Going Carless

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Going Carless
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oddballdave

Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 259
Location: Telford, Shropshire

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 06 10:06 pm Post subject: Going Carless

Interesting discussion on usenet (where I also lurk) in uk.rec.cycling about going carless. RAC figures quote £5000 pa as the cost of 'owning' a brand new car. Note that is owning the lump of metal, not using it to go anywhere. For an older machine (with less depreciation) the figure comes down significantly. But cost of ownership is still in the region of £1000 per year.

Owing to my operation in March I was banned from riding the motorbike. Due to a lack of funds for the last three months the bike needs an MOT certificate and insurance to go back on the road. Started back at work beginning of June so got the old bicycle out, must admit that 5 miles each way passes in less than 30 minutes - faster than the bus! Almost as fast as the motorbike, when you include getting dressed in the armour and helmet, but much healthier.

Looking very seriously at the idea of going carless.

Advantages? Disadvantages?

\discuss

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 06 10:18 pm Post subject:

Depends where you live/whether you've got kids/ lots of things. We didn't own a car for years and years (I was well into my thirties when we bought one).
One of the main reasons for living where we do now is that it means that we only need one car. I walk Ben to school, walk to work, go to the shops and walk home. But public transport here is pretty feeble, so we need a car unless we're going to lead very tightly circumscribed lives.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45492
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 06 12:24 pm Post subject:
its working so far it realy depends on your lifestyle try it for a bit

Mat S

Joined: 07 Nov 2004
Posts: 282
Location: Leicester

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 06 12:45 pm Post subject:

I've been carless for about 3 years now. I cycle to work, town, friends etc. Bike + train + bike gets you to a lot of places too. I never use busses - they're not as convemient for me as a bike. Panniers are essential unless you want a sweaty back and more strain carrying stuff. Trailers are good too.Waterproofs are kind of handy. If you're childless and live in a town / city with a good rail link it's pretty easy.

Thriftycook

Joined: 16 Jul 2006
Posts: 71
Location: Worcester

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 06 11:00 am Post subject:

I seriously considered giving up my car last year.

The thing that made me decide to keep mine, was that I'd have been tied to Tesco for my food shopping.Tesco is within walking/cycling distance.I would have been unable to get to my butcher (who sources all his meat locally) and the farmshops where I prefer to shop without a car.My nearest shop is a Tesco Express and my next nearest is a Tesco superstore

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 06 11:08 am Post subject:
My pattern has followed Sean's. I managed perfectly happily without a car until I was into my 30s. At our last house, we had a car, but one tank of petrol would last a month or more. Now we are pretty well dependent on having at least one car - we could just about manage with one, but it would make life difficult at times. So much for downsizing

mrutty

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 06 12:40 pm Post subject: Re: Going Carless

oddballdave wrote:

getting dressed in the armour and helmet

I hope you still wear both on your bike. It can save your life.

Mad Dad

Joined: 12 May 2005
Posts: 407
Location: Nowhere near where I want to be

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 06 7:12 pm Post subject:
I'd say try and go without a car..... Although I have a car my OH drives it most of the time (in fact every time she leaves the house ) I ride my bike everywhere I can and only use the car when I need to which includes a weekly 5 mile round trip to the Rugby Club 'cos of the kit and to carry large/heavy stuff to the lottie and I don't enjoy it one bit. Carless is definately better

culpepper

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 638
Location: Kent

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 06 2:24 pm Post subject:

We've just been to the garden centre carless.OH wanted a small bag of sand and said lets go and we can cycle and take your little trailer.
It wasnt as bad as I thought.Cars give you(the trailer) a much wider berth than when you havent got it. It only came unhooked once on the way back but luckily has a safety strap.
We'll definitely do that more often.
We managed to bring back 25kg of sand and found me some kale seeds.
Now if I did all my once a week shopping with it,we wouldnt need the car at all.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 06 2:45 pm Post subject:
We find its much cheaper to hire a car for those odd occasions that we really need one.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 06 7:46 pm Post subject:

we have one car and do use it a lot, we can't get to work without it as ther eis no public transport here and even from the closest place, it would take over 2 hours to get to work and the same to get home, frankly it's not an option

having said that, i don't drive the car, i have a licence but haven't driven for more than 2 years.....when mr nanny goes on one of his courses i either hitch a lift with one of the other people at work, if she isn't available, then i have to take the time off

i don't feel lost without a vehicle and have been know to walk miles and miles rather than use one anyway, in fact i feel strangle independent without a car somehow

they cost a whole lot of money to keep and run

when we get to our new life, we will keep the car but will use it a lot less and i think we will both feel the benefit of that financially and otherwise....

oddballdave

Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 259
Location: Telford, Shropshire

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 06 9:44 pm Post subject:

Nanny wrote:

they cost a whole lot of money to keep and run

when we get to our new life, we will keep the car but will use it a lot less and i think we will both feel the benefit of that financially and otherwise....

Most of the cost is in the ownership of the car. MOT, servicing, insurance and Road fund licence.
Unless you do more than (IIRC) 8,000 miles a year when petrol becomes the single largest expense.

dododumpling

Joined: 14 Sep 2005
Posts: 40

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 06 12:03 pm Post subject:

I sold my car about six weeks ago. I used to budget £800 a year for car-related expenses (insurance, MOT, service, AA membership, road tax), assuming there were no major mechanical problems. And that was before petrol costs. I worked out that I was working so many days a month just to earn the money to pay for car-related expenses to continue getting me to work. Crazy.

Last year I changed jobs and now work within cycling distance of home. Admittedly, we still have a car as my husband needs one to get to work, and we need one when shopping. Baby steps - we're in a better position than we were this time last year.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91ï¿½ N

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 06 3:15 pm Post subject:

oddballdave wrote:

Nanny wrote:

Most of the cost is in the ownership of the car. MOT, servicing, insurance and Road fund licence.
Unless you do more than (IIRC) 8,000 miles a year when petrol becomes the single largest expense.

Even at 8000 miles a year petrol will probably still not be your biggest expense. For most people the biggest expense in owning a car is depreciation. At typical fuel consumptions 8000 miles wll be about 200 gallons or about £800, and most cars will depreciate faster than that.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28113
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 06 5:07 pm Post subject:
I guess if you ballpark ownership at at least £5 a day and think if £35 a week would cover buses and taxis etc.

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