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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think about going car free?

17 replies

BelleBoyd · 16/07/2021 14:12

Thinking about going car free with an 11 and 7 dc? Anyone done it and it’s great or done it and it’s not great?
Can’t afford to run my car anymore and fed up with parking, traffic etc anyway.

OP posts:
Lockheart · 16/07/2021 14:13

Youre obviously not being unreasonable to not have a car.

Millions of people manage without.

NakedAttraction · 16/07/2021 14:14

Well I guess it depends where you live and what your lifestyle is like…

DistrictCommissioner · 16/07/2021 14:17

Depends on where you live? We didn't have a car living in London and Manchester. It was fine.

Cheerio21 · 16/07/2021 14:17

A lot of families manage op.
We were car free for 5 months two year ago, and tbh it was fine!
Managed to get delivery slots for food. Otherwise we walked and bused it!

How local are you to everything you would need? Schools, food shop, family, parks etc

Frazzled2207 · 16/07/2021 14:17

Good for you. My husband really wants us to go car free for environmental reasons but admits that where we are it isn’t really practical. Totally depends on where you live.

We have however become a one car family and that is totally doable.

BelleBoyd · 16/07/2021 14:19

We’re in London so transport is fine. Trickier with out of London sports stuff for eldest and evening training sessions. But doable

OP posts:
Waxonwaxoff0 · 16/07/2021 14:19

I can't drive so this has always been my life. I have an 8 year old and I'm a single parent.

Do you live somewhere with good public transport and good delivery service, do the DC do hobbies? How do they get to school? We have to get a bus to DS's football training. I think you'd struggle if there is no public transport nearby.

Flowerlane · 16/07/2021 14:19

Some can manage fine without a car some can’t live without their car. I personally can not live with out my car!Grin

We are semi rural now but before that when we lived in the city I still couldn’t be without a car.

Have you sat down and thought about where you go and how you would get there without a car? Children’s activities/parties etc. If there was a emergency what plan you would have if you needed to be some where fast?

Other means of transport if you had to get them such as buses/trains can all add up and sometimes the car can be the better option.

If you think your lifestyle can survive without a car go for it 👍

maddening · 16/07/2021 14:20

If you live in a city then it is obviously easier. Where I live it would not be possible if I want to leave the village ever.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 16/07/2021 14:20

X post. Sounds fine if you're in London. We live in the midlands and manage fine.

BarbaraofSeville · 16/07/2021 14:20

If you're in London, could you join a car club for the occasional out of town trip?

warmfluffytowels · 16/07/2021 14:20

If you live in London, why not?

Around here, it wouldn't be doable.

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 16/07/2021 14:21

We're looking at going down to one car be between the two of us. Even though my work is local, I do have days when I need the car for work (essential car user post) so this will rest heavily in DH falling back in love with his bike.

It does feel like the right thing to do though, and I'm currently trying to plan better so that we are walking more places up to 2 miles away, rather than mindlessly hopping in the car because it's there and it's quicker. Can you have a trial run of a month pretending your car's not there before you give it up?

Zinnia · 16/07/2021 14:32

Our car was written off in an accident when DC were 3 and 8 months. We were basically fine, luckily (thank god for children's car seats), but as that car was virtually worthless we didn't get enough compensation for it to buy another.

Since then we've been entirely car-free, DC now 13 and 10. We live in Zone 2 London, near multiple public transport options (our area is very well-connected by tube, rail and Overground as well as bus).

100% join a car club, whichever has the most convenient vehicles for you. We are with Zipcar and though it's not perfect we have saved thousands over the last decade, and every time there are roadworks or parking restrictions on our street and the neighbours' whatsapp group kicks off, I'm reminded of how much stress there is in owning a car.

We have borrowed or hired cars for holidays, but otherwise use the Zipcar for things like overnight weekend visits to family, Ikea trips, when we need to get to the secondary school (which is a distance away and not easily accessible by tube). I'd totally recommend it.

Zinnia · 16/07/2021 14:33

That makes it sound like we drive DC1 to school! We don't, there's a bus Smile

BashfulClam · 16/07/2021 14:42

It depends. We live in a small village with no bus service and just have a train direct to the city. We need a car to get to the supermarket etc. We were without a car at the start of the first lockdown and it was a real pain as food deliveries were hit or miss with not much of our order actually showing up. Mil was also a pain about it as she likes to be ferried about and was crying that we couldn’t take her to Aldi (she has a bus service as she lives in a bigger town) or take her meter readings (she is able to do this herself ffs!)

Roseily · 16/07/2021 17:36

Go for it - think of all the money you will save and how you can use this for other forms of transport. Think too of the reduction in hassle.

When we lived in London, zone 2/3, we did it. We were not commuting to work by car and so used to only cover around 3,000 miles a year. We worked out that our 'fixed' costs were around £1500 a year (tax, insurance, MOT, servicing). Petrol was another £300-500 a year.

We used the £2000 or so saved to get the train, taxis and hire cars when needed. Biggest cost was hiring a car for holidays or weekends away but for 2 weeks a year or so this was still less than the cost of owning the car and we used to get taxis back from the supermarket etc if we had too much to take home walking or by bike.

We initially joined a car club which was very convenient but we found the subscription costs were quite high for the number of times we used it. We were lucky as we had several car hire places near us and so could usually get a car for the weekend for a cheaper rate. It was great to be able to drive a range of cars and get what was usually a brand new hire car which excited the children!

Now we are no longer in London unfortunately we have had to buy a car - there is not the network of public transport available and whilst we still walk and cycle a lot there is not car hire available to the same extent. We also have it in case of having to suddenly visit older parents in emergencies. plus my daughter seems to have started suffering from car sickness and cleaning up hire cars is not very pleasant!

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