Is it possible to manage without any car at all with 3 children?

[Jynxed]

MOT bill has hit us hard, and we are deciding whether to sell the car instead. We haven't got £650 to pay the bill, but could sell the car for £1000 with an MOT, so end up with £350. Alternatively, we can borrow to cover the MOT and keep the car.

My query to anyone out there is - can you survive with no car at all, with 3 kids, and both of us working? I can cycle to work, and mostly do already, except when the weather is really bad. It would mean walking to school in the p*g rain and then cycling on to work, come what may! But DH normally drives, so would be dependent on the train instead, which would mean he wold be home from work quite a bit later, as well as leave earlier. I would have to collect the kids from the child minders by bus, which would add another hour onto the round trip.

And what about general days out, and picking up the shopping, and collecting from parties, taking to school trips etc.??

Anyone out there have no access to a car? Is it do-able, and I'm being a wimp? Or should we find the money and keep the car?

I have to make a decision within the next 24 hours - what would you do?

With 3 kids (& all that entails) & DH getting to work (& winter weather) I would keep the car

But I'm a wimp

How old is the car? What kind is it? What is current mileage?

whether it's doable depends pretty much on what public transport is like where you are. City people can manage without a car much better than suburban/rural people

We are in a city, but not on the right bus routes for where we need to go. So, I either have to take 3 difference buses (or 2 buses with walk in between) to get to work, or cycle. Hence the bike. Primary school is OK, within walking distance, but secondary school is 7 miles away, so eldest at the moment gets a lift to the bus stop about a mile away. She would have to either take 2 buses, or walk and bus, which is possible, but not when you leave it to late (which she will, she's a teenager). I think the summer will be fine, but the winter . . . .

You need to tally up the cost of all the public transport trips and factor that in to your calculations. Also add in the extra time all of this takes. Oh -And the lack of versatility in arrangements .

I would keep the car

Car is a Hyundai Getz with 60k on the clock, about 8 years old.

Neither of us has ever drived, we managed both working in the city, living in a little village, with a nursery drop off by public transport.

But we had never had a car, so we were just used to it, and never missed what we had never had.

We are still 3 dcs and not driving. It is possible. Online food shops for the heavy stuff, wine and water and big stuff like bog rolls and laundry detergent, it's fine.

I'm sure it depends where you live but it is possible.

if you let the car go now it won't be too bad, going into spring, but what about next autumn? Would you be able to get another car? If not, how bad would it be to go through a whole winter without one?

my friend has 3 under 5 and she manages, I couldn't do it and I only have two dc! We have two cars too

my friend gets her shopping online and walks everywhere else, she is a sahm though so doesn't have to get to work but I know she'd just get the bus if she did work, she's good like that. I drive to the corner shop

I'd def keep it

Goodasgold - how do you manage if one of your d.c needs to see the doctor, or has to be picked up from school unwell, or is invited to a friends house too far away to walk to? Can you manage everything on the bus? What are the occasions when you would really want a car, if any?

We have dc 10, 9 and 3, and have never had a car while we have had the children, for a variety of reasons. We were originally living in a big city, and are now living in a medium sized town. It works for us - lots of walking, and using public transport. We also rent a car occasionally (holiday) or take the very occasional taxi, which we can do because we aren't paying out for a car. We are also looking into joining a community car share scheme, or possibly doing a car share with a friend. The only time I miss having one is for days out to places (eg National Trust, etc) that are inaccessible by public transport.
I think it is do-able, but you have to look carefully at how you use the car, and how you would get yourselves around with out it (which it looks like you have done). There is a certain amount of creativity that goes with not having a car, and and perhaps a bit of mind adjustment, but it definitely can work. Could your eldest lift share to the bus stop, or to school? It would teach her good time management . Could childminder drop kids at yours, for a little bit of extra money?
As to your questions, shopping delivered, (tho' I pick up smaller stuff), school trips everyone goes on a coach anyway, we are within walking distance from school, but if one was really unwell I would use a taxi. The friends house thing is a bit difficult sometimes - 90% of time it is not a problem because friends are close by, but I must admit my heart does sink a little when dc gets invited to friends that live 30 min walk away, mainly because it is a bit of a chore to collect them at 6 pm! We still do play dates there, but sort of once every three months. Also I don't mind having people here, and their parents collect from here. Things like parties for the dc, other parents will offer to give dc a lift back, or I work out a way to get there through public transport.
HTH

Neither of us drive and we have 5 kids. DH gets bus/walk/train to work (takes minimum 3 hours a day) Kids and I have always walked everywhere or got the bus. When the older 2 were small and I worked part time we used to walk the 2 miles to school and then I got the bus to work. On the way home, I bussed it to school and then we walked home. In the bad weather, they wore waterproofs and either wellies or walking boots. It was about a 30 minute bus journey and then another 30-40minutes walking.

When DS3 came along, The same thing happened, except I walked him to my mother's first and then on to school. By the time DD came along, I wasn't working at all, but we still walked/bussed it everywhere.

It does curtail us a bit with regard to activities and the like, DD gave up her dance class when it moved to the next town because she didn't want to trail away there on the bus, for example and it would be quite hard to get them to sports clubs or whatever, if they were that way inclined, but that's more to do with the fact that I would always have had to trail them all with me rather than anything else. DS1 never had any problem at all after he was old enough to go on the bus/train himself and went all over the place to play in his numerous bands/speak at Burns suppers and the like. Ds2 and 3 are also quite capable, now, of getting themselves wherever they need to be.

Shopping is delivered. Friends are not a problem, either they live close by or we go on the bus and parents will bring them home, same with parties and things. As they have got older, they go themselves, anyway, it's just the younger ones that I have to deal with now. If the kids weren't HE, primary school is within walking distance and there is a School bus to the secondary that they could get. Failing that, they could get the bus into town and then another bus to school. That's what all their friends do, anyway.

Like Jennifer, the only time I think about the difference having a car would make is for holidays or particular kinds of trips where either public transport isn't available, prohibitively expensive or just takes too long.

I think that you have too look at all the angles, weigh up the costs of public transport, the practicalities of getting around, especially back and forward to work and school and then set it against the cost of keeping the car (including future problems that might arise) and the convenience of having one. BUT it is absolutely possible to get by without one. We manage fine and we live in a place that actually has pretty rubbish and quite expensive public transport.

I would pay for the MOT at the moment, as you could always sell later. Then try a no-car month and see how you get on. There's been a lot of good points made here. There's been times I haven't had access to a car and it does create a bit of thinking about how you might get to places for when you need to get there.

Thanks for all your replies.

We've actually gone ahead with the MOT, mainly because we couldn't get around the distance to the school bus issue (or more likely we couldn't come up with an answer in the timescale). The final straw was realising that we had the eldest's Spanish Exchange student coming to stay next week and we would have no means to collect her from the school at 9pm at night when she arrived.

However, the thought process has made us realise that it is possible with a little thought and planning, so we are considering selling in the summer (with its MOT!)

Many thanks for all your help in cystallising the thought process!

I find this really interesting. We're in a pickle financially but the car would be the last thing to be sold after the dc

Our whole life has been designed on having a car. Work/cm distance to friends/family. I googled how long it would take on public transport to visit my mum. 20 min drive or 2.5 hrs on public transport

I have a sister who doesn't drive - she lives in the city, and I never begrudge giving lifts when she visits us, but it's getting more tricky for them now they have their own child.

Yes, to a degree we have designed our life around not having a car - well, perhaps not as complete as that, I just mean that we thought a lot about it. We moved to a mid-sized town that had a rail station because we wanted the possibility of continuing to be car-less. The house we chose is near the train station, near school. The town has good rail connections to large cities for work / museums / bigger shops etc. We all have bikes so we have one more transport option, etc. It would be much more difficult if we were in a very rural situation.

We have always managed, the odd doctors appointment, I have left work early, then we have gone to school to meet dd2. One time I was at home with ds and the school rang that dd2 had injured her poor little head and we went and got her, then a taxi from school to A&E then another taxi home. But that was exceptional and I have three children, that was my first dc related trip to A&E.

We have never driven, we would use taxis where necessary, but for the most we can manage with walking and public transport.

But from my my mum and my dmils stories I can completely understand how you could depend on a car. THINK OF THE ENVIRONMENT!

OP The only occasion I would want a car is for going skiing. That is the absolute only time and even then it's fine by train.

It's not just about the environment though. I'm a community OT - It's part of my contract to have a car for work. I could change jobs but that's a whole other argument.

This is too late I know, but our son was quoted a similiar price for getting through the MOT. (dealership) On closer inspection, many of the jobs were advisory, not mandatory. Took the car to another gargage, the mandatory work and MOT came to £150. Obviously he will now get the other work done when he can. So shop around. We were told that the good mechanics are the independents, working for themselves and so we no longer go to the dealership as they are all fur coat and no knickers overly expensive, charging much more, to pay for their fancy premises.

Keep the car if you can.

Thanks Driftwood - always feel a bit vulnerable with garages as I know nothing about cars, and it shows. We did check with a mechanic friend, but apparently our "big end" should have been replaced 10 000 miles before, and our "critical widget" was well passed it etc.

Smackapacca - completely off subject, but my fantasy job, if I could go back to 6th form and start again, would be community OT. Would you recommend it?

Yes I absolutely would - 10 years ago. Now jobs are really hard to find. It's a great profession though, and I really believe in what I do, but a cat is essential

Cat???? They don't tell you that in training do they??? Car obviously!