We are toying with the idea of downsizing to a one-car family. Current cars, both paid off:
2005 Toyota Corolla, ~105,000 miles
2009 Toyota Matrix, ~105,000 miles
Some variables:
1) I live a 3 mile drive/6 mile bike ride from work. I only go into the office 3 days a week and usually bike in either twice or all three days. Facilities are limited so if its pouring rain I won't bike because I don't want to look like a drowned rat (plus that's just so unpleasant). I also did a pretty bad job of biking in this past winter, although it was fairly brutal - I'm just not willing to deal with temps under ~20 degrees, or ice/snow, but that's all fairly rare for my area in a typical winter. I have had a few stretches of injuries that kept me off the bike for a few weeks.
2) There is also a bus option, which I used for the first time today when I discovered a flat on my bike just as I was leaving. The bus stop is about 1.5-1.75 miles away (depending on if I cut through the park, which I guess I wouldn't want to in bad weather), but a much nicer walk than the one to work. My husband could drop me off on his way to work, but that requires advance planning because he leaves so much earlier than I do (and I'd have to get up at 5:15 rather than 5:30, sleep is already so precious). Today the walk was nice, but it wouldn't be on a miserable day. I'm also not sure this is cheaper than driving. (Math below)
3) (Because I know people will suggest this) I have walked to work before, but it took me a little more than an hour one-way and was not a pleasant walk - typical between-suburbs traveling with busy intersections, no cars looking for pedestrians, and a sidewalk that routinely disappeared forcing me to walk in wet grass or weeds. Plus 3 miles is really too far for me when I am carrying my laptop and papers in a backpack, which I do Tues ams and Thurs pms.
4) My husband and I are both homebodies who bike around town a lot and socialize in the same circles. For evening/weekend travel I think it would be super simple for us to get by with just one car. As it is now, besides driving to work I typically only use my car once a week for a 36-mile roundtrip (nonnegotiable), but my husband's car is basically always available at that time and I can just skip it the few weeks a year he needs the car.
5) My husband is currently stuck with a 60 mile roundtrip clown commute. As a teacher he can only relocate during the summers, and tried hard to last summer with no success. I'm pretty confident he'll be successful in switching counties this summer though (and we'll have an F-U fund by then so if he doesn't he might just quit). I doubt he'll be able to bike but if he works closer it'll be easier for him to give me a ride to work when necessary (so, I maybe should just sit on this for a year and see where we are at).
6) The Matrix always seems to have more expensive maintenance, probably just because its our primary car. I've gotten very little work done on the Corolla in recent years. We don't do "scheduled" maintenance on either car. If we go down to one car we'll have to keep the Matrix (husband's instrument can't fit in a Corolla).
7) I like the idea of being a one-car family but am nervous about the what-ifs. We can't afford to replace the car if we sell it and realize it was a bad idea. Having a car is a comfort even though it represents possible expenses.
Summary: I'm okay with biking as my primary transport to work, but I do need another option for getting to work on the days weather is really bad or I'm injured.
Bus-Related Math Question: The bus costs $1.60 each way, so $3.20 for a roundtrip.
If I use the government POV mileage rate of 56 cents a mile, driving costs me $3.36, so just a little more expensive, although I am not sure 16 cents is worth 3 miles of walking in bad weather to me.
And, if I use the MMM ultimate cheap driving rate from his true cost of commuting article -- which I think I am closer to, primarily because I dropped collision and comprehensive so only spend $370/yr to insure my car -- then driving could cost as little as 20 cents a mile. If we split the difference between the two estimates, then driving costs 38 cents a mile, or $2.28 for a roundtrip - so almost a dollar less than the bus.
Of course there are environmental concerns here as well that I am not calculating, although it seems like a drop in the bucket.
I think I'm basically torn between holding onto my car until it requires a major repair and then selling it for parts, or selling it now and getting around 4-5K for it. The thought of selling it definitely makes me nervous but I do want to be a badass about finances (less so weather). The one really nice thing about driving is it takes basically no time, so I can either sleep in much later or catch up on stuff around the house or just relax if I need to. (Of course this time advantage also makes biking less desirable, which the bus would offset due to that long walk to the bus stop).
What would you do?