My wife and I became 100% car-free last night when we
sold our car to CarMax. Apparently, a car dealer can
be just as impressed with a good detailing job as an
individual car buyer, since they paid us more than the
Kelly Blue Book suggested that they would pay us.

The taxi ride home involved a taxi driver speeding too
fast on an a highway of cars all whizzing along too
fast. The gaudy billboards stuck out in the night
like boils on a leper. The bumpy, unpleasant race
along the asphalt was a reminder of how much we don't
like riding in cars. It seemed like
appropriate closure.

We've put the proceeds from the car sale into a
special account set up for the explicit purpose of
buying a car if the need ever arises. This completely
pre-empts the question, "But what if you need a car
again?" And we may end up hiring a taxi maybe a half
dozen times a year, but we'll instruct the driver to
stay off of the ding-dang highway. (Fortunately, the
local cab company that we'd be most likely to use has
relatively sane drivers.)

You should put into that account every month at least an amount of money equal to your monthly car insurance bill. In addition, you could estimate how many miles a month you might drive if you had a car, and put the cost of the gasoline not used into the account. Also, perhaps you could add $25 or $50 a year to represent one or two oil changes.

Any car old enough to be paid for probably is going to cost at least $1000 a year in repairs, which is about $85 a month. You could prove or disprove that if you kept repair receipts. If you make it car-free long enough and eventually need to purchase one, you might be able to whip out the checkbook and buy one on the spot.

congrats. cars are so evil. I don't own a television, and I live in NYC, and have probably been in a car twice in the past 3 months. it feels WEIRD. and WRONG. I was watching family guy today (downloaded from internet) and like half of the scenes had them driving around in cars while the plot (such as it was) was unfolding. is this what people think of as normal? gah! how can people think of something so distasteful and full of negative externalities as a car, and not be repulsed?

it's like dostoyevsky said: "people are cowards, and can get used to anything." happy thoughts

I'm wondering how well I can detail my car and sell it now! What an inspiration! Seriously, wow! Hats off to you...and your wife.

I was riding in a co-worker's Volvo last week and I remember thinking to myself, "It's been while since I've been in a car, this feels like an airplane." I felt more sensitive to the inertia and momentum forces. Very strange.

"Simplicity is always a virtue. One kid on a riverbank working out a Stephen Foster tune on his new harmonica heard from the correct esthetic distance projects more magic and power than the entire Vienna Philharmonic and Chorus laboring (once again) through the Mozart Requiem or Bach's B Minor Mass."

- Edward Abbey

Congradulations. Put the money saved on insurance payments and gas into your retirement fund and forget saving for a new car.

Asking a taxi driver to avoid the highway and take city roads is even scarier! They zoom past lights and drive even crazier with traffic and parked cars all around!

not to talk **** or anything, but downloading tv shows and watching them on the computer rots your brain just as much as watching them on the old fashioned boob tube.

I don't own a tv anymore either, but it's hard to be tv free when every time you visit friends and family, they have the tv on. hang in there.

hey vicious cycle, "but what if you need a car again" is a question easily answered if you have a car-share service in your city. I think Chicago has either Flexcar or Zipcar. We had City Carshare in Oakland and now we use Flexcar in Portland. It's just dandy. Check it out.

ok, actually I just looked...looks like Flexcar uses a non-profit in Chicago to do car-sharing...very interesting.

https://www.flexcarnetwork.com/chicago-i-go/default.asp

so there's the answer to that question. And put the insurance money toward more bikes.!

Congrats. Welcome to outside the matrix.