Has anyone ditched personal ownership altogether?

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Thinking outside the box here, but I'm feeling as if personal ownership is almost a waste of time for me.

In the last ten months, I've been home for maybe two, otherwise working out-of-province ("state"). I have spent more than that on repairs, deductibles, and other such expenses with owning one's own vehicle. My F150 just had $567 of repairs done, of which I'm on the hook for half of that. I still have an extra $600~ish of parts I need to purchase (rear disks and pads, one shock), that I will replace myself, to "complete" the to-do list on my truck - and I'm not including everything else repaired in the last twelve months. So I have literally spent over three dollars for every kilometer driven with this truck. If I sat down and cranked out the numbers, I'm pretty terrified of figuring out it's probably closer five bucks per kilometer when I include the monthly payments I'm still making on it. While I only have four more monthly payments to make, it seems a drag to lose so much personal equity to something that will eventually devalue to nearly nothing.

On that note, dragging a truck down to the airport four hours from my home, if I choose not to ride the bus cross-country instead, is a costly proposition. More so when you factor in parking/shuttle to the airport. While it's currently an option to work out of province, it provides a much better paycheck which is direly needed.

I'm considering leaving my current employer and heading to another one, where out-of-province work is a defacto and required.


Leasing, even going the Lease-buster route, doesn't seem to make any sense, because any monthly savings you might have are going to be lost on the GAP insurance rider required with said lease proposition.


Just a few Q's:

1) I tow a small fishing boat. I noticed that almost all the trucks on rental lots nowadays have a hitch receiver and 4x4 (minus uhaul on the 4x4 part), are they also wired up for a 4-pin trailer lightset?

2) Has anyone costed this out if it's a good financial proposition? For the record, I have vehicle coverage with my premium credit card, so I can really rent for those low posted rates.

3) Has switching personal belongings (and a carseat in my case - separated dad) been much of a bother for those who just rent?


On a more philosophical note, did anyone feel like they lost their "soul" without their "own" car in the driveway? I think that's the part that bothers me the most.
 
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Sounds like you are using this vehicle for WORK related activities. I would avoid personal ownership in those cases.

We have a neighbor that used to Haul 5th wheels all over the country, from the factory lots to the dealers, using his personal F350 truck. It put wear and tear on his new truck, and then a lot of companies went out of business around '08/'09, and with the high gas prices, and a $6K injector rebuild(diesel) he finally quit that job.

It simply was not worth it. You were home once a week, and you can take time off anytime, as it was contracted "per camper". On the road all the time.

Now he works with the local Amish, helping to transport them and install metal roofs. He is home everyday and is very happy to be out of that hauling business.
 
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I have a work vehicle, but it needs to be used for work purposes.

I still need a vehicle to get to and from work, and for personal purposes.

I have offloaded my risk of owning that vehicle, by leasing it.

Full maintenance package, not my problem for anything.

$200 per month for a new toyota rav4.

Just can't drive it too far (12k per year).
 
Maybe run the numbers on something cheaper? Even an Echo(mtx) can drag around a 14' Al boat with a 9.9
I have to admit the last time I was car free, was in university and then it wasn't an issue. Lived downtown and biked 8km to school just for fun.
Sudbury doesn't seem like the ideal place to ditch owning a car, very spread out and winter is long, but I'm sure lots of students there get by without one too.
 
Ok, I need to clarify.

I use my truck, like a truck. HOWEVER, most of that came from intense "landlording". Now I've got virtually no work to be done. (Thank god, nearly went broke doing that!) Almost all my miles nowadays are A-to-B grocery getting when I am home the one week out of the month. That's going with the option to be out of town for work. Otherwise, I do mostly on-call work, $15 cab ride to our work location. Less if I grab transit (thirty minute ride at rush hour). That being said, I don't want to totally quit driving personal vehicles (and just my big commercial ride at work), hence why I consider the rental option.

The 2k I put on the truck was purely personal use, if you include landlord duties (I own a single property, rent the upstairs, live downstairs). Nothing a Lowe's truck for fourty minutes can't handle now. Back when I was dragging half a yard of crusher dust to my house, well, I don't think National would approve of that.
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I HAD a Toyota Yaris, and our best boat launch around is mucky sand. I got my Yaris stuck once launching there (all previous launches were at concrete launches), and that's when I decided to buy a truck. However, back then I had much more free time, and hence, much more fishing time. I'll be lucky if I launch the boat once this year. I did the small car with a boat thing, and things work out reasonably okay on built launches, but really, when one wants good fishing - go to the makeshift, sandy launches, where no family sedan or compact micro belongs.
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It also is a double-whammy that I can rent one of those sub-compacts for virtually nothing, a truck only when I truly need a truck. It only took me a single gas tank at over $211 last month to remind me just how expensive basic propulsion can be when your vehicle weighs ~6000lbs.
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My home is virtually downtown. I can car-share with a co-worker, if need-be.
 
The parts you've had replaced and plan to replace - why?

If the parts were NEAR end of life, I'd bet you could still get a lot more time, if your mileage is low and habits gentle. Seriously, if you only use this truck for grocery-getting and to infrequently haul your boat, then keep up with the basic maintenance and only do what's needed, when it's needed.

That's not to say that a shock that is blown shouldn't be replaced, but if you've got some life on your brakes, then they shouldn't be replaced until they have nearly no life left.
 
Expensive vehicle maintenance? Ford F-150? Why am I not surprised with that combination?
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
I have a work vehicle, but it needs to be used for work purposes.

I still need a vehicle to get to and from work, and for personal purposes.

I have offloaded my risk of owning that vehicle, by leasing it.

Full maintenance package, not my problem for anything.

$200 per month for a new toyota rav4.

Just can't drive it too far (12k per year).



Honestly thats the only reason why ive stayed away from leases.. the miliage..
 
If you can get by without having to own a vehicle, do it. Get over the "losing your soul if you don't have a vehicle" nonsense. All cars are huge money pits.
 
Originally Posted By: exranger06
If you can get by without having to own a vehicle, do it. Get over the "losing your soul if you don't have a vehicle" nonsense. All cars are huge money pits.


Cars cost money but to say money pit, id disagree. Ive spent 400$ in repairs since i bought my car 4 years ago. Its the type of vehicle you buy. If i were you id get an Subaru Impreza with AWD. I like Toyota also but im trying not to be biased!
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Originally Posted By: exranger06
If you can get by without having to own a vehicle, do it. Get over the "losing your soul if you don't have a vehicle" nonsense. All cars are huge money pits.


Cars cost money but to say money pit, id disagree. Ive spent 400$ in repairs since i bought my car 4 years ago. Its the type of vehicle you buy. If i were you id get an Subaru Impreza with AWD. I like Toyota also but im trying not to be biased!

Even if a car doesn't need any repairs, it's still a money pit. Just the purchase price alone makes it a money pit. Then you have taxes, registration, insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc. Just terrible money pits.
My truck costs $1000 per year just for insurance, taxes, registration and emissions. Even if I don't drive it a single mile, it costs $1000 a year. That's a money pit.
 
I could sell my truck for 17k right now, $16k a least.


Or in five years, after spending another minimum of $8000 in insurance, payments, basic maintenance, registration, etc, sell it for $7k. Maybe. Meaning it's net value would be zero, besides being a tad more convenient than waiting for a rental pickup or a cab... So long as nobody breaks into it for the THIRD time...
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I SHOULD be the ideal candidate for ultra-low mileage leases, but in Canada, the GAP insurance rider is through the roof... For the same payment once you average out the shrinking insurance without GAP, one can buy it for just a twenty difference per month...


GAP insurance rates are comparable to business insurance rates. Totally a BOHICA!!!!
 
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Originally Posted By: exranger06
My truck costs $1000 per year just for insurance, taxes, registration and emissions. Even if I don't drive it a single mile, it costs $1000 a year. That's a money pit.


Yikes. What have you done to drive your insurance costs up that high?

We pay less than $960 annually to insure all 4 vehicles. Registration is anywhere from $50 for the pickup to $130 for the Durango. Of course there is no emissions testing or taxes here. But my for 4 vehicles is only slightly more than your 1.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Yikes. What have you done to drive your insurance costs up that high?


Well, I pay $2,100 a year in insurance for my two vehicles. That's with Costco/Ameriprise, the lowest-cost carrier I could find (that I'd want to use, anyway) with a near-spotless driving record and excellent credit.

Welcome to Michigan... land of no-fault insurance and ~30% uninsured drivers.
 
I think we are around $2,600 also for three late model vehicles. 2004, 2010, 2011. Granted we still have collision on all three. But collision is less than half that amount.

No tickets, no accidents, married, and we used to have discounts for car/life/etc (I think not any more). Airbags, ABS, crumple zones, etc.

I've looked at dropping collision on the Jetta (it's like an admission of defeat, I've let the car get worthless) but it's still like $500/insurance, $250-300 registration. Toss in a typical repair of anything (it's a VW, it happens) and yeah, it's a kilo-buck to just have a car in the driveway.

Makes me wonder if I will keep this N+1 vehicle thing going. A grand doesn't buy a lot of gas today, but since cars age out up here (road salt) I'm not sure I'm ahead by having a commuter car and then a weekend vehicle. Might as well have an SUV that I use for everything at this point.
 
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I failed to mention, the truck is an '09 Supercrew, 4x4, 5.4/6spd.

While brake pads and rotors aren't necessary, the park brake levers were just replaced, and if I don't replace the rotors in the rear (because of the integrated drums for the park brakes), I can expect troubles shortly down the line.

And rule of thumb, rotor replacement = pad replacement. I knew I didn't have much life left in these pads, like said, a bit of landscaping and "landlording" shortened up the life rather extensively.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: exranger06
My truck costs $1000 per year just for insurance, taxes, registration and emissions. Even if I don't drive it a single mile, it costs $1000 a year. That's a money pit.


Yikes. What have you done to drive your insurance costs up that high?

We pay less than $960 annually to insure all 4 vehicles. Registration is anywhere from $50 for the pickup to $130 for the Durango. Of course there is no emissions testing or taxes here. But my for 4 vehicles is only slightly more than your 1.

What makes you think it's all insurance? Taxes alone on the truck are $235 per year. Welcome to Connecticut. Regristration gets renewed every other year, and it's about $130. So, about $65 per year. Emissions testing is $20 every other year, so $10 per year. That's $310 a year NOT including insurance. Yes, I pay about $700 per year for insurance on the truck alone. But that's for full coverage, unlike your liability-only policy. And insurance rates are typically much higher for a single 26 year old male than it is for a 60-something married man with a homeowner's discount. For my three vehicles, I pay a total of about $1600 per year for insurance.
 
We'll likely have two cars for a while yet. We aren't lucky enough to have jobs in the same direction, and both jobs are 25+ miles away from home. So it's a minimum of 25,000 miles driving per year for the next few years just to get to work for this household. Thankfully both cars get 30+ mpg, else fuel costs would be killer! As it is, knowing that even with $4/gallon fuel the overall cost per mile for fuel is 10-13 cents makes taking such far-away jobs a palatable idea.
 
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