To think it’s not *that* weird to only have one car?

[OnlyTheLangOfTheTitberg]

At lunchtime today I was chatting to a colleague who asked if I was going to an (optional) event in the office on Wednesday. For context, we’re currently hybrid working, 2 office days/3 WFH days each week and as one of the managers (albeit not too high up the seniority tree) I get to manage which days are which myself, with sensitivity to the needs of the business of course.

I said I would have quite liked to have been there but my car is booked in for a repair on Wednesday so I’ve had to make it a WFH day. She immediately said “can you not just use your husband’s car that day?” I said we only have one car and she said “oh” and looked quite nonplussed, as if I’d suddenly started speaking in tongues, and there was a long pause where it looked like she genuinely didn’t know how to respond to my shocking revelation I asked her if she was going and the conversation moved on, so I thought. But then as she was about to go back to her desk she hesitated, and then said “so what does your husband do if he needs to go somewhere while you’re at work?” so it was obviously playing on her mind. I just said, we manage (as it happens he’s disabled so no longer drives but she doesn’t need to know the ins and outs of his medical history, and even if he were still driving we couldn’t afford to run two cars) but it got me thinking…is it so unusual to only have one car between a couple these days?

We only have one but OH does have a van through work, which he can use outside of work if needed. If his van had to be left at work each day we would need two cars, as neither of us work within reasonable working distance. Actually OH would probably get a motorbike.

We cut back to one car 20 years ago when both kids had left home. We have also gone for a small engined, fuel efficient car that gets 60 to the gallon. It has been awkward maybe 3 or 4 times in 20 years. We try to use it as little as possible as our but to help towards reducing our carbon footprint, but when we read of billionaires going onto space just because they can. Or that bloody train that ran empty from London to Glasgow to try to win a speed record, and using over 3,000 gallons of diesel in the attempt, I do wonder why we bother.

We only have 1 car, but most couples I know have at least 2.

It's an issues maybe 2-3 times a year, which is not enough to justify the extra cost of another car. Worst case scenario one of us uses a hire care or gets taxi.

Once the DC are a bit older and have different clubs, parties, etc on the weekends I may become an issue.

@ShanghaiDiva

We have one and manage fine. We can walk 25 mins to post office, doctor, dentist, shops, cafes and train station and 5 mins walk to bus stop. We do a combination of walking, public transport and car.

And this is surely the model we should be embracing. We live rural and do this. Teenage children, two full time working, lots of community involvement and have never had more than one car. Sharing lifts, bus (2 a day in our area), taxi if essential, community give each other children lifts home (no probs going out of your way if it is your turn), even staying over after late nights out, organized mini buses for local matches, train from nearest town (13 miles), on call for each other if need a car quickly and car being used (very very rare to really need a car), all have bikes, lift WhatsApp group, etc etc It takes more organizing but at what stage does it become a priority to do this against the convenience of having dedicated personal transport. The vast majority of people in this planet do not have their own personal transport yet in rich societies we see it as a necessity whilst we destroy the planet to ensure we don't have to wait for a bus.

We have two cars but in the same scenario as you've described wouldn't make an ounce of difference as DH would be at work with it.

It’s perfectly okay to have as few or as many cars as you need/want/can afford. We’d only had one car for years and only bought our other, bigger car this year because we’re expecting twins imminently. We were going to sell our other car originally, but then realised that my little old Picanto was probably worth more to us as a second car than the rather pitiful amount we would have been able to sell it for.

Blimey, she must have had a sheltered life if she is shocked by a couple having one car!
We have always had 2, but to be fair could manage with one now, but that's pretty recent.

We have one and manage fine. We can walk 25 mins to post office, doctor, dentist, shops, cafes and train station and 5 mins walk to bus stop. We do a combination of walking, public transport and car.

Most families could manage perfectly fine with one car, they just don’t want to. My in laws are horrified at the idea of walking 15-20 minutes to the shops, or taking a bus.

We only have one. We live in a city and both used to cycle to work so it only got used at weekends when we tend to go out together. There is also public transport into the city centre.

I've since got a new job which is more rural/further away and I drive there a couple of days a week (others are a mix of WFH and cycling) but he doesn't really need the car while I'm out so we're still fine with one.

@RobinPenguins

We have one and manage fine. We can walk 25 mins to post office, doctor, dentist, shops, cafes and train station and 5 mins walk to bus stop. We do a combination of walking, public transport and car.

Most families could manage perfectly fine with one car, they just don’t want to. My in laws are horrified at the idea of walking 15-20 minutes to the shops, or taking a bus.

Yep, they just don't want to. You are spot on. But there are significant consequences to the plant and other humans and societies for those decisions.

@PhoboPhobia

I wonder what she’d think of my adult DD who has no intention of learning to drive?!

yup I have one of those too! she recently got a new fella and DH's first question was "can he DRIVE?". We did spend years driving through the wilds delivering and fetching from various parties long after she turned 17. such a pita.

Me and DH only had one car for a few months when I was pregnant, it was HELL, I can't cope without my independence and I work far away from home.

DH doesn't drive, we only need one car because I have yet to master driving two at once

what planet are you living on? I only know one person with a car and no one knows why they even bother having it, its unnecessary in london and just a expense. I never even thought owning 1 car was common.

@VelvetChairGirl

what planet are you living on? I only know one person with a car and no one knows why they even bother having it, its unnecessary in london and just a expense. I never even thought owning 1 car was common.

Not everyone lives in London…

@VelvetChairGirl
Have you considered there is more to the world than London? There are no buses in my village, without a car we would be stuck...

We are retired and have 2 cars but thinking of getting rid of one. We both have bus passes and are thinking of that being the way forward. Also would cut our car bills.

We had 2 cars but mine was becoming a money pit and as we both worked at the same office we shifted our days round to work in the office the same days.
We thought it might be a pain with ds's sports but it wasn't.
The only time we miss it is if this one breaks down/is off the road. .
Saved us a fortune 😀

Definitely not unusual. A lot of our friends share one car, the only reason we have two is because DH travels the country for work otherwise we would manage with one.

We have two cars - DH commutes 45 minutes each way for work and I'm a dog walker and need one for work.

But my parents and in-laws are both one-car households and only one of DH's siblings drives.

I know a few families who have dropped to one car in the last year. Wfh has meant a second car is a really expensive thing to sit on the driveway for most of the time.

It's unusual for all the people I know. Most families have two cars.

We don't have any car, just rent one every now and then and mostly use bike and public transport. I don't miss it at all and wouldn't know what to do with two cars. We also save a lot of money and front garden space and never are in traffic jams...

We have been married nearly 20 years and succumbed to a 2 nd car yesterday!! We now have 18,16 and 15 year old children who not only need lifts everywhere but starting driving lessons. DH WFH recently but he used to cycle everywhere and leave me car. There are always one or two occasions weekly where it would have been great easier to have a second car, however it was never often enough to justify the expense. We bought an old car from neighbours elderly mother as our second as she had had to stop driving.

My in-laws own 3 cars, and there's only two of them. A big 4x4 for distance driving (fair enough, they're at the opposite end of the country to most of us and drive down 2-3 times a year to visit - not sure it needs to be a 4x4 though as we all live in cities/suburbia); a two seater convertible "for fun", and MIL's little runaround.

The last one is particularly incomprehensible, as she never goes anywhere without FIL, and he never lets her drive...