has heaps of grunt so I just put it on cruise control, even coming down the Kaimais on the Tauranga side with the small machine on behind it's easy. Sometimes its a necessity to travel for some people if they are working at different sites all the time, bit different if it's their full time employment.
richynuts,
Sep 17, 11:07pm
Obviously if your self employed with earthmoving machinery you wouldn't want to be in the city. no doubt be a hassle storing your gear You would possibly charge from the moment you set off to job a site, so no big cost to you anyhow?
mrcat1,
Sep 17, 11:32pm
Can charge for the transporter, not really for my ute as well.
tweake,
Sep 17, 11:43pm
not at all. your relying on capital gain to pay for it all which may not happen.
if you stay in auckland your highly likely to be renting, so no capital gains there. if you buy in auckland its double or even triple the price (assuming its even possible to buy) and mortgage is going to be far greater. 200k mortgage say around $290 a week vers auckland 400k at around $580 a week. if you can pay 480 mortgage (100 for extra gas) you can pay off the cheap house in 11 years total cost of 270k compared to auck land house in 25 years total amount of 750k.
richynuts,
Sep 18, 1:21am
You dont need to keep a house for 25 years to pay off your mortgage, if you plan it right you sell high buy low. there was a property investor on tv not so long ago bragging one of her rentals in auckland was increasing in value at $10k a month. Average rent price in Auckland is no doubt $500+ a week so even if you were paying $500+ mortgage and the $100+ in fuel for the running costs you would be paying living outside Auckland you actually could go to a $600+ a week mortgage. What would you rather do spend 2 hours+ a day more in traffic or 2 hours at home or work? No brainer if you ask me.
tsjcf,
Sep 18, 1:35am
Talking to some of the Aucklanders that have moved down this way and now travel back in to South Auckland for work they are finding it quicker then coming from the North shore side. Cheaper property seems to give them a few more financial options if they want kids etc. As industries in Hamiton expand I suspect that more will head that way for work.
tweake,
Sep 18, 1:52am
playing the property market doesn't always work. plenty around here actually lost money. trying to give an even comparison without relying on property market to make money. the difference of a $100 is nothing. it would have to be somewhere in the 300-400 a week range to make it worth while to stay in auckland. the difference in house prices is simply to vast. edit: don't forget interest rates. a measly few percent increase is going to seriously hurt at auckland house prices.
the other thing of course is its a whole lot easier and most importantly quicker to save up for a deposit on cheaper house outside of auckland. be in your own home far quicker and not having to pay rent.
and yes 2 hours a day driving to work sucks. thats the price you pay.
supernova2,
Sep 18, 4:33am
That guy is travelling 1150km a week. Lets guess at what it costs per k. Fuel R & M loss of valve of vehicle due to huge milage so all up lets say 50cents a k So its costing about $5-600 per week. And he says he is renting.
Bloody sure an extra $500 per week would rent something reasonable in Aks.
If, and I guess, it is a company car then his boss is an idiot spending $500 pw he doesn't have to.
richynuts,
Sep 18, 4:59am
It is not only a $100 a week, your forgetting the hidden costs like oil changes 5 times a year, new tyres every 6 months, depreciation on car, in 4 years its done 200,000ks etc etc. I can work as many hours i want at my workplace 2 hours a day would be another $300 a week for me.
tweake,
Sep 18, 5:22am
fairly bottom end house for that price i would think. with an average house price in excess of 1 million, the rents will match it.
ianab,
Sep 18, 5:53am
That's an Extra $500 a week. Add that to the rent they are currently paying some place else, and it seems crazy.
Note, I don't live OR work in Auckland, for the reasons this topic brings up.
tweake,
Sep 22, 12:05am
the other thing is that even if you do live in auckland, you don't always get a job thats close. i have family in auck and it takes an hour for them to get to work.
lots of variables to conceder.
what really needs to happen is businesses to move out of auckland to places where labor costs are less (but workers costs are less).
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