Sell car, use car share - how could I not?

[Gmullz]

We have a car share program here in Halifax, Nova Scotia called CarShareHFX. I've been considering selling my car and enrolling in this program.

As per the Mustachian compendium, I've started biking over the past two months. A lot. I've been biking everywhere I go - work, yacht club, soccer field, grocery store. 20k return trips sometimes. It's amazing! Alas, I've realized I really don't need to own a car. But there are those times where I might need one, such as visiting family in snowy weather, and I feel like this car share program will fill those gaps (a couple of times a month, maybe), and it's so damn cheap, as seen below.



A break down of the fixed costs of CarShare (Liberty Basic plan) compared to owning my own car is as follows:

Ownership Costs (monthly):
Insurance - $80
Registration - $7.15

CarShare Costs (monthly):
Enrollment Fee - $3.25

Now if I compare the cost of a trip...say a 3 hour, 45 KM trip, my own car will cost me $13.50 ($0.30 per KM), while CarShare will cost $24.45. Considering this would be a rare trip and the savings on fixed costs are huge, the price difference seems negligible.

If I sell my car now for $8500 and invest the monthly savings (83.9) at 7% interest, I would have $18,056.45 after 5 years. If I don't sell, my car will be worth around $4000 in 5 years time, if I'm lucky. I will also have to spend hours of my precious spare time maintaining it, especially the body. Our climate here in Halifax eats cars, even if you don't drive them. Car cancer (rust) is common.

One of the only detractors to the CarShare is that I will look like a dork driving a CarShare car - but I will potentially be laughing all the way to the bank. Anyone disagree?

[Spudd]

Your carshare is a fantastic deal compared to Zipcar which is what we have here in Toronto. We sold our car and are using Zipcar and the odd car rental (for weekend trips), and coming out way ahead of where we were owning the car.

[RyanAtTanagra]

Yea those are good rates.  We ditched the car about 18 months ago and are using Zipcar as well.  It's good for quick things like picking someone up from the airport, and we're definitely saving money, but I've found we get out of town way less to go hiking/camping/etc since the cost to do so is a lot higher, which I didn't properly account for.  I wouldn't change our decision to sell the car, but you might want to think about how often you use a car for things that would require an 8-hour+ rental time, and see if it's still worth it.

[marblejane]

If I were you, I'd try out the carshare service before making a final decision. I'd just want to see if the cars were available when I wanted them and so forth. But I'd say go for it!

[Gmullz]

If I were you, I'd try out the carshare service before making a final decision. I'd just want to see if the cars were available when I wanted them and so forth. But I'd say go for it!

Good plan! I already applied earlier today, so hopefully I'll be able to try it soon and then sell my car within the next month.

[Gmullz]

Update:

I've also recently become aware of a deal Enterprise offers on the weekend. You can rent a car for two days on the weekend from October-May for $9.99 per day.

No tricks - it really is that cheap. Aside from a $2 vehicle license recovery fee, at least. It comes to $25.44 with tax for the weekend. 

The tricky part is the insurance - personal injury isn't covered. Third-party liability is covered through the rental company, and damage to the rental car is covered through my credit card, but personal injury is not. So for an extra $6.99 per day I can apply personal injury coverage.

I'm in Canada. Is this necessary? Or can I forego this coverage?