This pretty well explains it... things are spread out a lot more here.
Why so many cars in one family or person?
- Thread starter medunko
- Start date
Because 4 or 5 cheap, crappy cars are cheaper than one new one, especially when new trucks can cost as much as a house! Well, what houses USED to cost!
The truth hurts. I think it is a cultural thing. We (me included) tend to have an entitlement attitude about lots of things. How many guns do we own (with a stockpile of ammo)? How many bathrooms per oversized home? How much never-ending, relatively inexpensive oil supply do we deserve. How much waste do we produce.........yikes, I shutter every (occasional) time I get fast food and the amount of packaging I throw away. Little things like: How much winter road salt we accept because we don't want to leave for work 10 minutes earlier. Yes, we take our endless wants for granted. This is why I think we own so many cars in the U.S. Not a popular opinion.
This Wikipedia article on 1950's Car Culture does a decent job of explaining our car centric nation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_American_automobile_culture
Based on what I learned from my dad who immigrated from war torn Europe post WWII and became a very productive patriotic U.S. citizen, I embraced his gratefulness for all that we have in the U.S.. Because of him I tend to be a minimalist about material possessions. I tend to cultivate a quality of life not based on owning lots of things. Yes, my life is a road less traveled. Not a hippie, but I did read
The Mother Earth News and A Sand County Almanac in the 70's and 80's, LOL.
My old man rant for this week. Thank you. Flame suit on and well adjusted.
This Wikipedia article on 1950's Car Culture does a decent job of explaining our car centric nation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_American_automobile_culture
Based on what I learned from my dad who immigrated from war torn Europe post WWII and became a very productive patriotic U.S. citizen, I embraced his gratefulness for all that we have in the U.S.. Because of him I tend to be a minimalist about material possessions. I tend to cultivate a quality of life not based on owning lots of things. Yes, my life is a road less traveled. Not a hippie, but I did read
The Mother Earth News and A Sand County Almanac in the 70's and 80's, LOL.
My old man rant for this week. Thank you. Flame suit on and well adjusted.
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Depending where you live insurance and plates can be pretty cheap in the US. My oldest (toy) car is a 1989 Turbo Trans am. Plates are $80, and insurance is $275/year for $8000 collision, $100,000 property/ $300,000 personal injury. My 2015 F150 is $875/year for full coverage insurance, and about $175 for plates. Many states have higher insurance. Some have cheaper plates. We have two other daily driver cars. I've never wanted to deal with borrowing or renting if one of my cars has an issue, since most of my cars are older or have many miles, but they are all payment free. I have 4 drivable cars for less money out of pocket than the current new average car payment.
France alone is not much smaller than Texas. Texas is only 1.2 times larger than France.
What do any of these replies have anything to do with the number of cars somebody owns??? Yea, we have a big country, but we can only drive one across it at a time.This pretty well explains it... things are spread out a lot more here.
Car ownership is subsidized more by our government than majority of countries who have more realistic taxes on fuel and road tax.
Did you read the title of the thread yet?
Did you read the end of OP’s post? That’s what I was replying to if you actually read it.
Because I can. I have 2 Camaros that are toys and my truck that I drive most of the time. I have a 3 stall garage behind my house as well as a 5.5 acre property where I also have 3 campers and a couple 4 wheelers. Might as well enjoy myself while I'm here.
To indicate why using transit is not practical in the US.
Why so many cars in one family or person?
And people here were posting that it was because this country is much bigger than countries in Europe. That has nothing to do with the NUMBER of cars a person or family owns.Again, what does that have to do with the NUMBER of cars you own. You can only drive one at a time.
My reply was to an excess of cars causing a hassle, financial burden etc. if you could read.
I can tell you my family just likes to have a vehicle for every occaison.. We never have anything particularly new/nice just like variety. My Grandad has less cars than he used to, but probably has 15 that run, Dad has around the same number and I have 5.. State Farm likes us.. Latest example of how ridiculous we are.. I have the Samurai to drive around at the property, but Mom/my wife can't drive a manual so now we also have a Tracker with an auto..
Why? Because we can.
No one needs 2-3 cars. Every family can survive on one Toyota Corolla stick shift.
But, that is not how consumer economy works. Consumerism incentivizes economic activity, therefore we are encouraged to spend. It became cultural thing.
Same goes with houses. Average house in 1950’s was around 1,000sq ft. Now it is impossible tp buy a house smaller than 2,000sq-ft.
Realistically, we could all be ok living in apartments of some 700-800 sq-ft. But, we can have bigger houses.
No one needs 2-3 cars. Every family can survive on one Toyota Corolla stick shift.
But, that is not how consumer economy works. Consumerism incentivizes economic activity, therefore we are encouraged to spend. It became cultural thing.
Same goes with houses. Average house in 1950’s was around 1,000sq ft. Now it is impossible tp buy a house smaller than 2,000sq-ft.
Realistically, we could all be ok living in apartments of some 700-800 sq-ft. But, we can have bigger houses.
you took my reply out of context and left out everything else. Not going to bother repeating myself.
I can’t legally fit my family of 7 into a Corolla. I’ve also never seen anyone try to feed hay out of the trunk of a Corolla, although I did see my uncle use an old Ford LTD land yacht to do so. Sure I could use a team of horses and wagon like the Amish if I had to but I feel like a truck, a cheap commuter car and a mini van aren’t a ridiculous amount of vehicles in my situation.
Shel_B
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I was like that once. A car for running down the hill to the market, one for work, a nice classic Cadillac convertible for sunny Sunday runs down the coast, a 4WD full-size Ford for cross-country camping trips, a 4X4 Scout for more serious off-road work, and a Mercedes because I could afford it and always wanted that particular model.
Now I have a Camry.
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My Brother used to live just east of Ft. Worth, and work near love Field...there was a park and ride train station 4-5 miles from his house. the station at the other end was a mile or so from the office, in an area you wouldn't want to walk that far in...Long distance in Texas is a fact of life. A few of my older friends used to measure the distance between Austin and Dallas by how many beers they drink to get there. Also, its all about circumstance for myself, and the right tool for the right job. I let vehicles sit idle and drop insurance when not in use.
also to commute via transit like that, would have taken him around Double the time it took him to simply Drive it himself... even in Rush hour.
for a while he, a single man, had 4 cars. ( 2 Mustangs, a Challenger, and a Dodge Dakota..for a few months the Challenger was replace with another Mustang...which was quickly replaced with another challenger.)
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
I spent 2 weeks in England this summer and was so culture shocked at how the cities work. Everything is walkable or you can take the bus, subway, or train. We don't hardly have that here. And even if we did, everything is so spread out.
I live in the 5th largest city in the U.S., about 5 million people in my area. I cant hardly walk anywhere except a fast food place and I live in the middle of the city. I have to drive pretty much everywhere. In England, people would buy a couple things from the market everyday for groceries little by little and carry their bags. In the U.S. we shop for a week or so and fill the trunk of the car with groceries.
I live in the 5th largest city in the U.S., about 5 million people in my area. I cant hardly walk anywhere except a fast food place and I live in the middle of the city. I have to drive pretty much everywhere. In England, people would buy a couple things from the market everyday for groceries little by little and carry their bags. In the U.S. we shop for a week or so and fill the trunk of the car with groceries.
