To ask if you have successfully become a one car family

[TheSecondMrsTanqueray]

DH gets the train to work. I mostly wfh now. DD uses my car when she's home from uni but, although, we live rurally there is public transport and we could put her on DH's insurance.

Anyone given up a car? How did it go and were the savings worth it?

No we are a one car per person family
All of us have jobs that involve travelling county wide on a daily basis and we live in a rural village with infrequent buses which is not on a train line
DP has a car and works van and travels U.K. wide on call - he could be in Aberdeen 1 day and Folkestone 2 days later

We were a 0 car couple (lived in London pre kids) and became a 1 car family around the time we had our first and moved out. I use the car as a last resort; if I can walk I do, if there is public transport that doesn’t add too much time or cost I use it, we commute by bike and train never the car, school run is always on foot/scooters. It works for us but a lot of that is about proximity to station and bus routes.

We've only ever had one car but we've consciously arranged our lives so we don't need two cars. We bought a house that was walking distance from both our workplaces, school, shops etc. We rarely need to use the car and both prefer to walk for health benefits.
Obviously it wouldn't work to have one car if we both worked far away or needed the car for shopping, school etc.
Our car is for occasionally taking the kids to activities or friends houses and days out/holidays. That's it.
It's perfectly doable (for many people, not all) in my opinion.

I'd like to do this but I'd have to move house. If you live somewhere where it is possible to walk/cycle/public transport to the things you need to get to, albeit less convenient, I'd go for it. If you live somewhere where you'd just have to sacrifice hobbies or work if the car was in use, it's probably not worth it.

We’ve always been a one car family, never been able to afford 2 cars. Could now but no need. Our one car is new and our one luxury.

Dh used to take the car to work years ago, I’d be stuck in the village with the dses but it’s got trains and buses if needed. He then started getting the train and I had the car.

These days I use the car for work, dh is retired. Both dses are at university and don’t drive yet.

No room on the driveway for another car anyway.

We've only ever had one car. Couldn't afford two. We purposely moved close to a train station. When I was going we had no car.

I think this thread highlights the use of public transport being a major part of the choice to use cars less.

Haven't governments been banging in about nationwide public transport being freely available.
It seems that we'd be happy to use it.

Not financially viable so why does each successive government keep up the stupid promises.

We live on two bus routes and have only ever had one car. DD bought her own when she learned to drive. We have access to overground and tube stations as well and local shops are within walking distance as was primary school. So I suppose we demonstrate what Rated Doing Magic has said. if you live in what I would call the ‘middle of nowhere’ with no public transport then you probably do need two cars. As the GC grow up and we are needed less we are beginning to think we may not need a car at all.

We’re testing it at the moment after someone wrote off our old car. We’ve banked the insurance money and will use it for taxis and the like where we need to. We do live in a city though, and have a station within five minutes walk. We also both work from home, and if we do go into the office it’s walkable or trainable.

Our problem will be ferrying kids to different sports activities but DD is injured so we won’t be able to test that until later in the summer.

There have been a couple of instances where it would have been much easier to have two cars, but we’re alright for now.

If you wfh and DH gets the train surely you don’t need 2 cars?

We run 1 car because we don’t both drive to work.

We use the car for everything nearly, but went down to 1 when our second car died and we couldn't afford to replace it. I was about 6 months into mat leave with my first.

I found it super annoying at first as dh kept wanting to take the car to work which meant I either had to get me and baby up to drop him or be stuck at home/local with baby but since he got a job in walkable distance it's much easier. We have 3 kids and their school is too far away to walk and no bus. I work part time. Most days I have the car and either drop dh when I take the kids to school or he walks.

The most annoying thing is having to have such a big car- we need it for when we're all in it particularly for holidays but I'd much prefer a smaller car for running around locally. And compromising on the car - this one wouldn't have been my choice but since its a shared car I had to suck it up! But its definitely fine for us and as I say this is in a situation where public transport isn't available. I think if I were full time in my old job though (teacher) we'd need two.

Ha ha this reminds me of when I went to a University reunion and happened to mention to an old fellow student, who was now a Consultant Surgeon in Yorkshire, that I had had to change plans last minute to come by car because the trains were not running that day.

I said that this meant my husband and son had had to get an Uber to my son’s activity that day.

He looked at me in disbelief and, after a pause said “Oh, is that a London thing then, only having one car?”

He knew we were financially able to afford 2 cars. It literally did not compute that we might choose not to 😂.

We've only ever had one car. It's not really that hard if you live in an urban area. We walk or use the bus. But some people seem to develop cold sweats at the thought of public transport.

We had one car right through my dcs childhood, at first i couldn't drive but once I passed we managed fine in a mid sized city with one. Exh rode his bike to work, in theory so could I or both could walk, in reality I drove and dropped him off if weather was bad as we worked close by. On weekends it means communication is key if doing things needing a car and I did end up dropping him off places so i could keep the car then collecting him later (eg cricket or golf.

It doesn't work if you live more rurally i expect unless you very aligned lives.

I'm now moved and remarried, have 2 cars as work in opposite directions! We'll drop to one car once retired, though he has a motorcycle so still have 2 vehicles

We have one car. Works fine for us: car insurance, MOT etc all paid for just one car. When we aren't WFH, we commute to work by train, which usually involves us travelling to the station at the same time and paying parking fee for one car. Sometimes we don't travel back at the same time for a variety of reasons but I find that even if one of us has to take taxi back from the station, it's still cheaper than having to pay to insure, maintain or park another car all the time.

I guess it really depends on what your family's needs are. I have quite a few retired neighbours, who still keep two cars, but I am not really sure whether that's because they really need two or it's just a lifetime habit.

We've only ever had one car. If you wfh and husband takes the train, I don't see any reason you need 2 tbh.

I bloody wish. Seems to be a car required for every occasion.

This. Occasionally it meant one of us had to stay home or we had to decide which would use the car. Mostly we could walk cycle or use public transport.

Urban. No car. European city with incredible transportation. I have had one lift from a friend and one taxi ride in the last 12 months.

We live on the outskirts of a city and manage fine without a car (have done since our first baby). We do work standard office hours, so I think that makes a huge difference. You need to plan more but it's perfectly doable. We have bus, train, walk.

We have only ever had one car but we are Londoners.

@Havingaswimmoose I don't agree. We have plenty of public transport nearby but my neighbours and work colleagues still choose to use their cars when they have other options available to them. It's too simplistic to blame it on the lack of public transport. The culture remains that everyone "needs" a car. Once you've got one it's maybe hard to justify not using it.

Lots of people in london have no car

or are lucky enough to have everything close together so they don't have to do a multistage journey of work via school and childcare drop off and the same on the way home, which would be impossible on public transport

Not everyone is "lucky'. Some of us make life choices which allow this to happen without a car.

can afford the extra cost of having their grocery shopping delivered rather than dropping into Aldi on the way home etc etc.

This really boils my piss sometimes, when I read this.

I actually happen to own a car, because I'm "lucky" i guess to be able to own one and live in an area with great public transport.

But I also get online shopping delivered, which costs me £2 or £3 every time.

Have you ever calculated the cost of "dropping into Aldi on the way home" in terms of

• Cost of fuel for that trip (I'd wager it's £1 at least?)
• Cost of insurance, depreciation etc of the car over that time period

I would wager it is about the same, or more, than the £2 I pay for my online shopping to be delivered.

My point is - people don't properly cost the usage of cars @Bjorkdidit . They just shoulder the whole cost, and then tell everyone how much they need it all the time, and how privileged we others are that we can pick and choose not to have it.

HMRC recommend 45p a mile etc for business travel if you're using your own vehicle.

Your "popping to ALDI" might cost you a minimum of £1.50. My online shopping is £2.

Are we really talking about different things here?

Great example @HotCrossBunplease of how 'car people' who own more than one car, are just desperate to point out how inconvenient it must be for you to "only have one".

It's just embarrassing...

If you choose to financially burden yourself with two or more cars? Good for you!

But why people seem to feel the need to then analyse other folk's transport choices with some sort of strange pity... for goodness sake, we all get about however we choose to, it's ok!