The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: oldtoyota on September 12, 2014, 03:17:50 PM
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We have two cars. I would like to have just one.
We have no car loans. I've been tracking costs--gasoline, repairs, insurance, registration, etc.
The thing is that not *that* much money seems liked it would be saved if we got rid of a car, so it's hard to make a good case about this with the spouse.
Any thoughts?
I kind of think we should just keep it. The repairs are not much. Every year, we probably spend about $1K…but that DOES make a difference over time.
I do not drive too much, but it's so convenient when I do need to get somewhere and do not need to coordinate about it with the spouse. Is that worth $1K to me? That is one of the questions, right?
Added to this is that I might get a job and--who knows?--maybe I will have to drive. I am trying to work in a place where I can take public transportation, but I don't know yet…
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I think you summarized the real question well; is $1k a year worth the extra convenience to you?
Economically I think it's a simple calculation: $1k per year, or compounded over 5 & 10 years (assume 7%) would be $5,750 and ~$14,000, respectively. Certainly not chump change, but not a huge amount either for most people's budgets.
Here's just an observation I've had though - when my SO and I decided to go from 2 cars to 1, we had similar worries. Now that we've gone to 1 car, we've rarely had a time when we've desired two, and overall we find it MORE convenient to only have car to worry about. Neither of us need a car to commute, and it was a surprisingly seamless transition. Since two cars is no longer an option, we just stopped considering making plans where both of us would need to go in opposite directions at the same time.
So... I don't miss having two cars at all. YMMV.
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Depends on your lifestyle. We're a two car family with no plans to change.
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Yeah, like everyone else has said, it's close enough to be a subjective difference. You can start learning how to fix stuff yourself and suspend insurance when you aren't using it. That could represent a substantial reduction in costs while still having 99% of the utility.
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Thanks, guys!
I think I also have to give thought to when we use it most. Spouse does a lot of kid schlepping during the week. Spouse is on sabbatical now, and I work from home a lot at present. I really need to think back to other scenarios (me working in an office somewhere if I get a new job and spouse eventually back at work) and think about what we would need in that case.
I have also thought about not replacing one should one of them die. We are not saving up for a new car, so there's that. I might get down to one car eventually.