Do you and your dh car share, or do you feel l having two car is essential ?

[Lardlizard]

To your life ?

We have 2 cars. DH has a company car, even if he didn't. We would need 2. For work and all other day to day stuff.

We have 3 vehicles for 4 drivers. One of them is a pick-up truck which doesn't get used much but is still really useful to have.

Between 3 vehicles we do about 35,000 miles a year.

One car here for the past few years. Takes a bit of planning round our variable work schedules but no disasters so far and the cost saving is considerable.

We only have 1 car. Neither of us drive to work though, both get the train. If we want to do different things at the weekend/evening we work something out.

We did only quite recently get the car after 7 years of having 0 cars though, so at the moment 1 car feels like quite a lot!

We have one. My husband didn't drive until earlier this year so it wasn't an issue. There are a handful of times when two would make life slightly easier but we will stick with one on environmental and financial grounds.

Lol this thread clearly shows how difficult it would be to wean people off their cars!

We have one and it’s rarely used. DH cycles to work, I take public transport. We actively chose to live somewhere that this was doable - so city centre. We haven’t chosen to do any hobbies that require travelling further than public transport would take us. Our children do activities- we only looked at options that were accessible on foot or by public transport. They’ve recently asked to do something once a week that we need to use the car for, so we go with that. We didn’t have a car for the first three years of being here, but we bought one to make holidays easier (we go to my parents place in the country, no public transport, no shops etc) and we use it for camping.

Choices choices...

Yay for you that you have the luxury of that option.

We don’t.

We have always had just one car. When I met DH he couldn't drive so when we first lived together I had a long commute and he had a bus ride to work. He eventually learnt to drive but didn't enjoy it so over the years has commuted by train. He now cycles which is fab, saves so much money. For the adults we only need one car and day to day we are within walking distance of school and town etc but we have 3DC and they have a very active social life so we do end up asking for lifts to parties/football games/etc etc more than I like which having another car would alleviate but I don't think it's worth the cost. We do need to get the older two cycling more but the youngest is 6 so too young to cycle on the main road. That wouldmake a big difference as well.

Dh works an hour in one direction and I work an hour in the other so 2 cars fairly essential.
I still feel a little dirty about it.

Lol this thread clearly shows how difficult it would be to wean people off their cars

We need much better public transport and childcare and a work culture that supports WFH to make that possible for most people. Couples need to easily access public transport to their work (and I say couples because an individual can live close to their work but couples have to compromise with living somewhere central for both their jobs) and parents need a reliable trip back home if there is an issue with their DC. We probably need to restore a lot of the railways Beeching ripped up.

We only have one car. So my DH has a car and I don't. It does limit me a lot due to my location. I miss out on going out with my DS ( he's not at school yet) I cannot justify taxis on social activities.

I had to get a taxi to a hospital appointment recently that was relatively local and it cost £11 each way. I have previously got the bus which in comparison is about £3.90 return, but the time factor in doing this is massive due to a walk to bus stop and then long walk other end to the hospital. Taxi or car to appointment 10 minutes. Bus I would need 55 minutes, but would prob end up there an hour early and take a lot longer to get back due bus times, being just once every hour.

So I do feel I suffer not having a car. I can't go out with friends as I used to. I know some trips I did were bad environmentally, like driving somewhere different to walk the dog, but it is very restrictive to be a SAHM and be stuck in the same area all week. It does affect your mental health. You worry about things like emergency trips to the doctors. It's a 45 min walk and not on bus route so have to get taxi if DS is unwell. I can walk this, I have but I already walk my dog and I can't take my dog to the doctors.

I am only near one bus route. If I take this bus to the big town it's 45 minutes ride to get there. So I need 1 hour and 5 minutes to get there with walking to bus stop. If I drove it would take 12 minutes door to door.

I can't even get a bus to my local leisure centre. I would need to walk 30 minutes to get to a stop on its route. Again it's 8 minutes by car in comparison.

We couldn't afford to keep running a second car, so I miss out and so does DS. If you're in a good public transport area it can work, I'm not. And people look at you as if you're crazy when you say I don't have a car. I sometimes find it easier to say I don't drive, which of course I can /do at weekends when DH isn't at work. It also makes me feel poor, which we are I guess

I would love to save money/ the environment by only having the one car but it doesn't work for us due to our work. We shared for a while but there were just too many compromises (mainly made by me imo).

We need two. Live in the sticks and have two children that do different sports.

Essential for us. Live in a village with extremely poor public transport, DC at school in nearby town and DH travels all over the UK with his job.

We need two. Kids can’t get to school without one and DH needs one for work.

When I commuted by train one car was perfectly satisfactory. we had two small DCs then. We only needed two when the DCs were teens and I got a job I had to drive to.

We have 2 cars now. But did have one for many years & it worked out ok. The 2nd car is purely for me to get to work ... public transport would take around 2 hours with 3 different busses one way. Car is 40 minutes. Really a non brainer.

Car share. Would be easier with 2, but you have yo make sacrifices for then environment. Its worth it, and not selfish in the long run.

We have two and we definitely need them.

We live rurally and both work in different places - 45 minutes drive away from home in different directions. There's no public transport to my work (well, there is but the times mean it's impossible to use). DH could theoretically get the train but it would cost over triple what he pays in fuel - so not really a viable option for us either!

Choices choices...

Not everyone can afford the luxury of choice!

We have one car. I get the train to work so I don't need a car for commuting. Very occasionally it is inconvenient but not enough to justify having two cars imo.

DH has a pick up for his work so we car share. However we have access to two vehicles.

We have 2 cars but they are not his and hers they're just both ours and whoever needs whichever takes it.

So one is bigger and more suited to carry DS and dog while the other is a round town run about.

DH and I work opposing shifts, so for us - 2 vehicles are essential. I start my shift before he gets home (me, days; him, nights).

I would prefer to have only one vehicle and its' related costs, but it doesn't work for us.

We have one car. DH works overnights and is home by 7:30 am. I have use of the car all day until 9 pm when he leaves for work.

We actually own two cars but took one off the road as we could not justify the expense.