Ever consider being a One-Car Family?

[Huie83]

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

I think work from home has changed this a lot. My GF and I both work from home indefinitely now so really no need for two vehicles anymore without us both commuting.

Work from home has improved our quality of life leaps and bounds. Not to mention saving us a ton of money! We save ~$1500-1700+ a month not commuting. No more pre and post school care for the kiddo, gas for commuting, sold a vehicle so one vehicle to insure, wasting all the time on the road, not having to call into work if my kid is sick etc. I never want to work in an office again. I'd honestly take less pay to be able to work from home.

 

[Bud_One]

I would love to be a one car family... but we have three drivers with three different job locations and work times.

 

[nwjones18]

1 car for every driver in the house + 1 spare was always our minimum growing up.. I have a few spares at the moment. haha

 

[BrianF]

Being on the acreage we needed at least two vehicles. Now that the kids are getting closer to driving age, we will need more. The time will come when they have jobs and extracurricular activities where a school bus won't cut it.

As well I always like to have an emergency vehicle available. Maybe not registered but one that is gassed up, runs and can go when needed. We are 16 miles to town and the closest neighbor is a 1/2 mile away.

There is no mass transit or public transportation of any kind out here. Its either the Chevrolet or Chevrolegs.

 

[BLND1]

Yep. We have been a one-car family since last year.

I started working from home in March 2020 (pandemic) and my wife ramped down her clients as we prepared for our first child in September. We had originally planned on purchasing a new vehicle for my wife in prep for the baby but we decided to wait.

It worked out just fine for us, but as I get back to the office we are actively looking for a second vehicle (right in the middle of a chip shortage).

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

I may have a buyer on my 4-series this weekend. We just may become a one-car household ourselves.

 

[Quattro Pete]

With both of us working from home now, we could probably manage with just one car. My 5-series is slowly falling apart and I'm not eager to dump a ton of money into it to keep it on the road. Pretty soon a day will come when I'll have to ditch it, and I might not replace it with anything in the short term or until car prices/inventory return to normal.

There are several families living nearby that make do with just one car.

 

[PandaBear]

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.

That's not a 1 car family though. If you have E90 daily driving and then uber when you need 2 cars is the definition of 1 car family.

 

[14Accent]

I'm actually on the opposite end of this, I'm single and PREFER to have two vehicles. The way I see it, it's cheaper to insure 2 cheap vehicles than it is to rely on one and hope that it never leaves me stranded. That, and I can't COUNT the number of times that having a second car has allowed me to help out friends and family in need when their vehicle breaks down.

That, and in my case having a small commuter car and an SUV allows me to have an option when it comes to moving large items and/or towing.

I've been a single guy/two car house for the last few years and I can't imagine going back. The convenience far outweighs the negligible cost.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I could never be happy with one car. The Corvette and Honda mini bike are toys. The Jeep is my wife daily driver and she works 3 miles from our home. My Civic is my daily driver and I work 11 miles from home one way. The truck gets driven to the Missouri River and back which is a 260 mile round trip and I put about 5,000 miles per year on it. I rent a storage shed and tow my boat 3 miles from the shed to the Missouri River and back. I have a co-fisherman who owns a boat and truck and we take turns driving and we both have boats and trucks. Therefore one trip is mine and he takes the next turn with his rigs and it works out great. Financially these are very poor decisions but you know what? Anything with an engine amazes me and owning one vehicle would be a severe crush to my livelihood. I will own a few cars as long as I can afford to do so. It's not a financial decision but more of a hobby and hobbies cost money.

 

[BLND1]

One car per driver (or fewer) in my household - MAX.

 

[Andrew1972]

A friend let his Raptor go and became one car because he made $15k driving it for two years. His job swapped to work from home.