Commuting - Single Car Family

Okay. I had threatened to start this thread earlier, so here goes.

I am considering selling one of our cars, leaving us with one between my wife and I. I almost always bike commute, ride my bike or walk to the store, etc. My wife is a stay at home mom, although she occasionally has some work she does out of the house. Also, we have a two year old and have to consider getting him from point A to B.

Especially given that my wife does not work, I think a single car approach could work for us. We'd be closer to a carfree livestyle with minimal impact. Sure, its possible to go completely carfree, even with a 2 year old, but the wife would never agree to that. Besides, I like the flexability that having a car would give us. I travel a good bit, and she could still take me/pick me up from the airport (although taxis are an alternative here). If I'm sick or under the weather, she can pick me up (although I'd usually take sick leave anyway in this case). I don't ride in lightning storms--and she would gladly pick me up to keep me from having to do so as well. Plus, we'll use the car for out-of-town trips (we could rent a car as an alternative here).

I just don't see a downside to this. I already ride most of the time, except when I going somewhere with 'the family' in the car. So why do we need two? I might as well get rid of one and save the taxes, tags, maintenance, insurance, etc. (possibly to finance that new titanium wonder bike?)

I can't see where this would not be a great option for many families. Comments?

Dave

As a member of a one car family, I can tell you one car is more than enough. My live-in GF owns a car, but she takes the bus to work and I cycle to work, so the car is only used for errands and the occasional out of town trip. Unless both spouses have lengthy commutes to work two cars is not a necessity.

So, go ahead an sell the other car and I am sure you will find you won't miss it one bit.

As a full time commuter for one year alll I can say is "free your mind and your ass will follow".

I say do it. You may want to give it a trial run. Set the one car off to the side of the driveway for a month and don't use it. A car that hardly ever gets used is a huge waste of money.

Hayneda,

You have to decide this one yourself.

My parents always had only one car, proud of it. I was raised that way, born in 1959. My dad rode his bike to a bus stop, or walked to a closer one, for many years. He's a healthy older man, now (79 years old,) living in Estes Park, Colorado, in the heart of the mountains.

I gave up driving to work a long time ago, myself. One car is enough for me! I love being free...you can always buy back into the car culture--they'll welcome you with open arms (and loans, too!)

I'm in the same boat. We have two cars (one of which is paid for) and my wife is a stay to home (Work at home) mom with our 2 year old daughter. We seem to always have one car in the driveway, meaning we only are using one car at a time. Since one of the cars if paid for I wouldn't be saving as much as some, but I still figure it would be about $1500+/year if we got rid of the one that is paid off.

I'm not a commuter yet, but I'm planning on it very soon. Maybe as soon as we sell the car. I know we are going to do it, so I say go for it. If it doesn't work out you could aways use the money you would be saving to buy another car. It is just a car, afterall.

There's my 2 cents,
Dustin

Let me know how it goes.

Originally posted by hayneda
I am considering selling one of our cars, leaving us with one between my wife and I. I almost always bike commute, ride my bike or walk to the store, etc. My wife is a stay at home mom, although she occasionally has some work she does out of the house. Also, we have a two year old and have to consider getting him from point A to B.
Particularly since your wife doesn't have an "outside" job, it's almost a no-brainer. Even with a working wife and a child, we were a one car family for 14 years. It will cause you and her the occasional minor inconvenience, and you'll put more miles on the one car, but you'll save a bundle of cash. If you're nervous about it, take thbirks suggestion and do a trial run. You're probably going to wonder why you didn't do it sooner!

We are a one car family (by choice), I work full time and normally cycle the 13 miles to work and back. My wife works part time and could cycle, but prefers to drive as there is no public transport to suit, and as we have dogs she limits the time they are left in the house.

The car is mainly used by her for shopping and work, and often we don't use it at the weekend, unless we are taking the dogs somewhere.

i think we would be better off with no car, just hiring one when needed. (Difficult to get a taxi to take a dog to the vets!!)

Speaking from personal experience, you might find it a little easier to keep the car for a while but not use it before you get rid of it completely. Try this: I don't know what the insurance and registration laws are in your state, but in Oregon you can put your car on "storage" insurance for as little as $15/month as long as you keep it off-street and never drive it. "Storage" insurance is basically a comprehensive policy that only covers damages to the car if, say, your house burns down with the car in the garage or somebody steals your radio while it's sitting in the driveway. That way the state won't revoke your registration when they find out you're not insured for road use anymore. All it takes to put the car back on the road if you feel that you need it again is a quick call to your insurance company to reactivate your full policy.

Just an idea. Go for it!

We've been officially a one car family for about two years (and kept one car in the garage without moving it for almost a year before that). Both my wife and I work, and we have two kids (2 and 4) in daycare and preschool to contend with - so sometimes it is a bit of a hassle, but we live close to both our jobs and the kids' schools, so most of the time we work things out with just minor inconveniences. The biggest hurdle we faced was my wife's having to get used to taking the shuttle rather than driving to the airport (she travels for her job quite a bit).

The one thing I want to bring up about the idea of storing the car - if you decide to go that route, make sure you go out and start it up at least once a month, pump the brake pedal several times and (if it is a manual with a hydraulic clutch) pump the clutch a few times as well. I didn't, and when, after a year I went to start it up so the woman who wanted to buy it could test drive it, the brakes were so stiff and the clutch was so sloppy she said no thanks and left. Once I pumped both pedals several times they started to work properly, and I did manage to sell the thing two weeks later - but it was a pain in the a$$.

Dave,

There might be another factor you should look into to convince your wife to sell the second car. Look more closely into using taxis.

For example, when you feel sick, you could call a cab. Likewise, if there is a thunderstorm, you might either wait 5-10 minutes or call a cab. Same thing if both of you need a car.

Taxi rides seem awfully expensive, especially if you add these to your regular budget. However, since even the typical paid-for car costs $1000-2000 per year when sitting in the driveway, you could pay for a lot of taxis with that money.

Besides, in some cases, a car/bus combination might work -- either your wife drives you or you take a taxi.

Regards,

All of this car free talk is starting to inspire me. We have two vans. My wife works next door to our home and my work is only a couple of miles away. I think I will ride my Mountain bike to work tomarrow. Thanks for the inspiration.
Andrew;)

Andrew, welcome to the forums, feel free to report your commuting in another thread here, "How Was the Commute Today?" (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7855).

First let me say that I appreciate everyones comments here.

I have already done the "pretend I don't have a car" deal where I parked it for a month. That worked out great--and in fact that was the only way that I convinced my dubious wife that one car for the family was very doable.

Currently, we are temporarily in an apartment waiting for our new house to be completed. As soon as we move in, I plan to sell 'my' van. But until then, it will be very useful for the move. So look for me to pronounce my carfreeness next month! Although as I mentioned before I'll really be a bit of a cheater since I'll still have half a car.

Dave

I would love to shed one of my cars, but am still trying to wrestle with how best to do this. I rarely drive my car to work, but I do have to drive long distances weekly to see my children. They live about 90 miles away. My thought was to rent a car for these trips (my fiance is a vet and her hours would not allow me to grab the car from her once she got home....likewise there is no mass transit she can take care of). The local car rental places have specials for frequent rentals, but I would still be looking at about $20 per day and would have no guanranty I could obtain the rental unless I committed more than 5 days prior to the rental. I understand the true cost of a car far exceeds the loan payment, but I wonder if $260-$300 per month in car rental is going to yield a tremendous savings....need to think about this some more.

Perhaps others have had similar driving requirements and have found a workable solution. I welcome your thoughts.

tchazzard,

yeah, i was in a similar situation in Portland Oregon where i used the bike for commuting and everything in the city, but still needed something for long distance travel... there is a train that goes north to Seatle and south to Eugene and CA, but not much else...

i now live in Germany where the excellent train system is the answer plus i belong to a "Car Sharing" organization where i pay like $4/month and can call and reserve a car any time - basically it's renting w/ a membership and thus less paperwork and 24hr automated checkin/checkout (with electronic cards and an account)... i have been a member for 1 year now and have used it once to go to the mountains to go skiing and once when i moved ($20 for a moving truck for the day)

there is a car-sharing company in Portland (and i think a few other US cities) and it's a good deal for short trips (like shopping or transporting you dog or whatever).like renting, the insurance and repairs and everything is included, so i only pay for these when i use a vehicle (other than low the monthly fee). but for longer trips it's close to the same cost as renting a car... so even if your city has one, it may or may not fit your needs.

in Oregon, i ended up keeping my car parked and driving it about 2 times per month (also good to drive at least a little or you have gas and fluid problems and buildup from non-use). but, i got my auto insurance reduced by listing my vehicle as a "recreational vehicle" since i did not use it for my everyday life, but only for leisure trips (and this was true - i only used it for out of town trips and the occaisonal time when i needed to haul something bigger than would fit in my bike trailer). of course, you can also save by getting a really inexpensive car; since you drive less you will have fewer mechanical problems and repairs, although they can still be significant -- e.g. if you loose a clutch or transmission or whatever it's still expensive, although you can usually take your time getting it fixed since you don't rely on the car every day...

personally, i belive AUTO INSURANCE should be linked to the miles you drive: either by paying at the pump or by some form of confirmation by the insurance companies (every 6 months checking your odometer?). the current system of PAY and then drive as much as you want encourages driving more as you have already incurred the fixed costs (also of car registration). i would also think that those who drive more miles are more likely to have claims/collisions b/c a car at home in the garage is a lot less likely to be involved in a collision. personally, i think driving miles is also one of the reasons males pay more for auto insurance and also why the gap has been decreasing (b/c females are driving more of "their share" in the last 10-20 years)

My daughter took my car to an out of state school, so now my wife and I are down to one car. I live in a downtown area, so I ride my bike to work, to the bank, post office, etc. In one year, I estimate I ride the bike for these purposes at least 500 miles, within a five block area. I can make it to a downtown bank faster than any car can do it, because I don't have to find a parking space. For additional recreation riding, I can be out on a low-traffic country road in five minutes. I try to get in at least 50 miles a week recreational riding, but don't always accomplish this. I did do my first century last wekk, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. It took 7.5 hours, and I averaged just under 14 mph. Not bad for a 64 year old!