InTheRain

It's not really for commuting to work. However, soon we will have two drivers and one car. We both seem to be going in different directions in the evenings (too far to ride a bike... freeway miles) so we need a car for those occasions.

The "new" car has 191,000 miles. I spent $3000. My boss mentioned that it was probably less than I spent on each of my bicycles... it's almost true! $2700 on my road bike, but nearly $5000 on my commuter (ebike.) I'm probably going to sell my scooter. I wonder which bike/vehicle will get the most miles this year??? I imagine it will be close. I'm thinking around 2500-3000 miles each.

mcours2006

Living in the suburbs it's difficult to not have at least one car, especially if you have children. If I didn't already have two cars before I started bike commuting I'd probably just have the one car...if that even makes sense to anyone reading it.

What kind of insurance do you have to pay for the single car?

InTheRain

I have 3 cars that I insure... $2400 per year. Most of that is due to having an 18 year-old driver. I won't drive a car regularly to work... it would be another $100 per month for parking. If you can get by with just a bicycle, you can by some nice cycling gear for the cost of operating even a 20 year old vehicle.

wolfchild

You should of posted this in LCF forum.

SloButWide 

I have a $3000 2006 Mitsu sedan as my only car, and pay $800 a year in insurance. YMMV, as it depends on the number of miles you tell them you drive, your age and sex (55 yo man) and where you live. It's worth it to me, because the car is paid for, and my kids live 100 miles away.

FWIW, I use the IRS mileage rate as an estimate of what a car costs. The estimate will be higher than actual for me, because the car is paid for and my expenses (insurance and repairs esp.) are low. Still, when I drove 1000 miles a month, I mentally charged myself $440-$500 dollars, and was happy that I "only" saw expenses of about $300 (fuel, oil changes, and insurance). The other expenses were hidden - mostly depreciation and an occasional large repair. The annual $1000 repair only hurt for about 3 months!

PatrickGSR94

My car that I've had for 16 years is getting fewer and fewer miles put on it, especially since I added my new e-bike into the commuter mix. Back when I first got a job out of college and lived with my parents while saving for a house, I was driving my car 100 miles a day, 36,000 miles a year. Now, in the past 6 months I've barely driven the car 2,500 miles. In the past 4 weeks I've driven my car maybe 400 miles, the e-bike over 300 miles, and over 200 miles on my road bike commuter.