It seems that you made a right call at the right time (for you)
But I wonder how much your average person actually spends on a
second hand car.
I certainly don't. My previous car cost me a little over £3000, I kept that for 5 years, and it cost me very little in maintenance.
less than £1000 in replacement parts, fitted, over the 5 years I owned it. 2x front springs, exhaust,( That was bloody expensive) water pump.
Should the worst happen, from the figures quoted, a replacement engine seems a lot cheaper than replacement batteries.
Everyone to their own, but they (EV's) are not for me, well not in this life time anyway.
I think even £3000 is a generous amount. There are a great many people who can only just afford to par £1000 for a car to get them yo work etc.
About 5 1/2 years ago my wife bought (well I did with her money) a Picanto, no rust and 12 months MOT, for £850, about 3 1/2 years ago it had a clutch, and this year I didn't do the work for MOT, so that is about £700 in the time we have had it.
She doesn't want to get rid of it but understands that any major expense needed will mean scrapping it
( the most economical cars in terms of capital are those cheap ones that have 12 months MOT
)
I am no longer working, and if my car gave up, I would have to buy a similarly priced car.
There isn't even the faintest possibility we could afford an electric car, and my guess is that there are millions in the same position.
There will come a stage when a
second hand petrol car and a second hand electric car will cost about the same, but unless that cost is much lower than now relative to earnings, there will be a major problem, as "public transport" doesn't exist, and what bus services there are are expensive and unreliable.
The other side of it I have been saying for years, is how is everyone going to charge their vehicles?
We are often now near to having little generation capacity in reserve, and the national grid needs a lot of upgrading.
Governments have dragged their heels in building new nuclear power plants, and looking at modular plants, either the RR one or pebble bed, both of which would solve the generation and distribution problem, but even if they woke up now, there will still be problems before they are ready.
It seems Sunak had seen it (or openly seen it, as others must have seen it) when he has been back peddling on the ending of ICE vehicles.
Every time there is an "answer" it just raises more questions.