RadioFlyer

just curious about your experiences so far.

We sold my car a month ago as I've been riding to work for a few months.

I'd like to hear about any pitfalls (and possible solutions) that y'all have experienced with one car for a family (we have a toddler and an infant).

rockmom

We are a no car family, but belong to a car share. The kids are 8 and 11 now. But racking my brain leads me to the conclusion that scheduling appointments was always the most annoying when they were little. Eventually, we hit upon just taking either the whole morning or the whole afternoon off and running all the annoying errands we prefer to put off.

gerv 

There are lot of people in one car families on LCF.

I started riding the bike a lot 6 six years ago and my car usage has been practically nothing for the last 2 or 3. I've pretty much figured out how to do everything I need to by bicycle.

However, we do have a car and my wife uses it a lot... although even she is driving less than 5 years ago.

The secret to being able to reduce car usage is to take advantage of other transportation. So I ride a bike, but I have also studied bus routes and use them when I can't bike.

I really can't think of a lot of disadvantages in going from multiple to single cars. The drop in expenses is just one thing.

I didn't do all this overnight either, but selling the other car was a great thing. It cleared up more garage space for our bikes, too.

flippinsweet

We have been a one car family for few years, married with 2 near teenage kids. We plan our entire week on Sundays, including what trips need to be done in the car. I ride my bike to work 3 days a week, and carpool the other. We put very few miles on the car. When we do use the car, we seem to run every possible errand and chore that we can find. It is very efficient that way.

Some suggestions:
1. Get spare keys made up, and keep them with you, b/c if you get locked out then you might be really stranded.
2. Get a good bike rake, or make sure your bike will fit in the trunk. It is nice when you might need to be picked up from work / school or meet your spouse somewhere.
3. Be happy not spending the extra money on the extra car expenses.

RadioFlyer

How does a car share work?

Do you ever have to take the kids some place and think that you wish you had a car? Do you have to visit family that's more than a 10 mile ride? We have at least a handful of family holidays a year where we're leaving at the kids' bedtimes and I'm not sure how we could handle that.


Great advice, thanks! I'll start researching buses and trains to see how we can use them.


Good stuff! We don't have a bike rack for my wife's car and we sold my roof rack off with my car when it sold.



And yeah, I think the relief alone of not having a second outweighs the advantage it gave us. We're regularly concerned about when either vehicle was going to need serious work. At least now, I don't have to worry about whether one or both cars will have issues going to work since I feel much more in tune with my bike and what maintenance it needs.

sauerwald

We are a one car family. When we sold my car two years ago, I was sure that there would be times when I would need the second car, and made sure to scout out where I could rent a car, close to our house. I have not yet had to take advantage of that. I do wish that there were a car share program available - if Zipcar or something similar existed, we could probably get rid of the other car and go completely car free.

xtrajack

We, my wife and I, have been a 1 car family since Jan. My wife has missed my ex-truck more than I have. She still has her van.

rockmom

This is our car share:
https://www.communitycar.com/
We use it for appointments or day trips.

For overnight or longer car trips we rent a car from Budget since they are convenient to our place of employment and we get a discount through our car share.

gerv 

How many car can she drive at once? Perhaps she will be convinced when she has 1) no repairs bills for the truck and 2) considerably less gas, licencing and insurance costs. Are you making her aware of all this? You probably need to.

RadioFlyer

I'm glad it's working for you and that you haven't needed a rental yet. I would hope to avoid needing a rental.

lol

that's pretty cool!