Living Car Free - money..money..

:)
Well. I am car free..theres no going back..so I here will be my comparison on costs, between car(my case Truck) and bike/walk/busing
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Truck Annaul costs:
Insurance-$400.
Registration-$38.
AAA Gold-$75.
Oil change/misc-$180.
Gasoline (local)-$750.
Gasoline (trips)-$150.
$1593.00
DOES NOT INCLUDE REPAIRS/MAINT.

CAR FREE costs:
Intial startup (Hybrid bike,Cargo Trailer)-$500.
Misc safety/Gear/tools/etc-$100.
Rural Bus fare (primarly winter)-50 trips-$100.
Car rentals (3-4 times a year)-$500.
Money to friends,neighbors for rides(rare occurences)-$50.
Renters Insurance (to insure bike but also good for apt)-$120.
$1370.00 for first year...2nd year would be $870.

so bascially car free will cost me per year $900 versus $1600 (at least) for a vechicle.

Though I am not doing the car free lifestyle for money..which I am glad will save me at least $700 after the intial year..but I am doing it to be simple..to be free from the motor vechicle..and to be fit and be like a kid again..biking is great! one of the best inventions ever..

these fiqures are my best estimates, and may actually be a bit higher or slighty lower.

Feel free to add how much it costs you to be carfreeing!

Wow your car insurance is only 400 a year? cheap!

I'd take renters insurance off your "bike" calculation -- assuming you're paying for it anyway.

I would add to your comparison that on the "car-user" side there is an initial startup cost of purchasing a vehicle. (or if you have a broken-down vehicle, include the cost of repairing it... or if you already have a working car you'd expect to be able to sell it to pay for your bike and trailer so you could subtract that from the initial cost of being car-free.)

Wow your car insurance is only 400 a year? cheap!

I'd take renters insurance off your "bike" calculation -- assuming you're paying for it anyway.
actually its $286 a year in rurual,ohio..but that is only liability..I had the comprehisve.

Actually when I sell the truck for parts or a mechanics special..It will pay for the bike/trailer startup..but not really..as I have debt to pay from the trucks maintience:D

Overall..biking will save me money..plus I now have a excuse tospend more money on health food/organic!

Also consider annual depreciation on the motor vehicle. I was losing £1000 a year on my motorbike just cos it was getting older. Even if my bicycle is valueless now (which obviously it isn't), i've only lost £100 in four years!

I would think you'd be able to get 3-4 car rentals for less than $500. Obviously there are lots of variables with it (time, how much insurance you get, age, etc) but I'm 21 (so I'm in the most expensive bracket) and I've rented cars for a weekend for only $50. Just look around for specials on the internet.

Also, you might be able to buy a bus pass and save some money. I think they sell here for $30/6 mo.

Glad you got rid of your truck :)

I used an online commuter cost calculator (http://rideshare.511.org/calculator/) to calculate my expenses for commuting by car.

This calculator figures only the expnses for commuting, not the total costs of owning a car. The values I entered were hypothetical, since I don't have a real car. I used 25 mpg. My estimated price of fuel was $3/gallon. I have an extremely short commute (6 miles round trip), and I don't pay tolls or parking fees. So my car commute costs would be lower than those of most people.

Here is what the calculator estimated for my hypothetical car:


Apparent commute costs = $253.44.

Hidden commute costs = $848.23.




http://rideshare.511.org/calculator/