To ask if you have successfully become a one car family

We’ve only ever had one car but we’re lucky because we live in a village with two convenience stores, a post office and a train station so easy to get to work in the city. It depends very much in your circumstances.

Yes and we have a shared bicycle now which is used for going to train station / shops / local trips. Much better. 2-3 taxis a year no where as expensive as running a second car

We live in London, tube/train to work, have never had more than one car. As a PP said there are times when two would be handy (kids conflicting sports matches/activities) but we share lifts with others or use public transport. A second car would be so expensive and difficult to park.

TBH up till a few years ago when the kids’ sports ramped up we barely used the one car.

We’ve only had one car for years. Did have 2 at times when dh had a commute where it wasn’t feasible to go by public transport or bicycle.

Tbh we could manage without one totally if we had to - it’s mainly used for me go to to work. Drive takes 10 minutes, by bus would be around an hour each way. We live close to the centre of a large town so don’t use it much at weekends. Will definitely give it up totally once I retire.

We sold our 2nd car during covid as both wfh. We now go into office 1 day pw each, so alternate. If in on same day, husband will use one of his motorcycles, unless its raining, cold....etc

We have. Hubby and I work together so only one workplace to get to. We live rurally and there's no public transport so we take our child to college on our way to and from work. We have to plan a bit more if we all want to be in different places but it's doable. Don't regret it due to the cost savings.

Unless one person drives to work/needs a car for work I really can't see why anyone would need two cars. We've never had two. It's never been a problem. Not sure how people are affording to run two cars in this climate, it's really expensive!

DH WFH all of 2020 and then switched to hybrid, 2 and sometimes 3 days on campus. I retired and DS also passed his test so I gave DS my car. He needs it for work and uni to commute. It’s been fine for us, DH has retired and is classed as a visiting academic so goes in a couple of times a month for the day. So for us it’s been great. There was a good 20 years where it would have been dire as we lived between the two campus we worked on and was not easy for public transport.

We've only ever had one car, but live in London so good public transport.

Yes we rang a&e and they told us to get our ducks in a row and move north I know it sounds like hell bur one car really is possible xxxx

We had no car at all for many years and have had one for the last 2 years.

I don't drive so we have no choice.

We manage fine because we both WFH and if we go somewhere it's usually together. I do am dram and get a lift home from theatre rehearsals when DD is in bed.

It does mean DH has to do a lot, including all school runs and extracurriculars for DD.

Surely it's very easy in some areas and very hard in others? I live 10 minutes walk from the centre of a large city. We only have one car but could probably do without one altogether. Very different in a remote rural area.

Sorry posted too soon...

We manage fine - we have no kids at home and I wfh so we just see at the start of the week depending who might need the car for specific reasons and plan the rest around it. He's very enthusiastic about public transport which helps (even though it's a bit shit where we live)

Yes we did, when DH retired as his company car went back. The reason we didn't bother replacing it was that he worked from home loads so we always had one car stuck on the drive.

We dropped a car and DH picked up a motorbike, works well for us, he rides the motorbike around 10 miles a day to and from work. Seemed an awful waste to have two cars when one was basically doing < 80 miles a week.

We’ve only ever had one car. Two dc. We make it work.

Well are you going to share fairly or is your DH going to get the car every time there is a clash? Because that's what I see happening a lot....

We are a larger family and recently got rid of our second car we just have one now. My partner only works around the corner and I stay home. On the whole it works pretty well, there are some times where it can be difficult (if we need to be in two places) but its not annoyed us to the point we want to get another car yet. The savings are more worth it to us, and I feel like I’m doing something for the environment. It might change in the future but for now it’s manageable!

Very easy for us and we live in a rural village with no real public transport to speak of.

Husband wfh and we just talk about who needs the car when.

Occasionally we both need it at the same time and then we use a taxi - so much cheaper than running two cars.

We were a one-car family for most of our time, from the start of our relationship until October 2023, and then became a no-car family. Far, far less stress about MOT, tax, insurance, residence parking permits, etc. We've hired a car 3-4 times for specific things, and that's worked out a lot cheaper than owning one.

Yes, we have. For a year and a half now, after my car (thankfully the smaller one, but annoyingly the nicer one) died.

We live in the centre of a small town and have four children. Both of us can work from home (we alternate who’s in the office, and the other only works a 10 min drive away). If either has a work trip away we think about the week ahead and either make sure the person at home has no need for a car/can borrow/hire one/uber or taxi. It’s still cheaper than having two cars.

Two of the kids go to school 3 min walk away, one a 15 min walk away and the last a train journey away (we live 10 min walk from the station). There are corner shops, Uber eats/deliveroo, 15 min walk to the nearest supermarket.

I’d prefer the ease of having two cars, and we could afford to replace my car, but it became hard to justify the extra cost when it only affects us a few times a year. That being said my eldest is going to learn to drive soon, so we’ll get a small manual run around then (I only have an automatic licence). It’ll also mean I can become named driver on our current car so can keep my no claims, and my husband on the manual, with child as extra.

We can only make it work because of our life. Proximity to schools, work, shops, public transport, friends is really important, alongside a heap tonne of flexibility.

We have done a trail for the last 3 months and it is working for us. Although occasionally partner gets the bus for work.
It depends on lifestyle, jobs, public transport and the location of your jobs and the amenities you need.