10 Reasons Why I Ditched My Car
By M Butler, special to pfadvice
I don’t own a car. I found myself in a desperate situation where I was not able to meet all of the payment obligations that I had and I was slowly drowning in debt. I needed to do something drastic and my decision was to get rid of my car. This was over a year ago.
At the time everyone I knew thought that I was crazy. I even thought I was crazy. There isn’t anything more un-American than not owning a car. When I made the decision I wasn’t sure if it was going to be even possible to live without a car, but I felt I had no other choice. Now that I have lived without it for awhile, I wish I had done it sooner. It was by far the best thing that I could have done. I no longer even want to own a car.
The decision to get rid of the car was by no means an easy one. I am a single mother with a two-year-old child. The nearest store and its shopping center is about 5 miles from my house so having a bike is not the most convenient way to go shopping. Still, even though I can now afford a car, I choose to only have a bike.
While I ride my bike almost every day, there are times when I need to use a car. On days that it rains, I usually have a friend come and we carpool into work. There are times when I need to buy a large amount of groceries and I will either have a friend drive or call a taxi to get this accomplished. Even when I have to pay for things like a taxi or occasionally rent a car, I still come out far ahead than if I owned my own car.
While not having a car poses some problems, overall they are small to what I gain in return. I realise that not everyone can get rid of their car, but a lot more people can than think it is possible. These are the 10 reasons that I don’t have a car and don’t want one:
No car payment: I do not have a car payment that drains several hundred dollars a month from my bank account. This is money that I can save for more important purposes in my life — mainly, by forgoing a car, I will be able to help my little girl go to college while still being able to build a retirement fund for myself.
No car insurance: In addition to not having a car payment, I don’t have to pay twice a year for car insurance. For me, this adds up to almost another $1000 in savings.
No pain when gas prices increase: While everybody else is worried about the price of gas and the rising costs of operating their cars, I don’t think about it at all. Since I don’t have to purchase gas, it has very little effect on my lifestyle and I don’t need to figure out how to squeeze higher gas prices into my monthly budget like I used to.
No car repair bills: One of the worst things that can happen when you own a car and are living paycheck to paycheck is to have it break down on you. All of a sudden you have a several hundred dollar car bill that needs to be paid right away in order to get you back on the road, but not the money to pay for it. I no longer have to worry about these unexpected expenses. While my bicycle may need to get a tuneup every once in awhile, it is far less expensive than anything a car would cost.
Better health: Not having a car gets me off my lazy butt and outdoors much more often than if I had one. The direct result of this is that I’m in much better health than I would be if I owned a car. In fact, I’ve lost about 15 pounds since making the switch.
Environmentally friendly: An added benefit of not having a car is that I’m doing my part to help the environment. While I do not expect everyone to quit using their cars, I think that everyone should make an effort where they can to help the environment. This is one of the ways that I am able to do this.
No gym membership: A month after I bought my bike and sold my car, I cancelled my gym membership. Since I ride my bike to work, I’m in much better health than I would be if I owned a car. I get plenty of exercise on my own and don’t need to shell out the $30 a month I was paying to try to keep myself in shape.
Better organization: Due to having only a bike, I must plan my trips much more carefully and not having a car has made me become more organized. In fact, a side effect of getting rid of the car was that my monthly grocery bills dropped by about $200 a month. The bike forces me to always shop with a list (because I’m not making another trip if I accidentally forget) and I can only carry so much stuff back (so no impulse purchases) that my shopping bills naturally went down.
Less stress: While I will readily admit that a car is more convenient, the amount of money that it requires was making my life extremely stressful. The car had me in a position where I felt like I needed it to survive, but it was costing me so much that I was always in negative numbers when the end of the month rolled around. Now that I don’t have a car or the costs associated with it, I no longer have the financial stress that I had before.
A much healthier bank account: What this all adds up to is that I have a much healthier bank account than I would ever have if I still owned a car. Instead, I am able to add hundreds of dollars to my savings account each month and put away some for both my and my daughter’s future.
And those are perfect good reasons too.
I think it is weird that an action that everyone, including you, thinks is crazy can be so great. It is distressing that we are so bad at guessing what we will like. I wonder what other drastic-seeming actions we should be taking!
I went without a car for four years for similar reasons: each time my car broke down, it was like the mechanic called my bank to find out the balance so he could charge me that!
My main trouble was getting home from parties. I could get there on my own or on buses, but the parties would outlast the bus schedule and the daylight so people would want to give me rides home, and they wouldn’t let me do anything in return, so I didn’t like that.
Every three or four months I would rent a car to take a long trip (such as to visit my parents who live 200 miles away) and/or to buy large things or go to far away stores. As you said, this is soooo much cheaper than owning a car.
I learned that there are two kinds of car rental places: the kind for people who have cars but are traveling out of town (these are at airports) and the kind for people who have cars but they are in the shop. The latter are much better for people without cars.
Now most of my friends have moved so far out that they are no longer on bus routes. I have a car again, but I only buy reliable ones and I buy them ten years old and keep them about ten years. You don’t need collision insurance on old cars (even the slightest ding will “total” your car, according to insurance companies). It costs me about $200/month to own a car including gas, repairs, insurance, and saving for the next car. I don’t drive it much (insurance is cheaper if you don’t drive to work, too), and I often lend to my friends whose cars are in the shop.
It’s not always easy to remember that you don’t have to drive somewhere just because you have a car. But I try hard not to forget. And grocery shopping on the bus definitely counts as one of your aerobic activities for the week!
Thanks for sharing. One day you will have to get a bike for your child!