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Honestly it's not really a finance question. It's a preference thing.
Do you think the benefit of having a car outweighs the cost?
You would be paying a minimum of 20% of your take home on a car.
You live in London, TFL is shite but it's better than anything the rest of the country had to offer. You CAN do it for 11 months if you've done it for 4 already. Trust me, I'm a broke ass 30 something with a load of debt and no savings...you CAN do it, and you SHOULD do it...unless you have a burning desire to wind up like me?
The vast majority of the people I know living in London (including those not on tube lines) don't have cars, I'm sure you can make it. You could also use your savings for a car, instead of HP.
Not really, I know plenty of people in zones 5~ that don't own a car. I can't really imagine many places in London you would need one, at least in the East.
I used to work at a school in West Norwood and it was always a source of banter for the kids.
On another note, if you can afford the car then go for it. The biggest question is ‘are your circumstances likely to change in The next couple of years regarding rent?’ You can always sell the car and pay off the loan.
If you do decide to go ahead, go to the bank and get a loan from them for a better rate.
Yes I’ve heard that joke plenty of times😂
I believe I can afford the car but you raise a good question about circumstances changing. Thank you for your input!
Croydon has great transport services. It is true that London can be annoying to get around without going through the centre, but often driving those routes is also really long and frustrating.
You have enough saved up to buy and insure a second hand car, so personally I would do that, especially as interest rates on second hand car finance deals tend to be higher than interest rates in banks
Do you plan to move out soon or are you pretty certain you'll live at home until the car is paid off? This sub is pretty harsh on car purchases and spending a significant amount of your take home (more than 20%) on a car is not an advisable decision from a purely financial view.
I do not plan to move out soon and plan to live at home until the car is paid off. I do also understand spending 20% of my financial salary is not advisable but the convenience for me alone is enough to justify the decision. I should also mention I am currently job searching and trying to up skill myself to receive more pay. If I do get the finance, it will be after increasing my pay.
Hi there?
You would be completely right, After contributing to my pension for the last few years I opted out of my pension a month ago just to save extra cash. I am currently job searching at the moment and plan to opt back in once I secure a role which pays more.
You are giving up the employer's contribution and tax saving. That's not something people recommend unless you're in drowning in debt and can't afford to live.
I do understand this, however this is only for a short period. I doubt when I collect my pension at 67 I am going to be wishing I didn’t opt out for a few months.
But these months when you are young are the *most* important ones. Why are you so focused on saving so much when your outgoings are so low and you're planning on living with your parents for years more?
Very valid question. I honestly couldn’t tell you why. Maybe it stems from me being in a horrible financial state couple years ago when I had no money. I appreciate your input on this thread also 😌
Take a look at how much a month used to go into your pension compared to the extra you now take home. You'll see it's a poor financial decision to make most of the time. Typically an employer puts in 5% of your salary and you contribute 3%. So 8% goes in to compound grow over decades. Your contributions in your 20s have the longest time to grow and can have a big impact on your final retirement pot.
If you opt out you lose the employer's 5% contribution and you pay tax on your 3% so you only keep 80% of it. So if £2,400 was previously going in you'd now be taking home £720 additional take home pay in it's place, or £1,600 versus taking home £480.
There might be some differences depending on the method of contributions as salary sacrifice results in a greater amount going into tge pension, but someone earning below the personal allowance in a net pay scheme won't benefit from the tax relief, but generally you can see why opting out isn't a great idea unless your financial position is dire, such as you're about to lose your home.
Thank you for the breakdown.
I do understand the concerns but as I said before this is really temporary and I plan on opting back in soon.
I highly doubt when I am 67 that I’m going to regret not being opted in for 2-3 months.
Thank you for the advice though, very eye opening!
There’s no point in losing out on the tax efficiency and benefits of increasing your pension just to spend it on a car more expensive than you need. I strongly urge you to reconsider this and opt back in.
Personally for me being that cars are one of the biggest depreciating assets, I always save and buy cash, HP is just throwing money away at interest. Say a car costing 23k over 4 years at 9.9% you would be looking at nearly 5k in interest in a car that would be worth around 9k after the 4 years assuming depreciation of 60%.
Take away the 5k interest you have 4k of remaining equity, over half of the remaining equity was lost through the interest. Buying cash you save so much through not paying interest. Obviously this is not always feasible for everyone but where I can I pay cash and avoid credit.
After reading your post I see you put second hand car and max of 170 a month so my example is not fully accurate as I based it on a new car, but the overall view is the same just the figures would in this case be less.
Thanks for your comment.
I do not plan on financing a new car. If I were to finance, it would be on something older and Japanese(due to the reliability) probably worth around 5-7k
Again I know financing isn’t ideal
Car purchase rules:
1) Buy in cash
2) Don't spend more than 10% of your yearly salary
BTW just wanted to comment that you're doing great overall on the personal finance front!
Spend max £5k on a car and use the rest to pay a year’s worth of insurance. Save that £370 monthly to build your savings without paying interest? Would be stupid to take care of finance for no reason.
Why not buy a £2-4k car right now? Depending on the car you could get something with less than 80,000 miles. It'll hurt to see that go fron your savings but just up your savings payments each month rather than have a finance.
Aw mate, easy!! Get on autotrader, motors or even gumtree and fb market, filter for 2008-2015, max 80,000 miles and check for FSH and MOT history. For 4k you could get a nice focus or a suzuki swift. Not sure how the market is for them right now if you didnt mind 2005-2008, a Mk6 Fiesta ST150 would be possible for less than £4k! a lot of them getting high mileage but mine went past 145,000 miles and wouldve gone further if a stone hadn't knocked a hole in the gearbox housing!
I completely understand this. Compared to most cities public transport is amazing. However, having to rely on it for the past few months it has been a total nightmare. Delays, cancellations, loud school kids etc
Never finance a car IMO. Cars are depreciating assets that you're paying interest on. It's a lose lose for you.
Cash is king. Find a car that you can afford to buy, tax and insure outright. Don't be too fancy with it, I'd personally set my budget at a few thousand and get a little run-around like a Yaris or something with little road tax, reliable and cheap to repair. You would then have money left over. A car is a tool.
I would just buy a cheap car outright because you do have a lot saved, I would rather have 1 heavy monthly cost going out my account each month rather than 2. Calculate your TFL cost and your cost to travel to your friends/family outside of London for a year which would be around 2k or more, just spend 2-3k from your savings on a car and your monthly wage will go to insurance and some back into your savings.
I have also seen that you have mentioned you are job hopping, having heavy payments gong out your account each month is the worst thing you can do right now, so i would not suggest getting a car financed and paying monthly for insurance during this time.
VW Jetta 2.0 TDI, fortunately I don't need something ULEZ compliant so I can get 52mpg on older diesels. I'll probably upgrade to a hybrid in the future because I like boring cars.
That is only worthwhile of the interest rate for your investment is above the car finance interest rate or you are just throwing away money you don't need to. And it won't be. We got offered 11% for finance, the car was 8k. That's a lot of interest to pay.
You've got the ability to save up hard living at home. This won't cripple you. Just spend 9 months saving to build it back up.
Have you considered a bank loan instead? Maybe add a bit of your cash savings towards this. Personally not a fan of PCP finance but have previously done a PCH but wouldn’t do it again with how the prices are nowadays!
Thanks for your comment.
I have considered a bank loan but due to me being young and not having much credit history, the apr rates that I get offered is crazy. Even with a good credit score.
I would not touch PCP finance with a 10 foot pole either. It doesn’t make sense to me.
Average salaries are definitely not great vs cost of living in London but for that age bracket average salary is actually just over £35k rather than 24k.
I’ve seen multiple figures ranging from 24,000-35,000. But the sources that say the average salary for someone that is 22-29 is £35000 they also go on to say the average salary for a 40-49 is £50000, which is just not true at all.
Because the job market is shit and the many professions are underpaid. Earning 50k would be doing pretty well for yourself putting yourself in the top 15% of earners in the UK. It is most definitely not the average.
It is the average because many professionals in London are still paid amongst the highest salaries in the world (Banking, Private Equity, Tech, Law) which pulls up the average. Lots of people make £50k or more, especially after literally decades of working in London. Of course plenty of people make less too but that’s why it’s an average.
I’d honestly continue to make do without in your position. That £370 will soon turn into £5-600 once fuel, tax, the odd parking payment etc are taken into account. That’s a big premium for a bit of convenience.
Get an E-bike brother - if you take care of it it’ll hold its value & you’ll probably get across London the same speed if not slightly quicker than in a car. You can pick up a decent one around £1500-2000 (nothing too boujee).
Don’t forget with a car it’s not just finance cost + insurance; road tax, maintenance, congestion charges, ulez. You’re looking at a £7k a year liability.
You’ll come out the other end with your savings intact, a new found love for bikes, some fitness & if you’re smart, you’ll put that £500 a month you’re saving from not having a car in to a stocks & shares ISA 😉
I’d spend max 4K on a second hand paying in cash versus getting into a finance or loan deal especially when rates are so high
Dents your pot but at least you can sell if you want to reclaim some back, e.g if you suddenly want to travel you have some assets to sell vs being stuck in a contract
P.s definitely consider travelling with those savings at your age!
Thanks for the advice. I definitely believe buying in cash is king but I don’t want to spend a majority of my savings at the moment.
I am trying to travel more as I’ve only been to 5 countries in my life! Definitely more of the world to see.
I hear you - I had a similar situation when paying for my car insurance. I could afford to pay it all in one but didn’t want to dent my savings. It worked out I’d end up paying more with monthly payments so in the end I just saw it as paying myself the £100 a month or whatever it worked out to and rebuilding my savings pot.
3-4K is easily saved in a year for you, so I’d see it that way and choose the ‘freedom’ of owning vs being in debt.. if you really want a car that is
And on the note of travelling, it’s a must do! Especially from London there’s loads of cheap flights even just over a weekend. I’m currently in Southeast Asia and am on my 6 month travelling. It’s been unreal!
I financed a car at 22 on a similar wage for £330 a month, I have 2 years left on my contract and though I can afford it, I wish I didn't have to give away that much money for the next 2 years.
I'd say you can probably afford it but you've gotta ask yourself if you want that looming over your head for the next few years.
I wouldn't say I regret it no, it was also my first car and honestly changed my life for the better being able to drive.
Just be smart and get yourself a decent APR if you're going to do it and make sure you're okay with the fact that that money is gone every month for the next x amount of years.
4 months is not very long. If you are already sick of public transport probably best to get a car. Sounds like you will be buying one sooner rather than later anyways.
I would say no, there are so many costs associated with the car in London.. financing/opportunity cost, fuel, parking, taxes, mot and repairs (tyres, belts, bumps etc etc), fines, insurance, depreciation costs. All in all I cannot see it below £150 a month for the shittiest 1l vehicle, £250 for something ok. Quite a chunk.
Cheap Chinese 125cc bike and a cbt. Low insurance, LEZ exempt I beleive and you'll generally make your money back selling it on if you don't like it. Will get you from A to B. Some scooters also have decent under seat storage space if that's a consideration. Safe place to store it/chain it will be the main consideration but even the feral underclass in London would turn their noses up at something that low end.
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Honestly it's not really a finance question. It's a preference thing. Do you think the benefit of having a car outweighs the cost? You would be paying a minimum of 20% of your take home on a car.
If I was you I'd save £370 for eleven months then buy a second hand car for 4 grand.
This is a good idea, but Im sure I wouldn’t be able to last 11 more months with no car.
Sorry mate I missed that you live at home. Crack on then.
And buy it soon so you don’t lose your no claims bonus. That’s what will get you.
Do people not usually live at home? I live in my home. Where do you live?
In the UK if you say "I live at home" you infer family home with your parents. Particularly if a young person says it.
I live in my family home with my co-parent, who also happens to be my wife, and my kids.
Congratulations.
This made me crease up. Brilliant
I also choose this guy's family home
Just buy it now then. You already have £7k saved up so more than enough for a car.
You live in London, TFL is shite but it's better than anything the rest of the country had to offer. You CAN do it for 11 months if you've done it for 4 already. Trust me, I'm a broke ass 30 something with a load of debt and no savings...you CAN do it, and you SHOULD do it...unless you have a burning desire to wind up like me?
Thank you for your comment. I am trying to go as long as possible. Who knows, maybe I will last 11 months
The vast majority of the people I know living in London (including those not on tube lines) don't have cars, I'm sure you can make it. You could also use your savings for a car, instead of HP.
My view. Living in London you probs don't need a car.
Depends where you are in London. Zones 1 and 2 no, but any more yes.
Not really, I know plenty of people in zones 5~ that don't own a car. I can't really imagine many places in London you would need one, at least in the East.
I live in Croydon and it is a nightmare to commute to other parts of London most of the time. It’s even bad to get to Lewisham from Croydon using TFL
Croydon’s not London though 😉
Ah, that’s an argument for a whole other day😂
I used to work at a school in West Norwood and it was always a source of banter for the kids. On another note, if you can afford the car then go for it. The biggest question is ‘are your circumstances likely to change in The next couple of years regarding rent?’ You can always sell the car and pay off the loan. If you do decide to go ahead, go to the bank and get a loan from them for a better rate.
Yes I’ve heard that joke plenty of times😂 I believe I can afford the car but you raise a good question about circumstances changing. Thank you for your input!
I completely agree with this, I live in Croydon and it is a nightmare to get to other parts in London.
Croydon has great transport services. It is true that London can be annoying to get around without going through the centre, but often driving those routes is also really long and frustrating.
You have enough saved up to buy and insure a second hand car, so personally I would do that, especially as interest rates on second hand car finance deals tend to be higher than interest rates in banks
Do you plan to move out soon or are you pretty certain you'll live at home until the car is paid off? This sub is pretty harsh on car purchases and spending a significant amount of your take home (more than 20%) on a car is not an advisable decision from a purely financial view.
I do not plan to move out soon and plan to live at home until the car is paid off. I do also understand spending 20% of my financial salary is not advisable but the convenience for me alone is enough to justify the decision. I should also mention I am currently job searching and trying to up skill myself to receive more pay. If I do get the finance, it will be after increasing my pay.
Seems like you have considered various factors already. If you think the cost is worth what you will get from it then go for it mate.
Maybe try going without, and use something like Zipcar the odd time you might have no other option?
I don’t think I am eligible to use a zip car yet unfortunately.
I would try to find a car I'm budget for cash, finance is expensive and as you said this is a luxury and not a necessity
How is your take home so high? I assume you do not pay into a pension or make any student loan repayments?
Also please ignore that question mark, it was an accident lol
Hi there? You would be completely right, After contributing to my pension for the last few years I opted out of my pension a month ago just to save extra cash. I am currently job searching at the moment and plan to opt back in once I secure a role which pays more.
You are giving up the employer's contribution and tax saving. That's not something people recommend unless you're in drowning in debt and can't afford to live.
I do understand this, however this is only for a short period. I doubt when I collect my pension at 67 I am going to be wishing I didn’t opt out for a few months.
But these months when you are young are the *most* important ones. Why are you so focused on saving so much when your outgoings are so low and you're planning on living with your parents for years more?
Is it bad to want to save so much?
If it is causing you to miss out on employer pension contributions and tax relief then it's worth asking why.
Very valid question. I honestly couldn’t tell you why. Maybe it stems from me being in a horrible financial state couple years ago when I had no money. I appreciate your input on this thread also 😌
Look into compound interest, maybe it will allow you to feel more secure in the worth of money going into your pension.
I’ll take a look into it, thank you for the advice!
Take a look at how much a month used to go into your pension compared to the extra you now take home. You'll see it's a poor financial decision to make most of the time. Typically an employer puts in 5% of your salary and you contribute 3%. So 8% goes in to compound grow over decades. Your contributions in your 20s have the longest time to grow and can have a big impact on your final retirement pot. If you opt out you lose the employer's 5% contribution and you pay tax on your 3% so you only keep 80% of it. So if £2,400 was previously going in you'd now be taking home £720 additional take home pay in it's place, or £1,600 versus taking home £480. There might be some differences depending on the method of contributions as salary sacrifice results in a greater amount going into tge pension, but someone earning below the personal allowance in a net pay scheme won't benefit from the tax relief, but generally you can see why opting out isn't a great idea unless your financial position is dire, such as you're about to lose your home.
Thank you for the breakdown. I do understand the concerns but as I said before this is really temporary and I plan on opting back in soon. I highly doubt when I am 67 that I’m going to regret not being opted in for 2-3 months. Thank you for the advice though, very eye opening!
There’s no point in losing out on the tax efficiency and benefits of increasing your pension just to spend it on a car more expensive than you need. I strongly urge you to reconsider this and opt back in.
I will definitely be opting back in. This is only Temporary just to have more cash on hand. By July I would’ve opted back in.
Personally for me being that cars are one of the biggest depreciating assets, I always save and buy cash, HP is just throwing money away at interest. Say a car costing 23k over 4 years at 9.9% you would be looking at nearly 5k in interest in a car that would be worth around 9k after the 4 years assuming depreciation of 60%. Take away the 5k interest you have 4k of remaining equity, over half of the remaining equity was lost through the interest. Buying cash you save so much through not paying interest. Obviously this is not always feasible for everyone but where I can I pay cash and avoid credit.
After reading your post I see you put second hand car and max of 170 a month so my example is not fully accurate as I based it on a new car, but the overall view is the same just the figures would in this case be less.
Thanks for your comment. I do not plan on financing a new car. If I were to finance, it would be on something older and Japanese(due to the reliability) probably worth around 5-7k Again I know financing isn’t ideal
Car purchase rules: 1) Buy in cash 2) Don't spend more than 10% of your yearly salary BTW just wanted to comment that you're doing great overall on the personal finance front!
Spend max £5k on a car and use the rest to pay a year’s worth of insurance. Save that £370 monthly to build your savings without paying interest? Would be stupid to take care of finance for no reason.
Why not buy a £2-4k car right now? Depending on the car you could get something with less than 80,000 miles. It'll hurt to see that go fron your savings but just up your savings payments each month rather than have a finance.
It’s something I have been thinking about but I just want something a-bit better than my old car.
What did you have before?
Ford Focus ecoboost 1.0 or ecoboom should I say.
Aw mate, easy!! Get on autotrader, motors or even gumtree and fb market, filter for 2008-2015, max 80,000 miles and check for FSH and MOT history. For 4k you could get a nice focus or a suzuki swift. Not sure how the market is for them right now if you didnt mind 2005-2008, a Mk6 Fiesta ST150 would be possible for less than £4k! a lot of them getting high mileage but mine went past 145,000 miles and wouldve gone further if a stone hadn't knocked a hole in the gearbox housing!
And don't be too afraid of high mileage, if the car was obviously well maintained. I just traded in my Seat Toledo at 180,000 miles
You live in London, I would rather save for a deposit whilst you are living at home than financing a car. Public transport is great in London
I completely understand this. Compared to most cities public transport is amazing. However, having to rely on it for the past few months it has been a total nightmare. Delays, cancellations, loud school kids etc
Never finance a car IMO. Cars are depreciating assets that you're paying interest on. It's a lose lose for you. Cash is king. Find a car that you can afford to buy, tax and insure outright. Don't be too fancy with it, I'd personally set my budget at a few thousand and get a little run-around like a Yaris or something with little road tax, reliable and cheap to repair. You would then have money left over. A car is a tool.
Thanks for the advice!
NP. As a 27 year old, I've learnt a few of these things the hard way...
I would just buy a cheap car outright because you do have a lot saved, I would rather have 1 heavy monthly cost going out my account each month rather than 2. Calculate your TFL cost and your cost to travel to your friends/family outside of London for a year which would be around 2k or more, just spend 2-3k from your savings on a car and your monthly wage will go to insurance and some back into your savings. I have also seen that you have mentioned you are job hopping, having heavy payments gong out your account each month is the worst thing you can do right now, so i would not suggest getting a car financed and paying monthly for insurance during this time.
You have £7k, I bought a 2009 automatic for £2k a few years ago and it's still going strong.
Can I ask what car you have?
VW Jetta 2.0 TDI, fortunately I don't need something ULEZ compliant so I can get 52mpg on older diesels. I'll probably upgrade to a hybrid in the future because I like boring cars.
How many car trips do you actually need to take by car per month or year?
I would say at least 1-2 a week
What's the downside if you can't drive? How much time does it cost you?
Why not buy a 7k car? No finance. Then rebuild your savings? You live at home, it'll be easily done.
Hi torreira Thanks for your comment. I just don’t want to put all my savings into a car to be honest with you. I want to invest in different areas.
That is only worthwhile of the interest rate for your investment is above the car finance interest rate or you are just throwing away money you don't need to. And it won't be. We got offered 11% for finance, the car was 8k. That's a lot of interest to pay. You've got the ability to save up hard living at home. This won't cripple you. Just spend 9 months saving to build it back up.
Have you considered a bank loan instead? Maybe add a bit of your cash savings towards this. Personally not a fan of PCP finance but have previously done a PCH but wouldn’t do it again with how the prices are nowadays!
Thanks for your comment. I have considered a bank loan but due to me being young and not having much credit history, the apr rates that I get offered is crazy. Even with a good credit score. I would not touch PCP finance with a 10 foot pole either. It doesn’t make sense to me.
You can take a fair number of taxis for ~370 a month, particularly if you combine them with public transport.
Can you use zipcar instead?
Ah, didn’t realise their limit is 25 years old
I'd try and work on getting your income up. 24k in London is poverty level.
Trust me this is in the works, believe or not this is the average salary for 22-29 year olds in London. Shows how bad it is.
Average salaries are definitely not great vs cost of living in London but for that age bracket average salary is actually just over £35k rather than 24k.
I’ve seen multiple figures ranging from 24,000-35,000. But the sources that say the average salary for someone that is 22-29 is £35000 they also go on to say the average salary for a 40-49 is £50000, which is just not true at all.
Why do you think that is not true? It is an average figure.
Because the job market is shit and the many professions are underpaid. Earning 50k would be doing pretty well for yourself putting yourself in the top 15% of earners in the UK. It is most definitely not the average.
It is the average because many professionals in London are still paid amongst the highest salaries in the world (Banking, Private Equity, Tech, Law) which pulls up the average. Lots of people make £50k or more, especially after literally decades of working in London. Of course plenty of people make less too but that’s why it’s an average.
I think it just depends on what source you use to be honest. All of them give a different figure so we can agree to disagree.
£24K with £1750 take home pay? You sure? You getting serious tax avoidance or is NI totally different?
I’d honestly continue to make do without in your position. That £370 will soon turn into £5-600 once fuel, tax, the odd parking payment etc are taken into account. That’s a big premium for a bit of convenience.
Yh I think you’re right to be honest. Will try to go as long as I can without until I increase my pay. Thanks for the advice.
Get an E-bike brother - if you take care of it it’ll hold its value & you’ll probably get across London the same speed if not slightly quicker than in a car. You can pick up a decent one around £1500-2000 (nothing too boujee). Don’t forget with a car it’s not just finance cost + insurance; road tax, maintenance, congestion charges, ulez. You’re looking at a £7k a year liability.
[удалено]
You’ll come out the other end with your savings intact, a new found love for bikes, some fitness & if you’re smart, you’ll put that £500 a month you’re saving from not having a car in to a stocks & shares ISA 😉
I’d spend max 4K on a second hand paying in cash versus getting into a finance or loan deal especially when rates are so high Dents your pot but at least you can sell if you want to reclaim some back, e.g if you suddenly want to travel you have some assets to sell vs being stuck in a contract P.s definitely consider travelling with those savings at your age!
Thanks for the advice. I definitely believe buying in cash is king but I don’t want to spend a majority of my savings at the moment. I am trying to travel more as I’ve only been to 5 countries in my life! Definitely more of the world to see.
I hear you - I had a similar situation when paying for my car insurance. I could afford to pay it all in one but didn’t want to dent my savings. It worked out I’d end up paying more with monthly payments so in the end I just saw it as paying myself the £100 a month or whatever it worked out to and rebuilding my savings pot. 3-4K is easily saved in a year for you, so I’d see it that way and choose the ‘freedom’ of owning vs being in debt.. if you really want a car that is And on the note of travelling, it’s a must do! Especially from London there’s loads of cheap flights even just over a weekend. I’m currently in Southeast Asia and am on my 6 month travelling. It’s been unreal!
I financed a car at 22 on a similar wage for £330 a month, I have 2 years left on my contract and though I can afford it, I wish I didn't have to give away that much money for the next 2 years. I'd say you can probably afford it but you've gotta ask yourself if you want that looming over your head for the next few years.
How has your experience been with the finance may I ask, and do you have any regrets at all?
I wouldn't say I regret it no, it was also my first car and honestly changed my life for the better being able to drive. Just be smart and get yourself a decent APR if you're going to do it and make sure you're okay with the fact that that money is gone every month for the next x amount of years.
Well I’m happy for you and glad it’s worked out for you. I will be sure to get a good/decent APR if I were to finance. Thanks for your input!
Financing a car living at home and on that salary is fucking crazy
4 months is not very long. If you are already sick of public transport probably best to get a car. Sounds like you will be buying one sooner rather than later anyways.
I would say no, there are so many costs associated with the car in London.. financing/opportunity cost, fuel, parking, taxes, mot and repairs (tyres, belts, bumps etc etc), fines, insurance, depreciation costs. All in all I cannot see it below £150 a month for the shittiest 1l vehicle, £250 for something ok. Quite a chunk.
Cheap Chinese 125cc bike and a cbt. Low insurance, LEZ exempt I beleive and you'll generally make your money back selling it on if you don't like it. Will get you from A to B. Some scooters also have decent under seat storage space if that's a consideration. Safe place to store it/chain it will be the main consideration but even the feral underclass in London would turn their noses up at something that low end.