Originally Posted by
dynodonn
bragi, $240 a month for fuel and maintenance is a considerable expense, and so is the $75 a month insurance. My average annual expense for my SUV is now under $500, with fuel, licensing, and insurance included. Last year's expenses were higher by an extra $400 for a new set of tires after 10 years of sun checking.(Still had a legal amount of tread)
I assume that your SUV is paid for, you only have liability insurance, and that you don't drive it very often. If that's the case, I don't see why it's a problem to own a car. If everyone were like you, the US would be a healthier, more livable, far richer country. In my case, I drove pretty much everywhere, and so had the expenses associated with a lot of driving, and borrowed money to get the car in the first place. My insurance was expensive because of an earlier car-free period. For reasons I don't understand, if your record shows a period of no car ownership and no insurance, insurance companies assume the worst, and you end up paying pretty hefty premiums if you resume.
For comparison, I quickly polled my car-driving friends about how much they spend per month on their cars, and not one of them came in under $450/month, or $5400/year, per vehicle. (Most have more than one car.) One guy does have an old Toyota pickup that only costs him about $300/year, but he only uses it for gardening purposes once in a great while, so he's wondering if it's even worth it to hold on to the thing.