How much of a necessity is having a car where you live?

[OneRealFinch]

Not very maybe at night more so

I have always lived rurally and can't imagine why anyone would need a 24 hour shop!

Not essential for me, I live on the outskirts of a northern city in a poor area, the metro is a few minutes from my house and gets to the city centre in under 15 mins cheaply. Buses at the end of the road are very frequent.
I drove years ago but much prefer public transport now, I was involved in a car accident and know so many others who have been too. When with family who want to drive everywhere it's horrible, being in a car makes me feel panicky now.

Fairly essential. Semi rural and the nearest town/shop is 2 miles away. It is walkable if you have plenty of time and don't need to carry back heavy groceries. If you want to go further afield you really need a car as the buses aren't great.

My area in the Midlands has been completely neglected. It is shameful.

Not necessary we invested in a house in a central location - in the long run this saves money because of not wasting time on commuting / car maintenance

Not at all necessary thank goodness. I could not afford it, could not park anywhere, plus on medical grounds I could not have a car but I live in West London and bus run well, several tubes etc etc. I would never move to the country for instance. I have often said on these pages that I have 3 to 4 hospitals near me, tubes, buses etc. I would be a fool to move.

We have regular buses but a car is essential for being able to get the kids to their hobbies and for my job.

Not really necessary

Supermarket, schools, library and train station in walking distance

I couldn't get to work.

We could only shop at the local shop which is far more expensive. And to go anywhere we'd have to get the bus to town, which costs about £6 return for a 5 minute journey and only have 2 buses an hour - within 5 minutes of each other. Then they complain that no one uses it...

South East coast, not essential but nearly! My DP doesn't drive and he walks and uses trains mainly, so not really essential for him. I do school runs, shops, appointments etc. I have a disabled DC so it's essential for him.

If it wasn’t for your username I’d think we must be neighbours. Exactly this where I am, and the only way to walk the 3 miles is down unlit, muddy lanes with mad tractor drivers hurtling along them.

No buses go through the village, no shops, just a pub and two churches. Nearest small shop in a couple of miles away.
Work is a 30 minute drive, or a taxi into one town, then two trains and 10 minute walk. Or an extremely expensive taxi ride each way.
So whilst I work a car is essential. Once I retire, we will probably move somewhere with easier access to shops etc.

I live in London so not essential, even less so now there's supermarket delivery. However when there are tube/train strikes it got my DD to school - it would have taken over two hours by bus, and it's very convenient to have one.

We live in a city a metro and a really good bus service, so we would be fine without a car.

Essential. I live rurally on a NSL B road with no footpath, and where two lorries can't pass each other safely, one has to stop to let the other through, the village is 2 miles away and the nearest town is 45 minutes away . The only nursery that would accept my child is 26 miles away, the hospital that he sees regularly is 27 miles away and the big hospital that see him for some of his conditions is 50 miles away, even the GP surgery would involve an hour's walk. There is no public transport service here at all.

Essential. Work is 26 miles but it would be a taxi and two buses , which I think is about £15? a day.
I've looked in the past. The buses finish at 7pm. I finish at 8pm.
Currently the first bus is 7.25 and I start at 7.30.
I think this thread emphasises how absolutely shite public transport is in England.

Generally, I live 20 minute train ride from the closest major city, there are trains every 20 minutes and the busses are great. If my life was only going to work and back I could probably manage without a car although 40 minute drive would take me 90 minutes on public transport and cost more, but to sustain my social and hobby life I need my own car. I’d be lost without it tbh!

Essential. If even from a monetary stand point. To go to my nearest city would cost €40 by bus for our family and the last bus home is at 5:30. It is less than a tenner in petrol. There is no bus other than the school bus to my kids school and its a 20 minute drive away. Times like today when we needed to pick up ds at 7 from his school trip or tomorrow when he has to be in a 7:15 for another trip just wouldn't be possible without a car. We live in a commuter town only about 25min drive from a city so not the middle of nowhere but cuts to the bus service have meant it is increasingly isolated from the city.

I could probably manage as I live a town with some shops that I could either walk to or get the bus or taxi . School is in walking distance. Dh could walk to work , but he is a builder so he uses a van for that . Technically, I suppose we would have the use of the van as a family vehicle, if we didn't have any cars in the household.

Me and DH depend on public transport 100%. I live in a rural village 4 miles from any shops, or the GP, dentist, post office, clothes shops, optician, car mechanic etc. No public transport. Nothing in my village but one pub, the parish hall, a little primary school (29 pupils currently!) and a Church. Surrounded by fields, woodlands, farms, the river, and a canal.

It's stunning and pretty though, so it's worth the isolation. SO quiet and peaceful, and no crime.

Been here 12 years, and have struggled with no car on just 5 occasions. Twice - 2 separate days in 2 separate weeks - we were snowed in (and DH couldn't get to work.) Twice we got a flat tyre (and one time DH couldn't get to work, and the other I had to cancel a dental appointment as I didn't know it was flat until 20 minutes before my appointment.) Then once the other week, the car wouldn't start, and we had to get breakdown to come get it and take it to the garage in our little market town. Missed nothing really. We were just going to the shops.

Being caught out with no car/no public transport 5 times in 12 years isn't bad. I know some people who have been let down by public transport (unable to get to work/get to concerts and festivals/get to a hospital appointment, or GP or dental appointment, or hairdresser appointment/unable to get to meet family and friends etc,) more than 5 times in the past 4-5 months because of public transport failing them!

Not at all. We live in zone 2 in London so loads of public transport. Work is 3.5 miles away so I cycle, DH walks to his work and the children both walk to school. We use buses/tube/trains to get around at weekends and visit family and hire a car once a year to go camping.

It's kind of hard to say because the way my life is set up it's essential but there are loads of people in my town who don't have cars (loads of students for a start) and presumably they manage, albeit probably have fewer choices (the university also has specific uni tailored bus routes which help students) . If I couldn't drive I would definitely not live where I do (as in the exact location within my town), my DC wouldn't go to the sports club they go to (DS would go to a closer one, DD wouldn't be able to as there isn't another girls one any closer), DC would go to a different school, I'd have to pay for more services (eg garden waste vs just go to the recycling centre myself, internet shop more).

Not at all. We live on the outskirts of London and have terrific public transport links to the city and the coast. I regularly go all over the UK via train and bus and use Uber or taxi if I can't. Planning well ahead and using rail cards saves on fares too

Not absolutely essential but I couldn't have worked where I do through the school years without one as my commute is 15 mins drive or an hour public transport so getting to and from around school runs (which are walking distance) would have been impossible. DH cannot get to his work any other way and neither of us can WFH. Not having one would severely limit us in other ways too, wouldn't be able to visit either set of parents, get to a cinema, get to a decent shopping centre, public transport is shit here. We are in a mid sized town in the SE not the arse end of nowhere.

In theory, I guess not essential.

I wfh, dh is mostly from home but in London otherwise, and we're 15min walk from the station.

DC 1 is at Uni - I guess getting their stuff back and forth is technically their problem, not ours. Obviously we do always drive them.

DC 2 is walking distance from school. Next year, they'll be at Uni, as above, I guess we could say it was their problem to sort out the transport of their stuff to Uni & back.

Shopping can be done online.

We could get a train to local town centres, and indeed to London.

I guess we could get a cab or an ambulance to the hospital (depending on what wrong).

Only big issue we'd have is that I'm a joint carer with sibling for my non mobile, very elderly mother with high care needs, and she lives 5 miles from us and with no station nearby. So it would be cost prohibitive to go there in a cab every day or two to give my sibling respite, and hard to get there straight away when there's a problem.

In reality, our cars are quite important to us, even if not "essential ". We mostly use them to help out our children and our parents, and I'd hate not to ge able to do that.