I’ve had a good week. My work treated me to tickets to England v Scotland at Twickenham. It was an astonishing game which will stick with me for the rest of my life. I really do wish my Dad had a chance to see it. It would have been an expensive day save that my company will pay for it. Can’t get better than that?!

As for my FIRE quest, I’m feeling much better. My cash flow has improved, people have paid their bills to me and I have the cash to get me to the end of the month.

One crazy development is that I’m now seriously considering selling my car. I absolutely love my car. It’s a BMW M135i which had a 3.0l twin turbo straight six engine. It is terrifyingly quick and I enjoy burning away at traffic lights and surprising the hell out of Porsche Boxter drivers and the like. I bought the car the week my father passed away almost as a distraction from the extreme grief I was feeling. I was thinking about getting a car but never could bring myself to do it. I think Dad dying made me think ‘fuck it life’s too short’.  I got it on a PCP finance deal and have paid £299 per month since then. That has been ok generally. However, I realised this week that the total cost of the car is around £470 a month once insurance, tax, servicing and fuel are taken into account.

That got me thinking, even if I got an Uber twice or three times a week, there would be no way I would spend that much. This car has always been a luxury, and one I very much enjoy, but looking at the hard facts of the money it is costing me, it is very hard to justify keeping it under the new FIRE routine.

One of the first FIRE blogs I read talked about a chap who had to talk his wife out of keeping their BMW. He explained that this was very challenging to do as she did not wish to give it up. I now find myself in the same position. It’s hard and I don’t want to get rid of it, but I know doing so will accelerate my goals. I have driven that car across Europe, to Scotland and Deven. It’s part of me. It’s freedom. I’m giving up more than just the monthly payment.

So I could sell it to webuyanycar.com or similar. I don’t know what to do at this point. I believe the outstanding loan is about £12500, and the value they would give is around the same. I could also leave it until the finance runs out in a year and hand it back. However, that may also have costs that I haven’t anticipated such as servicing etc.

Ultimately, it’s just a car. I can always get a different car later. Or I could just use my bike. Anyway, I’d be interested to hear what people think about this.