Cost of Ownership

[carnut13]

I have just reurned from a very agreeable holiday that included a trip to Vienna. What has this to do with MB...well the cost of the Holiday probably ranks as one of the most expensive per day that Ive ever had, and Ive had a lot of Holidays in my life!

Coffee £4.50,slice of cake £6, beer £5,taxi fares £10-20 across town 5 miles etc...dont even think about the restaurant meals!

The £:euro exchange is to all intents and purposes now 1:1 and that makes for a horror bill; it made me think that costs in Uk of Euro products ( eg MB) will have to go up 60-70% if the exchange rate is passed on. It obviously cant for new cars as they cant sell many at the existing price ,but what of us captive audience who will have to fork out for spares?

This looks a gloomy story when you find your MB part ,(already quite expensive) gets a 70% hike!

watch out!

 

[Cole@MBS]

I have just reurned from a very agreeable holiday that included a trip to Vienna. What has this to do with MB...well the cost of the Holiday probably ranks as one of the most expensive per day that Ive ever had, and Ive had a lot of Holidays in my life!

Coffee £4.50,!

WHAT?? £4.50 for a coffee!!!!!

 

[television]

Thats cheap it cost more in Finland and the most expensive in the world is Iceland

 

[Cole@MBS]

Thats cheap it cost more in Finland and the most expensive in the world is Iceland

Remind me to book a holiday there then Malc

 

[television]

Remind me to book a holiday there then Malc

A coffee cost £6 last year in Reykjavik

 

[Jay Gee]

A coffee cost £6 last year in Reykjavik

Bet it's a bit cheaper this year though.One of the few countries that has an exchange rate in our favour apparently.As for Finland,lovely country so I'm told,nice people-I've met a few, but the language is totally undecipherable(even to natives I suspect).I mean who would use a phrase like Gi****(spelling?) as a toast? Sorry carnut,Vienna seems to have got lost for the moment.More tales,please.

Oh- forgot the sensitive filter,it'sGip*ss

 

[television]

Bet it's a bit cheaper this year though.One of the few countries that has an exchange rate in our favour apparently.As for Finland,lovely country so I'm told,nice people-I've met a few, but the language is totally undecipherable(even to natives I suspect).I mean who would use a phrase like Gi****(spelling?) as a toast? Sorry carnut,Vienna seems to have got lost for the moment.More tales,please.

Oh- forgot the sensitive filter,it'sGip*ss

Yes sorry carnut, but it is about travel

Back to Finland again, its the only country in the world that does not have 1 international word like Police, piano,Hotel etc

 

[carnut13]

Thats cheap it cost more in Finland and the most expensive in the world is Iceland

Been to Finland, been to Iceland....believe me when I said expensive. The cost for a coffee I quoted was a single expresso. Double Expresso ,cuppochino etc far more. The most expensive simple coffee at the Sacher Hotel was £7

I wasnt saying Vienna per se was particularly expensive but noting how expensive Europe now is due to the poor exchange rate

Our Govt has talked this country down the pan and royaly stuffed us!! and it wont help exports as we still have to import most goods in US$ or Euros. I see considerable INflation on the cards soon when these costs work through. We only have deflation as noone wants to spend their savings regardless of the low interest rate.

 

[AMGeed]

Just returned from Switzerland ( Berne) and prices are on par with Vienna.

£3 for 0.5ltr beer, Ham and Eggs breakfast £12 , Bus to ascend Bussalp mountain £15. The only reasonable pricing I found was train tickets on the superb railway system. The FX rate isn't helping.

 

[carnut13]

The £:euro exchange is to all intents and purposes now 1:1 and that makes for a horror bill; it made me think that costs in Uk of Euro products ( eg MB) will have to go up 60-70% if the exchange rate is passed on. It obviously cant for new cars as they cant sell many at the existing price ,but what of us captive audience who will have to fork out for spares?

This looks a gloomy story when you find your MB part ,(already quite expensive) gets a 70% hike!

watch out!

didnt want to get into a competition on the most expensive coffee in the world, thats the one you drink on your yacht!. This was more about the potential rise in price of MB parts and other Euro related products

 

[truthfindergeneral]

There is a simple answer, just don't visit those countries that see ripping off tourists as a national pass time.

 

[television]

There is a simple answer, just don't visit those countries that see ripping off tourists as a national pass time.

But even Spain and the Canaries are expensive now, the good thing for me is my pension that has gone up pro rata

 

[Birdman]

I don't think the exchange rate has yet dropped quite as badly as has been suggested. The Pound against the Euro have fallen by maybe 30%. The £/Euro midrange is about 90p to the Euro and a year ago it was about 70p.

I say 'yet'. But some of the Eurozone banks - and countries - are in serious trouble - and this may bleed across to the Euro itself.

I believe one of the Viennese banks is particularly precarious. Some of those Viennese Coffee Houses may not be in business much longer unless they learn to drop their prices.

"Austria's finance minister Josef Pröll made frantic efforts last week to put together a €150bn rescue for the ex-Soviet bloc. Well he might. His banks have lent €230bn to the region, equal to 70pc of Austria's GDP.

"A failure rate of 10pc would lead to the collapse of the Austrian financial sector," reported Der Standard in Vienna. Unfortunately, that is about to
happen"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...t-Europe-will-lead-to-worldwide-meltdown.html

 

[psmart]

One of the issues, like any tourist venue, is knowing where to go to avoid high charges. Sacher hotel (same as Demels), albeit nice, is very pricey and whilst they have queues they dont need to change. I follow a simple rule, if its where English go, dont go, if its where locals go, go.

I own property here in Salzburg and my folks regularly stay here, and general standard of living is much cheaper than back in Leeds. Its got tougher with the pound losing value, but they arent cutting back as they are still no worse off than living day-day in Leeds at the current rate.

 

[kheath74]

I agree, its not always the exchange rate but the vendors charges. I have just go tback from snowboarding in Les Gets in the Alps and the cost of a meal out is outrageous, 100Euros for two with wine, but the food is amazing and frenchie is never cheap.

However in the supermarket really good wine is maybe 6 euros a bottle, bread, meats etc are all local source and great value, so we cooked and ate in the chalet mostly and this was great value over the year before when we ate out most nights.

So a quick change of how we ate out there meant the more expensive euro made my boarding trip about the same price as last year and in fact the chalet was cheaper as I booked via a UK owner and they wanted the business so lower their rates.

Its a mixed bag, but if you eat in Hotels in the centre of european cities, watch out! Go Sofia, cheap as chips, classic 280 and 300D cars everywhere and the air has diesel in it like it did when I were a kid!

 

[PeterCLK]

Tourists are ripped off in the UK too.
Couple of weeks ago went to Windermere and bought a cup of soup from a shop in the centre (£0.85). This week (half-term week) it's £1.60.

 

[charlfourie]

I'd rather not comment here...
Cost of living in Cape Town in low when converting to Sterling or Euro, but for locals some things can be very steep. And I have heard from a lot of tourists who have been ripped off at hotels. Some places here have it in their heads to charge European prices for everything. Hell some places only accept Dollars, Pounds or Euro.

When it comes to Merc parts... well lets see if we can put it into perspective. Yesterday I bought a new air vent for the driver side of my W124. It cost me R100/EUR7.70/GBP6.90 which I rate was pretty cheap.

Today I tracked down a beautiful Becker front loader, having it installed on Tuesday, costs me R800/EUR62/GBP55 Which is also very fair.

A normal service on my 124 will cost about R500/EUR39/34 a bigger service about R1200/EUR93/GBP82 also very well priced I think.

 

[television]

I'd rather not comment here...
Cost of living in Cape Town in low when converting to Sterling or Euro, but for locals some things can be very steep. And I have heard from a lot of tourists who have been ripped off at hotels. Some places here have it in their heads to charge European prices for everything. Hell some places only accept Dollars, Pounds or Euro.

When it comes to Merc parts... well lets see if we can put it into perspective. Yesterday I bought a new air vent for the driver side of my W124. It cost me R100/EUR7.70/GBP6.90 which I rate was pretty cheap.

Today I tracked down a beautiful Becker front loader, having it installed on Tuesday, costs me R800/EUR62/GBP55 Which is also very fair.

A normal service on my 124 will cost about R500/EUR39/34 a bigger service about R1200/EUR93/GBP82 also very well priced I think.

Just shows the difference in labour rates,across the World. even ford in Sweden charge £150 per hour

 

[Lord Lucan]

Cup of Tea / Coffee 50p in Huddersfield

And a bacon sarnie with brown sauce is 99p.

Why bother with Iceland when you can come to Huddersfield - and be frozen too.......

 

[charlfourie]

I always find the best comparisons can be made with the things we all use often enough.

Can of coke R6/41p
Litre of fuel R6,37/43p

Anything else? hehe