My parents, in their 80s, recently gave up driving and sold their car. And they live in Los Angeles! Where one would think you have to have a car to survive. But no, they’ve discovered they can manage just fine by walking, taking public transit, and the occasional Uber. If they can do it in L.A., one can do it in any big city.
Only in America would this wholly sensible option be considered “crazy”. Addicted to convenience?
Sounds great.
It’s very low risk. Worst case you find that your life is better with a car, and then you can go buy one.
Yeah I’d recommend this. I ended up hitting a deer a few years ago and my car was a write-off - I opted to go without a car for 6 months to see what it was like. I could walk/bike/transit to work, Car2Go exists for short trips in the central core of the city I live in, and I would rent a car on the weekends for trips out of town or for errands.
It worked pretty well, but ultimately decided to get a car for the convenience of always having one available when I needed it. If Car2Go’s could be found more reliably in my neighbourhood at all times of day, or if transit was better in my city, I might have held off getting a car, but playing in sports leagues around the city on several days of the week made it difficult to get by with just renting. YMMV.
I got rid of my car about five years ago, and miss it hardly at all. I thought I would rent a car 5 or 6 times a year, based on my previous habits, but it’s just enough of a hassle that I only do it once or twice a year. It turns out I don’t really need to go to the suburbs for shopping, and when I do just as a remedy for cabin fever, I make pretty good use of the suburban bus network. Having real-time bus arrival information on my smartphone has been a serious game-changer in that regard.
When I lived in Japan, I was without a car for most of the time. It wasn’t until I took up golf that having my own car became worthwhile.
When I first moved to Chicago my car was stolen. I lived near Lake Shore Drive and Addison, a very congested area, and I’d been spending 20+ minutes a night looking for parking, my insurance had gone up, and I discovered registering and owning a car was much more expensive than KY. I decided to try not owning one, which lasted about 15 years.
If you’re in an urban area that has access to buses, trains, and cabs, ime, you can get by without a car in the city. You might want to get a scooter as a supplement, as I found having a motorcycle was cheaper and easier than car ownership but helped for those times when public trans or cabs were impractical.
To fuel fumes, I think.
I think it says more about the quality of our public transportation. DC is the first place where I could really get around easily without a car. While some 80% of Americans live in an urban areas (by an IMO loose definition of urban) that includes places like where I lived in El Paso that was 2 miles from the closest bus stop, with buses that only ran once an hour and that could be nearly an hour late.
Yeah. Now I have a kid people are telling me I will need to get a car. I had one a decade ago but got rid of it as it was just a big waste of money. It takes longer to drive almost anywhere than taking public transport and is much more expensive. I don’t really want to go back to car-life. There are car rental services all over the place for when I really need one. Even the local Cainz [Walmart equivalent?] has trucks you can borrow if you need to take purchases home.
My name is friedo and I’ve never owned a car in all my years. It would be insanely expensive and inconvenient here in NYC and - I am told - in days of yore we had a public transportation system that was the envy of the world. Whenever I need to drive somewhere I rent a car, and that adds up to only a few hundred dollars a year, maybe a couple grand if I go on a vacation with driving.
We went a couple of years here in DC without a car, we used zip car and cars2go. We bought one when we started traveling a lot outside the city.
The fifteen years I lived in Chicago I didn’t own a car and never missed it. I would recommend NOT owning a car in that city. Yesterday, my sister and I went to Chicago and we took the train rather than drive even though we both own vehicles. Even when I went to visit relatives in Detroit and Buffalo, NY (same sister as is currently visiting) I took a train or plane.
These days, if anything it’s even easier to get by without a car in the US.
On the other hand, NOT having a vehicle where I currently am would be crippling. Despite 15 years without a car and not being particularly fond of driving in and of itself I now find myself with both a car and a pickup… but since they’re both paid for and running I’ll be keeping them until such time as they’re no longer fixable for a reasonable amount. But if I moved to a place like Chicago, with lots of mass transit, I’d go carless again.
I can survive in the US without a license! My wife does do the driving for many things, but I carpool or bus to work, ride a bike, or Uber places. (Have used a taxi, but it cost more)
It use to suck, but we moved to a place with better city transportation and less snow. It was a smart choice for us. I don’t see me driving any time soon.
Not driving was a crazy part of life 10 years ago, but it seems much simpler and normal now.
We’ve been without a car for about 12 years. Working from home for nearly half that and having three bus lines (one of which is weekday only) stop right outside our parking entrance plus a fourth a couple blocks away helps.
In your situation, I’d ditch the car if public transportation was good. I assume you’re going to want to go out of reasonable walking distance sometimes.
A car is a solution to a particular problem. There are other ways to solve the same problem, and each way has advantages and disadvantages.
For me, and maybe this is just me but I don’t think so, where owning a car really benefits me is not that it gets me to places - it’s that it eliminates having to plan all trips in detail ahead of time.
It sounds like the OP could get away without a car. But people keep suggesting renting one when needed - where would the OP park the rental(s) if forgoing the $250/month parking fee?
The idea is that you rent a car when you’re going out of town etc. Or you deal with the hassle of street parking if for some reason you need a car in town, although in most of those situations taking Uber/Lyft is probably a better option than renting a car.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Amortizing a new car is not the base to work with. Start with a 2 year old car and do the math from there.
I think the op should write down all the trips made and then compare what can be done with a bus for groceries and minor shopping. the remainder is what would be spent on taxi services and car rentals. If you’re going out with friends then buy them a round for picking you up.
Also, the trend for the delivery of EVERY SINGLE PRODUCT has become reality. Your need for taxi services will be pretty low.
I think it’s very doable.