Author Topic: going carless  (Read 2748 times)

emily2244

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going carless
« on: December 08, 2012, 06:39:04 AM »
My husband and I and 2-year-old son bought a house this summer in a suburb of NYC. It is a 2-family and the rental income covers the mortgage payment plus some of the taxes. Our housing expense will be a quarter what it was in Brooklyn. Yay! Anyway, we inherited tenants who do not pay rent and have been dragging out the lockout for as long as possible. We've gone to court three times and will again, even though we got a judgement for possession months ago. Crazy. So, with the legal fees and lack of rent, we've managed to eat into a good portion of our savings. We boughr a car when we moved here for 2000 cash which was working great until I got into an accident a few days ago and totalled it. We could replace it with a similar car with cash, but that would deplete our savings more than I'm comfortable with. We don't need a car for groceries or errands. My husband doesn't need a car to get to work in the city. I work two and a half days a week. One of those days I don't need a car for. The second day I have someone willing to pick me up from the train station, but the commute is about 3 hours each way. The third day there is no public transportation option for, so I'd have to rent a car for that one day ($55). Anyway, I'm feeling a little sad about not having a car and having the long commute for thar one day. But MMM would probably tell me to stop being sad and enjoy the luxury of reading and knitting time on the train, right? My husband and I are musicians and our income is on the low side, so we need to be very frugal to reach FI.

emily2244

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Re: going carless
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2012, 06:42:21 AM »
Whoops, posted before I finished... I guess I am just looking for some encouragement and confirmation that this is a good idea. We have bikes for running errands and plan to get groceries once a month at costco with that rental car...

Paul der Krake

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Re: going carless
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2012, 07:43:12 AM »
Does the $55 a day include gas and insurance?

Does this mean you will be spending over $200 on a rental car, each month? There are leases to be had for less than that, but I don't know how much insurance would cost in NYC. Still, your rental will cost you 55 * 50 = $2750 a year, assuming you take two weeks off every 52 weeks.

For that price you could (emphasis on could, run the numbers yourself) afford to buy old cars and replace them as they fall apart, and still come out ahead.