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?

[quote Cakecrumbsinmybra]@Hopdathelf
I had no idea I've been using nonplussed incorrectly![/quote]
@Cakecrumbsinmybra It has two meanings these days. One is ‘not bothered’ one is ‘shocked’.

@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.

Interestingly, you are right to comment that most households in London don’t have a car - “In 2019, households in England had an average of 1.21 cars. However if we exclude London (the area with the lowest rate of vehicle ownership) then the typical English household had 1.3 cars. In London, households had 0.74 cars, meaning on average not every household has a car.”

But, of course not everyone lives in a bit city with the underground etc!

We have gone down to one car (and one motorcycle) about 6 months ago.

It became apparent that my wfh was going to be a long term thing, and that my car was sitting fairly uselessly on the drive - to the point we'd have to make an effort to rotate the usage.

My car was sold, my partner bought a motorbike, and transferred his car to me (tbh it's basically a paperwork difference...it still gets referred to as his...). I remember posting at the time...and it was all very 'be careful op, who's idea was that..., it should be HIS car that's sold'

It doesn't make too much difference at the moment - I made it clear his bike is his primary vehicle and the car is used if the bike can't...not that he can use the car and then the bike if I needed the car.

I mean... it was a interesting couple of weeks went he decided to crash it...but we hired a car for 4 days I actually needed a car and he needed get to work.

I think it's quite uncommon to only have one with 2 working adults, but might become more common with wfh, and the general rethinking people have done.

We shared one car for 5 years because dh worked so close to home he could walk. When we moved house/changed jobs we changed to 2 cars and have needed them ever since. I imagine we'd go back to one car at retirement age.

We have a car per adult. 9 times out of 10, there is a car at home. It's very rare everyone is out at the same time.

We used to car share but it was such a pain. Getting into the car and it had no fuel. Having to readjust everything every time. It also became more one persons car, strangely not the person the car was registered to!

For us, it works to have a car each and we don't tend to use each others car unless in an emergency. I know a few people with one car and never thought much of it.

@BunnytheFriendlyDragon

It's not that unusual.

Now I have Tom Jones in my head

We only have one car but I very rarely drive (by choice - I do have a licence). In fact nobody uses the car very much right now as DH is working from home.

Depends on your lifestyle. We have 2 cars and a van. My husband uses the van for work and the car at weekends. We never drive each other’s cars. His is manual which I hate driving.

We only have 1 car in our household, but it does seem most families have 2! Better for the environment to only have 1 ;)