Ever consider being a One-Car Family?

[BeerCan]

I like my cars and I like driving. When I move and get a bigger garage I will have more cars I bet. I don't own anything to fancy, most of my cars are drivers so I don't have them for collector reasons (as an asset). I drive the vehicle that fits my mood so to speak I also have a bunch of bicycles and I am the same way with them.
tl;dr NO

 

[zzyzzx]

When We retire I plan on only having 1 car/truck

I think the same way. We are 55-61 and simply not replacing any of our 4 vehicles if we get rid of them. Had 5 vehicles until recently.

 

[Jetronic]

we've always been a 1 car family.

 

[OilReport99]

I considered being a one car family but we need two. So we bought two.

 

[jstert]

as per my signature two cars now, but 2000 miles apart. the passat is east and the yaris is west. other than this situation in my retired life i always had just one car in my possession. i could walk, subway or taxi (much much better than dealing with jakarta traffic) to work my whole career. at one point though i long-term loaned a second car, an ex hertz toyota corolla, to my sister when i lucked into a bargain cpo mercedes c280. the corolla was way too reliable, too well maintained by me and worth much more than its resale value to let go then.

 

[PandaBear]

For that to work you need to have only 1 person working or 2 people working from home most of the time, plus no kids. Very often you need both parents dropping 2 kids off at different locations at the same time.

I can see 1 van + Uber on demand if you live near a mainstream grocery store and / or near school (middle and high school aren't always walking distance like elementary).

Another way to go for 1 car: you buy the best AAA membership and if you need the car to be at 2 places at the same time you call a tow truck to tow it from you to your wife and back. 4 times a year up to 200 miles.

Or just rent a car on the day you need, usually that works out well but you won't save much if it is only $1k a year in cost.

 

[PandaBear]

If you live on a proper big city with public transportation and rides share options yes. In fact then you might not want a second car.

If you live in a real city you want no car. By real city I mean something at least 1M in population and everything in walking distance or with public transits.

In San Francisco parking in apartment complex can easily cost $300 a month alone, insurance + registration + smog every other year can easily cost $500 a year. I can see why families will want 1 car there, or no car, or move outside the city and into a suburb.

 

[blupupher]

A lot depends on where you live. If you are in the suburbs with no access to mass transit, makes it very hard.
Same for if both husband and wife work. And kids (age and number).

And you need to change the title to 1 vehicle family to be completely accurate.
I am a 3 car/3 driver household, but have 4 vehicles (wife's SUV, daughters car, my truck, and my motorcycle) right now.
Soon to be a 4 driver household (my son turns 16 this year).

I could not get by as a 1 vehicle family.

I could get by without my truck. I have put 1,900 miles on it in the past year.
I only drive it to work when it is raining in the morning, and use it for errands that require me to carry more than I can fit on the bike.
If I did not have it, my wife could bring me to work on rainy days, and her or my daughter could pick me up.
So I could get by as a 2 vehicle family, I would just have to get wife or daughter to drive me to and from work (which is not bad, I am only 3 miles from work, and no, I am not riding a bicycle, it is too hot and only access requires riding on a road with a 50mph speed limit and no shoulder/bike lane).

But all my vehicles are paid for, insurance is not too bad, and it is just to convenient to not have them.

When my son starts driving, I have been debating giving my truck to my daughter (she has begged me for it since she started driving) and giving the car to my son, so we would be a 4 vehicle household with 4 drivers.
I do not look forward to the insurance of a 16 year old male, but on a 10 year old vehicle, it should be tolerable.

 

[Duffyjr]

I admit it's nice having 3 vehicles between the wife and myself since she works at the county seat about 20 miles south of town. When one car is down it doesn't put us in any hardship. Since they are all older vehicles with no payments the cost is minimal.

Small town no public transportation except cab service, one car is not even a consideration at this point.

 

[supton]

If you live in a real city you want no car. By real city I mean something at least 1M in population

Heh, I looked and there's 1.4M living in NH. I think 2 or 3 of the cities have public transportation. Nothing out where I live of course. It's 9 miles for me to get to a grocery store and 20 for a Home Depot.

 

[Trav]

Does anyone here live as a one-car family? I know it was more popular decades ago when mothers didn't work outside the home. What sort of compromises need to be made to make it acceptable for husband and wife? I can only recall one couple in my experience that accomplished it. They worked together at my workplace, so they commuted together and left together. My own parents did not abide by a one-car lifestyle, even though my mother was a stay at home mom until I went to school.

The one-car family model appeals to me because of the significant cost savings. Michigan auto-insurance rates are factually the highest in the nation. Even if I had two beater cars, the minimum liability for those cars could amount to nearly 40% the net worth of the cars every year. Ask me how I know...

A fleet of one would save about $2,000 per year on insurance, tires, and fluids. Is this really only practical if one spouse stays at home? Do you know anyone who is a family of 2+ that only has one car?

That would suck so bad I would be suicidal.

 

[Huie83]

My GF and I are 99% remote workers now. I have to go in once every few weeks, her maybe once a quarter if that, never on the same day.

We are in the process of selling my GF's car now. No use in a vehicle just sitting and having to pay insurance on it. Her car sat for so long recently the battery died LOL.

No problems here working around each others schedule even with my kiddo here to cart him around to school etc.

 

[supton]

I gave in and traded off my truck, in 13 months it moved less than 3,000 miles. Was sad but it was time. Still. With WFH my wife finds it advantageous to send me out with one kid in the opposite direction of the other. I suspect after WFH I will be in-office at least twice a week and thus... I might be able to go down to 3 cars for 3 drivers but I just could not go lower than that.

 

[tblt44]

Once/If I retire yes

 

[mightymousetech]

We basically are already.

We have our E90 as a daily driver, and our E82 as our special road trip car. Wife now works from home, and everything we need is available on foot after moving into a funky neighbourhood in the city. Even most weekends we have no need to drive either car.

 

[opus1]

Me? Surely you jest.

 

[oggb]

My wife and I were single car when we first started dating. All we had for the first ~18 months or so was my WRX and she had a little Honda Metropolitan scooter (125 MPG!). She worked quite literally right around the corner from our apartment so it worked just fine.

 

[cos]

No

 

[Falcon_LS]

No, especially when you factor in the fact that I work on my own vehicles and take my sweet time in doing so. Not only that, but I order in all my parts, because even though parts are available locally, the variety is not there and I don't like having to choose between OES and the cheapest aftermarket Chinesium garbage out there. So if I have one vehicle down, like I do right now, I have access to other vehicles.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Back in the day when one parent could support a whole family (1970s), yes. Nowadays,no way.