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How much i save a month by being car free

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Living Car Free Do you live car free or car light? Do you prefer to use alternative transportation (bicycles, walking, other human-powered or public transportation) for everyday activities whenever possible? Discuss your lifestyle here.

How much i save a month by being car free

Old 12-23-10, 04:23 AM
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Originally Posted by LesterOfPuppets
I was curious about car rental fees, so fake booked a Nissan Versa Jan 7-10 at Enterprise. Dunno how much the ripoff insurance is. Rental came to $ 48.82 USD

Hard to justify ZipCar with rates like that.
I think the main idea behind ZipCar is convenience. For a couple of hours or so it is probably the better deal, they can literally be right around the corner from you, versus having to travel to the nearest Enterprise location to pick up a car. FWIW we quite often rent a car if we have to drive longer distances, it is more comfortable and easier on gas than driving our truck.

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Old 12-23-10, 09:26 AM
  #52  
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Originally Posted by graybeard
but we love our bicycles (9 of them), but we also luv our motorbikes(5 of them),we really love our cars (2 of them and one is a 2011 Mustang Convert) and of course we like our trucks too ( two of them one is a mini truck for our market garden farm and one is for our camper

...we don't have tons of money,
I don't think anybody here would argue you shouldn't have a truck for a market garden business, but it's hard to reconcile your claim not to have much money with your ownership of a 2011 sports convertible. Unless perhaps that's why you don't have much money....?
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Old 12-24-10, 01:25 PM
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Originally Posted by LesterOfPuppets
I was curious about car rental fees, so fake booked a Nissan Versa Jan 7-10 at Enterprise. Dunno how much the ripoff insurance is. Rental came to $ 48.82 USD

Hard to justify ZipCar with rates like that.
For a whole day or weekend, Zipcar is a ripoff for sure. But if you just need a car for a few hours, it's totally worth it IMO. My nearest Zipcar is one block away, literally steps from my front door. No need to sign paperwork or take public transit to pick up my rental car.
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Old 12-27-10, 02:30 PM
  #54  
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I'm adding $20 a month to the car free plus column starting January 1 by renting out my apartment parking spot.
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Old 12-27-10, 04:17 PM
  #55  
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Originally Posted by LesterOfPuppets
I'm adding $20 a month to the car free plus column starting January 1 by renting out my apartment parking spot.
That's fantastic, but I bet it's really worth a hell of a lot more than $20.
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Old 12-27-10, 04:22 PM
  #56  
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I could maybe get around $40 in this neighborhood but I love my neighbors, so I don't mind offering up the sweetheart deal.

Actually might be tough to move a $40 parking space around here. Even down in a fancy part of Portland folks have spaces for $85.
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Old 12-27-10, 08:40 PM
  #57  
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we own a bike shop (for 20 years on Vancouver Island) too , so we get in tons of bike riding, all kinds touring , commuting and mtb, plus we sell and fix them all day long... ( my wife is a retired nurse )... what better way to help our failing Canadian economy than to spend some money..( that we dont always have)... My favorite quote from another life is "you are a short time here and a long time dead"
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Old 12-28-10, 07:50 AM
  #58  
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Originally Posted by pacificaslim
That's right. Biking take me over 1 hour each way, while car is 15min each way. It's mostly highway at 6am, so 75mph or so, while on the bike I'd be lucky to average 15mph because of the 2000' climb (mountain range between beach where I live and Sf bay side where I work). I use an application on my iphone to track gas purchases so my numbers regarding that are accurate. I can do all my own maintenance and repairs on my cars and since buying this used car (2003 ford focus, now has 100,000 miles on it), I've driven it 20,000 miles and only maintenance has been oil changes, the alternator went out ($100 for part, self installed) and I just replaced the tires ($350 but figure that's only once every three years or so). Unlike the OP, I don't have a terrible driving record so my insurance is $600/year insurance.

As for time not being monetary, it is in the sense that if I had not had a car and been able to respond within our 30 min callout time, I'd have lost out on over $300 in overtime over the last two days alone. But regardless of that, I make plenty of money. What I want/need in my life is more time! Time saved getting to and from work is priceless to me. I just wouldn't enjoy riding to work over that route every day. I'd rather ride here on the beautiful coast!
If your time were really that invaluable then you would pay extra to move closer to work rather than drive to and from.
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Old 12-28-10, 08:04 AM
  #59  
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Then I'd just have to travel to and from the beach. We have a choice to make when it comes to where to live: live near our work and travel to where we play, or live where we play and travel to where we work. And the crazy thing about my situation is that it's actually cheaper to live on the beach than it is to live in the town where I work (Burlingame) or the adjacent towns to it.
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Old 12-28-10, 11:53 AM
  #60  
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Originally Posted by pacificaslim
Then I'd just have to travel to and from the beach. We have a choice to make when it comes to where to live: live near our work and travel to where we play, or live where we play and travel to where we work. And the crazy thing about my situation is that it's actually cheaper to live on the beach than it is to live in the town where I work (Burlingame) or the adjacent towns to it.
Well, it sounds like you have it all squared away and you're not going to be carfree or carlight any time soon. Best of luck to you.
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Old 12-28-10, 03:00 PM
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Originally Posted by LesterOfPuppets
I'm adding $20 a month to the car free plus column starting January 1 by renting out my apartment parking spot.
Too bad you can't move that spot to Boston, MA you could get 20 times that for it.

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Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"
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Old 12-29-10, 10:31 PM
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According to AAA, the average cost of car ownership in the US is about $8000/year. My own cost of car ownership is closer to $2400/year, but even that seems excessive to me, given the fact that I haven't actually put gas in my car since August. Regardless, it's pretty obvious that owning a car, no matter how little you use it, is a heck of a lot more expensive than not owning one. Even at my relatively modest level of car expenditure, that's two round-trip plane tickets to Europe every year...
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Old 12-30-10, 10:32 AM
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Originally Posted by bragi
According to AAA, the average cost of car ownership in the US is about $8000/year. My own cost of car ownership is closer to $2400/year, but even that seems excessive to me, given the fact that I haven't actually put gas in my car since August. Regardless, it's pretty obvious that owning a car, no matter how little you use it, is a heck of a lot more expensive than not owning one. Even at my relatively modest level of car expenditure, that's two round-trip plane tickets to Europe every year...
Bingo and for what? Convenience? I might need it one day?

To me owning a car should be an option and a personal choice, not mandated by others.

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ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.

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RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"
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"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"
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Old 12-30-10, 01:29 PM
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It doesn't take much too start an argument here does it
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Old 12-31-10, 06:22 PM
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Originally Posted by wahoonc
To me owning a car should be an option and a personal choice, not mandated by others.
I take it you're not married.
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Old 12-31-10, 06:46 PM
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Originally Posted by wahoonc
To me owning a car should be an option and a personal choice, not mandated by others.
Difficult to make that choice when society designs car-centric places rather than human-centric ones.
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Old 01-01-11, 09:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Caretaker
I take it you're not married.
Nope married and have two car free adult children

Originally Posted by crazybikerchick
Difficult to make that choice when society designs car-centric places rather than human-centric ones.
I agree and that is what I meant by mandate. Unfortunately living car free is not easy in our current society outside of a few choice areas. One reason I support things like Complete Streets and fight against sprawl every time I vote. (not that is seems to do much good )

Aaron
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ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.

"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"
_Nicodemus

"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"
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