Do other couples share both cars rather than having one each?

[OhMyGodItsSoGood]

I saw a post on Instagram that was astonished about a set up where a married couple don't have their “own” cars but instead both just share two cars and take whichever one they want when they need it. Monsters, apparently.

I was astonished at the poster’s astonishment because this is our set up and it genuinely didn’t occur to me that it was weird or unusual. We have two cars between us, one big, one smaller, and we just take whichever is more suitable at the time (usually whoever has the kids takes the bigger car). We don’t have or think of them as belonging to either of us.

Opened up a discussion in the WhatsApp chat with my pals. They all think it’s weird too and I am a bit 🤯

I mean it’s not a big deal, it works for us, I’m not upset or worked up. I’m just curious as to whether any other couples prefer this set up?

Many can't afford two cars... not that hard to understand really.

I have a little mini cooper convertible I love, he hates occasionally nags me to get some electric hatchback. Nah. He doesn't like driving the mini says it's too small and uncomfortable.

He has a huge 4x4 diesel SUV which is automatic. I don't want to drive it.

So peace reigns.

We have our own cars, I can use my husbands precious EV sometimes, but he doesn't use my 15 year old banger because he hates how it isn't as nice & easy to drive as his.

My husband isn’t insured on my car as he can’t fit in it!

Dh uses my small car a lot more than I do - for short journeys I use our very good public transport, which is free with my Wrinkly Pass.

His is older and bigger plus a diesel, which attracts the ULEZ charge, but it’s very comfortable - and economical with fuel - so we keep it for long journeys.

We have our own car. But his is shiny and new so I do take his keys when going to the shop etc daily we do use our own but the option is there for either. Mine is slightly bigger so we used it for a recent trip with kids & prams etc

DH & I each have our own car but do also “swap” if that makes more sense. Mine is bigger & higher off the ground so more suitable for DH taking MIL to appointments in, for example.

DS will also swap cars with me sometimes if he has extra passengers or luggage (his is a small 2 door).

But basically that’s still my car. I still take that one when I leave home by default unless we’ve made other plans.

We share 2 cars. The EV is our commuting car - both shift workers and we work around each other. Other car is non EV so use that for longer journeys etc.

Depends how the cars are paid for I guess, I pay for mine and he pays for his (a van) both welcome to use each others but we would ask first

Technically we have a car each but we have a long 2 car driveway where one blocks in the other. Unless we need both cars we’ll each just take whichever one is at the front

We have a large SUV and a compact SUV. My husband works away during the week, he’ll take the smaller one as I’ve got the children so it does feel like the bigger one is mine and the smaller one is his. We’ll both drive whichever makes the most sense on the weekend if we’re not together though, for example if I’m taking our oldest to one party and he’s taking the little one to another, he’ll take the big car to save faffing with the car seat.

I’ve never really thought about this before 😂

I’m not a driver and my OH is, so no direct experience. But I don’t think either set up is odd or unusual. Just depends what works for the family.

Sane setup here, we use the cars interchangeably depending on the type of journey. I always thought that was normal.

We have a 7 yo diesel that is technically DHs and he uses it for long work trips or long distance family trips and “my” car which is a newer smaller
EV that I mainly use for school runs, going to work (10 min drive) etc. We both use either car depending on what the journey is for but DHs car is in his name and mines in my name.

We have our own cars and very rarely drive each others. DH will drive mine if we've an extra passenger and someone needs to squash between the kids car seats but that's it really. Oh and when we do long trips where DH will drive my bigger car and I sit in the back with the baby.

Going out day to day it would be unthinkable to both of us to take the others car!

Yes we do the same as you, but everything comes out of one joint account and when we first got together neither of us had a car so they were both joint purchases. Actually both are officially in my name as I had the better credit at the time, but they are both considered ours.

Exact same situation here

I reckon probably quite a lot of cars have this feature now. We have it on our Audi Q7

Has each own and pay for upkeep but drive which ever one we want. So popping out without kids, I’ll take the faster one. But day to day we default to our own.

Same here. One of ours (a prestige make and model) is owned outright and is “mine” really as I chose it and bought it with part of an inheritance from my late dad. I love it and DH hates it! The other is lease-plan and, although it’s also in my name (can’t remember why beyond me being the one who does all the admin so it seemed to make sense), DH loves driving that so I tend to leave it for him although I agree it’s very nice to drive.
So, they’re both ours but we tend to drive one each although it depends where we’re going and what we’re doing for practicalities.

We have 1 x diesel and 1 x electric so whoever is doing tue longer journey which is usually dh, takes the electric one but both cars are joint

One each even though our finances are completely joint.

We share when needed ie my car can go into the LEZ in Glasgow and Edinburgh but my husbands can’t but usually we stick to our own cars particularly as my husbands is super messy and I refuse to drive a dustbin on wheels.

I hate DW driving my car cause she can scuzzle it up in a single journey. And I HATE having a messy car. It’s one of my favourite days of the month when I take the car to the car wash and it’s clean with the fresh smell!

My car has my sunglasses, hairbrush, emergency lipstick, bags for shopping.
Am I just really messy and other people don't keep this shit in their car?