Staying one car for one baby

[LD_TAndK]

My wife and I have happily split one car for years. We have our first baby on the way, we may stop at one, or two.

I'm thinking it'll be even easier to split one car once the baby comes. Occasionally we have different things we want to do at the same time and have to compromise on how to use the car. With one of us needing to watch the baby I expect that'll be even more rare. But it also feels strange to sometimes leave one of us at home with the kid and no transportation. Probably an unfounded worry.

How did your car requirements change with kids? Was there a certain age where you found you needed a second car?

[blikeafox]

We have one car and two kids, now 5 and 8. The only time it has felt challenging was a few times during my maternity leave when I wanted to go places with baby and my husband was out. I ended walking some places with them in strollers/carriers that I would have probably driven to, which was actually refreshing. We do have an electric cargo bike, which is another way to get kids places and will occasionally take Ubers. I never feel unsafe being home with non car. We have neighbors we can ask for help, Uber, and if there were a real emergency, there's always 911.

[Freedomin5]

We had one baby and no car. Relied on public transportation and Uber. We also had a bike with a bike seat. It was fine. She survived.

She’s now almost 10, and we still have no car. We are moving to a car-centric city in a couple years, at which point we are planning to car-share with a family member. But we specifically chose a house that is walking/biking distance to the grocery store, school, library, etc., and on a bus route.

[Chris Pascale]

Totally doable, especially if one of you is generally home.

My wife and I sold a vehicle, and I thought we'd be Ubering at least monthly, and maybe weekly, but it was pretty rare. When I went back to school we needed another vehicle, but it was a nice year.

[Jakestersquat]

We have 5 kids and have been a one car / one motorcycle family since kid number 3. We also have a cargo bike for most of our around town trips. It has worked great for us. I ride my bike to work most days as well. We do enjoy great year round weather in SoCal though.

[charis]

My wife and I have happily split one car for years. We have our first baby on the way, we may stop at one, or two.

I'm thinking it'll be even easier to split one car once the baby comes. Occasionally we have different things we want to do at the same time and have to compromise on how to use the car. With one of us needing to watch the baby I expect that'll be even more rare. But it also feels strange to sometimes leave one of us at home with the kid and no transportation. Probably an unfounded worry.

How did your car requirements change with kids? Was there a certain age where you found you needed a second car?

It's hard to say without knowing whether you are in a walk/bike-able area or have access to public transportation, and what the car will be used for (a 45-minute commute or 5 minute drive to store/work).

Are you worried more about an emergency, or a logistics issue if a non-emergency reason to leave the house occurs without transportation?  If you were in a rural or remote area without decent public transportation, I can see considering a second car, but otherwise I'd see how it goes with one.

[LD_TAndK]

...
It's hard to say without knowing whether you are in a walk/bike-able area or have access to public transportation, and what the car will be used for (a 45-minute commute or 5 minute drive to store/work).

Are you worried more about an emergency, or a logistics issue if a non-emergency reason to leave the house occurs without transportation?  If you were in a rural or remote area without decent public transportation, I can see considering a second car, but otherwise I'd see how it goes with one.

Non-walkable, non-bikable suburban USA, can't get anywhere without a car. In a true emergency we're easily serviced by 911. But I'm thinking about possible non-emergency situations, e.g. one of us is driving with the kid and has a mechanical breakdown, the other parent can conveniently go pick them up. Or if babies have more appointments / activities than I realize and our transportation requirements will actually increase.

I'm not so much looking for feedback on my specific situation as wondering what other people's experiences were

[PoutineLover]

We have a baby and one car, and I can't think of a time when it's been a problem. We generally use transit to get around and the car is for family outings. During my maternity leave I went on lots of walks, some bus rides, and never felt stranded if my husband left with the car except for the time we forgot to take the stroller out of the trunk.

I would try it and see how it goes, it's easier to buy a car later than sell one that you bought "just in case" and rarely use.

[charis]

...
It's hard to say without knowing whether you are in a walk/bike-able area or have access to public transportation, and what the car will be used for (a 45-minute commute or 5 minute drive to store/work).

Are you worried more about an emergency, or a logistics issue if a non-emergency reason to leave the house occurs without transportation?  If you were in a rural or remote area without decent public transportation, I can see considering a second car, but otherwise I'd see how it goes with one.

Non-walkable, non-bikable suburban USA, can't get anywhere without a car. In a true emergency we're easily serviced by 911. But I'm thinking about possible non-emergency situations, e.g. one of us is driving with the kid and has a mechanical breakdown, the other parent can conveniently go pick them up. Or if babies have more appointments / activities than I realize and our transportation requirements will actually increase.

I'm not so much looking for feedback on my specific situation as wondering what other people's experiences were

I assumed as much, but having access to reliable public transit changes the game completely.  My personal experience (semi-walkable area with little to no public transit) is that our car outings did not decrease when we had a newborn, and they increased when the baby became mobile.

[MrGreen]

One child, one car here. Our daughter is almost two. Hasn't been a problem so far. No plans to change it in the near future.

[AnotherEngineer]

Raising three kids with one car. Made easy because I bike to work, but one of us would leave the other regularly for errands without issue, but we could walk, bike, and take mediocre transit if needed, which we just planned around. Not even inconvenient 90%+ of the time and another 9% took a small amount of coordination.  The other 1% of time (or a few times a year) we delayed a trip, called an Uber, or asked someone else for a ride. That few times a year was never worth buying a car for.

Note that car seats in and out of taxis/Ubers and hauling them around at your destination can be a huge pain, especially for larger seats and if you have more than one. But they have to let you do it and that should only be rare circumstances. Our kids loved taking the bus and it was much easier for trips it worked. Plus walking/biking/transit/navigation like Fru-Gal mentioned are all essential life skills.

Furthermore, my thinking has matured from one-car(well, van)-no-matter-what to hmm-maybe-adding-an-older-hybrid-would-reduce-our-total-costs. The key is to not make driving a daily necessity and then habit so that a second car doesn't mean twice as much driving. EDIT: and all the vehicles should be old/cheap so depreciation, insurance, and tax are low.

[Cranky]

We raised three kids and only ever had one car, since I don’t drive. We always were thoughtful about where we lived, in terms of things we could walk to and public transit. It took some planning, but it was fine and we got more exercise.

People ALWAYS asked “what about an emergency????” and y’know - the ambulance company was 3 blocks away and the fire department was half a mile away. Better to call them in an emergency than for an upset parent to drive to the ER IMO. Also, we never once had that kind of emergency.

[kanga1622]

We've been a one car family since shortly after we married. Kids are now 10 and 13. We both work within walking distance so we've just organized our life around commuting together. We do have access to company owned cars when needed for work travel outside of town. We coordinate medical appointments or travel to the "city" so we don't need to be in opposite directions on the same day. We do pay for school bus passes so our kids can get home now that they have aged out of after school care.

We'll likely add another car to our life once our kids start driving and may add an electric scooter as it is a great commuting option for us outside of winter weather.

I won't lie, there have been a couple times where a second car would have been EXTREMELY helpful but I just don't see the point in paying for a second car every month when it would make life easier a handful of times a year. Even when our oldest needed emergency surgery and we had to figure out how to get him home in the middle of the night after he/I had taken an ambulance to the "city" it was irritating but doable.

[SmashYourSmartPhone]

Definitely agree with the "See how it works and it's easier to buy a car than to sell one" sentiments.

Two kids here, and we have one fairly efficient car, though there's no shortage of other vehicles around our property (a truck, a motorcycle, and a range of other motorized stuff that's usable if needed, plus relatives nearby with another fleet).  Almost all the miles go on the car, though if my wife or I need to go somewhere alone, we'll take a motorcycle if there's a vehicle conflict.  And we can always use the truck if the weather is too foul for that, but it's maybe 2-3 times a year that's even an issue - and we could work around it, it's just more convenient to do that than have another car.

I expect we'll get another car when our oldest is close to driving, though I may end up with another car depending on how my work goes - I may find myself needing decent range transport that can tow far more regularly than I do now.

[Jakestersquat]

We have 5 kids. My wife stays home and I go to work. We have been a 1 car family on and off pretty much our whole 10 years of marriage. We just made it work in the earlier days. Although before DW got pregnant we had 1 car and a motorcycle apiece. I still have my motorcycle and she has a van. About 3 years ago we got an electric cargo bike for her to cart the kids around and now you the 2 oldest ride their own bikes to the park, library, church etc etc etc. I ride my bicycle to work most days but it’s nice having the motorcycle as a backup. Dunno how feasible a motorcycle would be for you but it worked out fantastic for us.

[Sanitary Stache]

We Have tree kids and one car. We also have a cargo ebike which has been great for events and taking the kids to school.

One car is an amazing luxury.

[Kmp2]

We went down to one car after realizing we didn't drive the 2nd one enough to keep the battery charged.
This was mainly made possible by me committing to not drive to work, the car was home with the wfh spouse. He could always come and get me if there was a problem, and let's face it most transit really is centered around to/from work commutes.

When I was on maternity leave, I used the car a lot more, going to and from baby & me classes/parent meet ups etc. This was mostly to fend off loneliness - it can be a really isolating time.

When our oldest was 2 we bought a cargo bike, followed a few years later with an electric cargo bike as they got heavier. We focused on only signing up for things we could reasonably bike to, so if there was a conflict one parent could drive and the other bike if needed. It also meant that when we did choose to drive, we spent a lot less time/money/energy in traffic :D.

As our kids are starting to want to do more activities (entering their tweens), we're waiting to see if we need another vehicle. When my aunt was at this stage, she bought a little vespa scooter which was an excellent 3 season option instead of a second car.  I'm hoping our kids will be able to navigate transit or bike to most of the things they need - but we do live in a sprawling car centric city with not great transit.