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 1 car. It's DPs I (shock horror) don't even have a driving license

We only have one car but most of our neighbours have two. We are thinking of getting a second but just a little run around as DH is in a band so has to take it when I need to take DD somewhere.

We only have the one car, although when I was working we had two because my partner works shifts and we just couldn't have got around to work without two!
Now I'm SAHM, and especially through the pandemic I really haven't noticed the lack of a car haha! I don't bloody go anywhere

We have no car (cos of the climate emergency).

We have one car. On our cul de sac of 11 houses we're the only ones to only have one car.
However DH used to commute to London daily and so we didn't need a second car.

We only have one car and even worse... My husband can't/ won't drive.😂🤦🏼‍♀️ On our street of about 20 houses only four houses have a car. None have two.

@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.

Yes… we have 2 full time jobs, 3 young kids, volunteering, hobbies etc but with a bit of organisation we manage with 1 car. In laws are both retired and have no commitments but have 2 cars just in case one of them wants to play golf the same day as another wants to go for coffee by the beach. Absolutely no thought of one of them using public transport, or walking, or getting a lift with another golf friend.

We only have one, we had 2 but sold the other last year. DH walks to work so barely used and then after lockdown 1.0 the battery kept going flat from lack of use so we sold it. It was an old fiesta so nothing fancy anyway.

There have only been 1 or 2 days so far we’ve ended up both wanting the car and managed to work out a solution both times. If this becomes an issue in the future we’ll get another car or DH will get a motorbike but currently all good.

I think we are one of the only couples we know with one car though. Apart from friends in London who don’t have one.

It's not that unusual.

We're a car-less family, which really gets a lot of 🤔 from people.

We have one. Until recently we had none. We’ve never had an issue.

We've only had one car for about twenty years, even with very young children.

We also only have one car now too as we now work in the same town so drive in together. The odd times we would have benefitted from having a second car are not worth the extra expense. It also helps we also live near a very convenient train lindz

We didn’t have a car for a few years but bought one last year that we share. We live in a city with great public transport and so mainly only use it at weekends. We definitely don’t need two.

Been with DH 7 years and we only had one car until last year.

DH and I shared a car from the time we got married (he added me to the insurance on his) until DD was 3 months old (almost 6 years later). We then dropped 1 car when he was working away 50% of the time (6 years later) and even when he was back 100%, didn't go back to 2 cars for another couple of years. We only got the 2nd one again at that stage as DFIL got cancer and DH needed to spend a lot of time with ILs 2.5 hours away, while DD and I needed one here for daily use and to go up and down to ILs at weekends.

When we had only 1 car in the middle part of that, for about 6 years, we had some juggling to do about who had it certain times. But we were using public transport, cycling and walking as well so mostly it was fine. Occasionally, I would get a call that I needed to get home to collect a sick DD from school - which meant a taxi to get there in reasonable time. We also agreed that taxis on occasion were necessary, and that there may well be times when we would need to rent a car for a weekend or few days on occasion (there is a rental place near enough to us) - so perfectly do-able.

Yes, you get used to the convenience of always having your own vehicle (or DH's if he has "borrowed" mine) outside the door.

But when there is decent public transport and other options available, you get used to it very quickly. You share the car more often for journeys, and consolidate your journeys (so do 4 jobs at once rather than 4 separate outings). It is cheaper, even with public transport and some taxis and rentals included.

I know lots of people thought we were daft dropping 1 at the time - but DH was literally away from Sunday morning 1 weekend to Saturday afternoon 2 weeks later, commuted by bike to the office when he was here (2 weeks), so the car mainly drove me to the train station locally (for the commuter train), home again via school (to collect DD from afterschool), and doing the weekly shopping and going to weekend clubs, with a trip to DPs/DPILs (2.5 hours away) about once every 2 months (on the 1 weekend/month that DH was home for the whole weekend).

I don't drive myself but I wouldn't necessarily have a go at your colleague. Assuming that your workplace is only really accessible by car, it would be a natural human response for her to project the "doesn't that leave her DH stranded at home?" which would be appropriate to her own circumstances. A failure of imagination, but a common one.

Sorry, I meant to say that my car did those things, DH's car sat at home all week even when he was here, and just shared the weekend trips on his few weekends at home (although that did tend to be the one doing the long trips "home" most of the time).

One car here- and people do think it's a bit odd. As if it's a hardship rather than a choice.

It depends where you live.DH and I live rurally where there are few facilities and no public transport to speak of.

If we didnt have a car each it would eliminate (for example) being able the kids to swimming & tennis lessons, me going to the shops/doctors/anywhere when DH is at work.

In my road, and family, each household has one, or none. And more and more people are getting rid.

It is London, though.

I think it depends on where you live and work. Not possible for us to use trains for work as childcare does not open early enough so have a car each.
40 min drive vs 2 hours of trains

A friend and her DH only have one VERY expensive car between them but actually they need two and they’re forever have to inconvenience themselves and others (including me) because of it. I’m sure it’s because she wanted to have the “status car” and looks down on me and DH for having two cheaper cars but actually I don’t think it’s that impressive when you have to beg me for a lift because your DH has been called into work at the last minute and taken the car.

@Hopdathelf
I had no idea I've been using nonplussed incorrectly!

No car here! I love having no car. I choose to live centrally and love walking. Will take a cab if I need to.