Can we go CARLESS in OMAHA, NE?
My fiancé (M), her son (P) and I (K) became a one vehicle family in March 2015 and haven’t looked back. This past month we found out that the transmission in our only vehicle (paid in full, 2001 Mazda 626) could go out any day (it clunks pretty bad) and probably isn’t safe to drive, especially at highway speeds. Fortunately, even when the car is mechanically sound, it is only driven 1-2 days per week for groceries(1.7 miles one way, but they deliver now for free is we spend over $100!), church (2 miles) and errands(distance varies), family fun (going to movies, museums, etc-distance varies). We are strongly considering going 100% car-less (we like to think of it as car-free!) I write this post for feedback and advice from our fellow Mustacians about going car-less in OMAHA, NEBRASKA. The winters are cold, snowy and windy. Year round bike commuters here are rare, but they do exist.
We are VERY fortunate to live along a major bus route and so close to work, school, grocery stores, and church! M is a full time student and is able to commute 1.3 miles to school by bike or bus (free student bus pass that is good Mon-Sat all school year, excluding winter break). K is able to commute 3 miles to work by bike or bus ($1.25 fare one way). P is in 6th grade and is able to walk the .7 miles to school-this will be his first year having to walk on below zero days.
M’s campus has a Zipcar, a car share program (see the attachment). We can bike or bus to campus to pick up these cars and “rates include gas, insurance and up to 180 miles/day.”
We have a current COSTCO membership(we haven't decided if we will be renewing after December) that can get us excellent car rental rates (often $12/day) through Enterprise & Budget. We also get a second driver (not legally married) for FREE instead of the extra $10/day per additional driver. Enterprise has a winter weekend special of $10/day (100 mile/day limit) for small cars, which is even cheaper than our COSTCO rates. I can pick up a car after work on Friday and drop it off Sunday afternoon for $30. We can get picked up by Enterprise but their local offices aren’t open on Sundays so we ride the bus home after dropping it off after hours. We do still have full coverage on our vehicle so we don’t have to buy Enterprise’s expensive coverage. This can be up to $40/day for their full package. Is it necessary to buy all of it if we were to drop our full coverage? We do have return our vehicles fueled to the level we received the vehicle. This has been $15-30 each weekend we rent.
We have computed some expenses and savings in an Excel spreadsheet (See attachment) and plan to meet with our insurance agent to discuss implications with carrying car insurance w/o a car, renting (Enterprise & ZipCar) and borrowing from friends with and without insurance and what this will do to our renter’s insurance for our house. We have looked at everything from increased bus fair, saving gas with ZipCar, savings on tires, taxes, licensing, oil changes, tires, and the joy of not having a monthly car payment.
Give us feedback, input, questions…what have we not thought of yet? Has anyone else attempted this in the Midwest winter or in a city of similar size?
