Passed my test, bought a car and a VAT conundrum.

Last Wednesday I passed my test, just 11 minors (mostly to do with reversing). Strangly enough I got the exact same test route, surprising considering there are 30 routes.

So on Saturday I went for a test drive of an Aygo & Peugeot 107. I was surprised at the acceleration you can get out of a 998CL engine. The steering seemed good enough and I managed to start off in second from a dead stop at one point, which was rather amusing on a car that had only done 74 miles on it.

So I was left with a question, Aygo Blue or Peugeot 107 Urban Move, I had got rather a good deal with both, 750 (9%) quid of a Peugeot 107 and 420 (5%) quid of an Aygo. In the end I decided to go for the Aygo, it has fitted Bluetooth and a glove box (silly I know). I also really disliked the Urban Move blue seats, I knew it would annoy me for years to come, rather than being a dark unobtrusive colour. I went in on the Sunday and agreed to a car.

Monday left me with an interesting problem. VAT had dropped to 15%, would I still be forced to pay 17.5% since I’d already agreed and paid a deposit to the car? If I picked up and paid the remainder after December the 1st, would I get the 2.5% back? The 2.5% change of VAT was worth 161 quid (not including the on the road portion). I asked a few people and they weren’t sure where they stood, but then I asked the finance people at work. Later in the afternoon they forwarded the advice from the Revenue. The Advice is available here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2008/measure1.htm. To quote

Yes. VAT law (section 89 of the VAT Act 1994) provides that contract prices should always be adjusted where the VAT rate changes before the sale is made (unless the parties have agreed to a contract which explicitly removes the need for such adjustment).

So as long as I pay the balance and pick up the after the 1st of December, I should only pay 15% instead of the 17.5% of the balance (I did check that there were no clause against it). That’s 164 quid towards my 600 pound insurance.

Regarding the VAT decrease, I doubt the shops will actually pass on the VAT change, except in the bigger retail shops. The difficulty of repricing all items in a week must be a nightmare. There are also cases where an item is exactly £1 are they really going to charge 98p instead?. What about vending machines and other items.

Should I buy a car?

I’ve been trying to decide if I should buy a car or not after I pass my test, as usual I’m trying to calculate all this from a logical point of view. Ignoring financial considerations

Advantages of having a car

• A to B, without needing to go through C D E and F
• Less waiting around especially in the cold
• Don’t have to get from the train station to the destination
• Can go at any time I want, don’t have to wait for the schedule
• Can carry heavier goods.
• Cancellations are less likely
• Can always get a seat
• I rather like revving up to 70 mph.
• Only being able to get into Leeds twice an hour (once on Sundays) really restricts my timing.

Advantages of taking the train

• Doesn’t tire me out
• Can read a book or watch a movie
• Can get rather drunk and then take the train.
• Less polluting
• I rather like sitting down and relaxing.
• Can use the phone/browse the web.

I don’t intend to take the train from home to work and back, as they are both right next to a train station. When I go into Leeds I’d take the train as it’s not exactly a long walk to the train station.

None of those arguments are exactly knock out blows. While I’d rather I pollute less, wasting hours in a train station really annoys me. So onto the financial side of things (all prices return):

Place	Cost of Train	Time of Train	Changes	Distance in Car	Cost of Fuel for Car (1)	Time for Car
Moms	£47.30	Between 195 – 295 minutes	3	132 miles	£25.50	148 minutes
Dads	£44.50	Between 189 – 219 minutes	2	124 mile	£23.95	151 minutes

1 – I made an assumption that I could get 48 mpg out of the car and fuel would cost 4.64 a gallon.

The fact that taking a train to my mothers takes twice as long and twice as much money really leads me to think that getting a car would save me time (which in a way is priceless), I would have to make a lot of journeys to economically make up the insurance, cost of the car, cost of the road tax and all the other sundries, I’m concinced financially it isn’t entirely sensible. But the freedom to be able to go anytime I want, wherever I want is undeniable.

Two steps forward one step back?

While the election of Barack Obama is a great step forward for America, the news reports in the UK are overlooking the propositions in the States that are banning Gay Marriage. Some of the states such as Florida Gay Marriage wasn’t a reality, it was already setting into place the current state of their system. California however is different, many marriages already exist and changing the law to deny them their rights to marry really hurts all those who are already married.

This led me to thinking, why isn’t there an index for LGBT rights, like the Corruption Perceptions Index and the Freedom in the World report. So I started thinking what would you include.

I’d make a score of 0 mean that according to the law there is no difference, a higher number say 100 would mean that there is total inequality.

I’d split it into seperate areas, marked between 0 and 10, 0 being complete equality, 10 being complete inequality or completely illegal. I’d split the area into a set for men and a set for women (for items such as age of consent and such like).

So what areas would I consider

1. Marriage (Marriage the same as a hetrosexual couple would be exactly 0)
2. Age of Consent Equality
3. Adoption Rights
4. Anti discrimination Laws.
5. Transsexual Rights (change of birth certificate and the like)
6. Military Service
7. Restrictions on Public Discussion (Section 28 and the like)

I’d also be tempted to add items on Rape

So where would the UK be?

1. Civil partnerships. I’d say as it’s not called Marriage it’d be a 1
2. Equality of Age of Consent. Completely Equal 0
3. Adoption Rights. Completely Equal, Lesbians allowed to have IVF 0
4. Anti discrimination. Everywhere 0
5. Transsexual Rights. Right to change legal gender 0
6. Military Service. Fully allowed 0
7. Restrictions on Public Discussion. None any more 0

So a total score of 2/140. Pretty equal, what do we do with the placards now?

I might do some of the USA states and EU countries for a laugh over the next few days. I’m guessing most the USA states would be higher than a 2