I wanted to share this strategy which could work in the right circumstance.
A few years ago, I started a position that was part-time, work-from-home for a few months and then, when my husband graduated, we moved to the town that my employer was in. During the 6 months before we moved, I made a trip to the other town about once a month. My husband & daughter needed to get to & from school (they aren't as bad-ass as I am, she'll bike up to a couple miles and he won't bike at all, school was 5 miles away). So once a month, I rented a car for the day.
In Missouri, there's not much in the way of public transit, trains & buses. There's even less of that for traveling between towns.
That approach worked fantastic! It cost about $50 each time. I got to drive a brand-new car that had all the bells & whistles. I got to try out a different make & model every time. I've often thought that if my husband would take up biking (he won't), we could go car-free and just rent a car when we want to visit friends and family. Now that our daughter is in college, we make more out of town trips, so it might not be quite as cost effective as owning a car, I haven't done the math lately so I'm not sure.
Just something to consider, if you don't have the cash to pay for a used car, but have to make an out of town trip. Depending on how many trips you make, it might be cheaper than owning a car. And it would be nice to have that storage space in your garage for something else...like your bicycles!
There are a few negatives though.
1) You have to have a credit card. I was able to rent from Avis with my debit card, but everywhere else requires a credit card.
2) You have to say "no" to their many optional insurances, over and over. Then you have to keep an eye on it--I once got charged for an insurance that I had declined.
3) If you are under 25, you can't rent a car. My daughter ended up having to buy a car when she went to college. She really wanted to live at college without a car, but it ended up being too hard to get around in the bike-unfriendly town, and to get home. And most importantly-- to visit her boyfriend.