To think 2 car households are totally normal these days.

[Karleeb30]

I appreciate not everyone can afford to run 2 cars but it is a necessity in our case.

We live rurally with no public transport links. Dp works unsociable hours, I'm currently off work but have needed it for work previously , just not currently.. We have two dc who both have sen so needed for appointments when dp is at work. I'd also be very isolated without a car living where we do. We have thought about just having one buy it would be a struggle with appointments and no public transport links.

Basically we have dp's 15 year old trusty car he's had forever that he uses for work. He's had it for years. It's not suitable for us as a family as only a 3 door and small and wouldn't be great for dc.

Then we have a 6 year old (that we bought second hand last year ) family car which I use more than him but dp drives too at the weekends. Previously we had an older car as a second car.

It is a struggle to keep both going at times but both are pretty reliable so far (hopefully don't jinx it here) and haven't cost us much other than your average costs for a car.

I have recently received remarks off a family member. Saying we must be rich if we have 2 cars especially if I am not working (which is degrading tbh, people have no right to judge us in our current circumstances and they don't work themselves which is the funniest thing about it so they are very hypocritical.

We are not rich, we get by but living month by month especially down to one wage currently, we do struggle. We don't have any other luxuries!

We are fortunate we can keep 2 cars running because I know not everyone can but like I said we don't have much else in the terms of luxuries.

Aibu to think 2 cars is not a luxury in most cases but a necessity and people should
Keep their beaks out where it's not needed?

We are in that middle between rich and poor where we aren't rich (I wish) and we aren't poor either.

We ran two cars until about 10 years ago. Then I got a job I could commute to by train and we sold one of our cars. it saved us loads of money. Occasionally it was inconvenient but not enough to warrant buying another car.
But if you both need to commute by car or need a car each for other reasons then of course you both need one.

Our Dc are 17, 20 and 21 and they all have a car each.
With Dh and myself that makes 5 cars.

Shoot me now. I couldn't care less what anyone says. We all work bloody hard. We have no debt and some savings

@anniegun that is interesting and much higher than the figure I found, but it includes vans. Loads of self-employed people have vans.
Still the minority of households.

OMG. YANBU. Always have 2 cars one for partner and one for me and we don't have kids. But we do lots of running around for our families and we sometimes do different things socially and I use my car a lot for work.

@Pixxie7

It’s up to you how you spend your money and people shouldn’t judge but to say 2 cars is a necessity not a luxury is wrong, particularly when you consider that a lot of families can’t afford to eat or heat their homes.

That is very sad and I have full sympathy - both me and dp grew up poor. Buy it is not my fault how this country is and how many people were struggling. My partner works hard for the money he earns. I have worked but not currently. We don't have a huge deal left after everything is paid for - I mean we haven't had a holiday in 7 years, don't drink or socialise, don't have sky tv or anything. We sacrifice a lot of other things to run 2 cars!

Completely normal. We’ve currently got 9, 1 every day car each and the rest are toys.

If there are alternatives then one car should be enough eg if you live in a city.
Well, you are making a LOT of assumptions there.

@Pixxie7 - not in the circumstances described by the OP.

I agree with most that this is none of the business of your family member OP

We didn't own a car when we lived in London and we own two now that we live in a rural village. It's entirely needs-based in most cases.

@Shade17

Completely normal. We’ve currently got 9, 1 every day car each and the rest are toys.

😅😅😅

@dalmatianmad

Our Dc are 17, 20 and 21 and they all have a car each. With Dh and myself that makes 5 cars.

Shoot me now. I couldn't care less what anyone says. We all work bloody hard. We have no debt and some savings

It must be fab that your children have independence and you don't have to ferry them around! 💕

@MrsKDB

We can’t afford a second car so make do with one. Walk / cycle / train when required. Links aren’t great (not London) but we are used to it and get on with it. From observation, those who get used to the convenience of two cars cannot then go back to one.

Exactly.

We live in an urban area with excellent public transport (not London), and on a terraced street. It's normal for people to have 2 or more cars per household and the streets are awful because of it.

It does become normalised and people assume public transport links are awful without even attempting to use them.

Most people I know have one or no cars. But that’s because we live in a commuter town in the south east where lots of people are professionals who commute by public transport or WFH or a mixture of the two. Tbh I don’t automatically associate running two cars with being ‘rich’ - obviously it could signify that but equally it could indicate that the household a) couldn’t afford a house near decent public transport links or b) do jobs with little or no flexibility over location and timing.

Also - some households drive two shit cars while some households drive one flashy car, which basically comes to the same thing!

YANBU

Tell them to mind their own business

Thanks all. I appreciate we are lucky to just about afford 2 cars and I totally get the environmental bit but no choice but to drive here really (not just us, but most people around here). It's very self limiting not being able to drive living here. I have grew up locally and I don't want to move.

When I say there is no public transport there really isn't. I don't think anyone who hasn't lived rurally fully understands how isolating it is. Nearest train station is 20+ miles away. No buses (not even the bleddy school buses pick up secondary kids here and parents have to take them to another Stop or drive them to school). Taxis are ridiculous. Apparently it's £40 to go to the nearest town 8 miles away. Cycling is always an option but dp's shifts would mean cycling at 4am or 10-11pm on dark narrow lanes which he doesn't want to do for safety reasons. I don't have any family around to help with lifts 😒

@MissChanandlerBong81

Also - some households drive two shit cars while some households drive one flashy car, which basically comes to the same thing!

That's true. Neither are particularly flashy 😅 they are reliable cars just not anything top end!

I live in a city, I walk to work, kids walk to school. We have one car, but I cannot think of another family we know with only one car.

2 cars here, 3 including DH's work van. His work doesn't allow passengers in the van and it is on a tracker so he can't use it for the school run. School is close and the DC are in breakfast club but the time it opens and DH's start time are very close so he has to drive them.

My work is too far to walk and I need to be there by 7.30am.

I cannot imagine having to rely on public transport. We've had a lot of bus services cut and no train station near by, even taxis are unreliable here. Everyone has at least one car each here, it's essential because of the lack of childcare provisions and public transport links. Northern town.

Look, you don't have to justify your lifestyle choices to anyone but yourself and the typical MN competitive poverty on this thread is tedious. You have 2 cars because you can afford it and it works for your family. Own the decision and stop trying to make out that your circumstances are vastly different to anyone else's.

I can’t understand your problem, you need 2 cars : one for your husband to get to work and one for you to get around with DC. You need them, you can run them, you have space to park them so you have 2 cars. What’s the problem?
Your relative is commenting? It’s nothing to do with cars it’s just because he/she is this sort of person and probably never have to get a SEN child to medical appointments in a bus. You will get rid of one car and he/ she will be arguing that you’ve got too many children and it’s bad for environment or too many bikes or your beds are too big…Ignore.
We have one car because we don’t need two atm.

If you don't live in a town with good public transport then multiple cars would I suspect be the norm, especially if your children can drive.

If you don't both drive at the same time why do you need the second car? I don't quite get what you're saying

Because sometimes when OH is at work with a car, I need to go out and get something in the other car.

Or at weekends sometimes we'll go out in one, other times we'll go out in the other - depends where we're going & what we're doing....

At the end of the day, as long as I can afford to tax & insure them (and I can) it doesn't matter if I have 10 cars sat on the drive does it??

@Pixxie7

It’s up to you how you spend your money and people shouldn’t judge but to say 2 cars is a necessity not a luxury is wrong, particularly when you consider that a lot of families can’t afford to eat or heat their homes.

This is tosh - if a couple need a car each to get to work and earn money to pay taxes towards subsidising the poor, then its a necessity.