Claudia and I have been thinking a lot about what’s really necessary in the wake of setting a goal to simplify. Now that Claudia is working only one day a week, we are deciding if we want to go down to one car. Rather than endlessly discussing it, we set a decision deadline. That deadline is now one day away!
It’s a difficult decision. Plus, it gets complicated with “what if’s” and emotions. To help us decide, I’ve listed the pros and cons for going down to one car.
The Pros:
- save money on maintenance and insurance
- only have to monitor one car’s registration and maintenance
- only have one car to fill up with gas
- only have one car that will be depreciating in value
- selling one of the cars will give us some much-needed cashflow
- spend more time together with carpooling and dropping each other off
- we’ve been a one car household in the past
The Cons:
- when I’m teaching, Claudia will left at home without a car
- less flexibility with our scheduling
- we’ll need to buy another car if things change in the future
- less sense of security, e.g. being home without a car in the event of an emergency
- we’ve never been a one car household with an infant
- we won’t have a backup car if our car is in the garage
- we’ll need to be adjusting the driver’s seat all the time (yes, I like the seat further forward than Claudia does)
As you can see, there are two sides to this decision, pros and cons for both. We have only one day left to decide.
If you were in our shoes, what would you do?
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I posted on 48days but wanted to post here too. I’ll tell you what we did. My husband and I work together (own a business) so we sold our 2nd car and bought an old Ford 150 as our 2nd vehicle (we live in a pretty rural area). Since we were able to pay cash for the truck, carry liability insurance only and drive it only when we need to, it saved us money. We have it as a “back up” in those times we need two vehicles, and only need to fill the tank about once a month. That was 3 years ago and it has worked out great!
Thanks for your thoughts, Jennifer. I like the compromise.
Do you have neighbors Claudia could go to in case of an emergency when she’s home with the baby? My husband and I were one car owners when our first child was small. It worked out ok most of the time. I had neighbors I could count on in case of an emergency, except if they happened to not be at home, which they usually were most of the time. My neighbor drove us to the Dr. the day our son needed to get stitches in his forehead. How about the times your one car will need to go to the garage for services? What will you do then? I guess I’d say as long as you have a back up plan when needed I think having one car is very doable.
Brenda, we do have neighbors we could go to in the event of an emergency. Thanks for your input!
Yes – I agree with Brenda. Since you have neighbors you could go to, I think this is a fantastic opportunity for you to downsize! I think Josh and I would have only one car if we could. We work 35 minutes away from our house and commute in opposite directions. But this truly does sound like a great opportunity to downsize. My parents have shared one care for years. My dad has a random schedule and sometimes even gone overnight for jobs. But they have made it work. If the car is not available, my mom connects with a friend to get a ride somewhere. Go for it. 😉
Alana,
We do know people who have made it work too. I think for us, we’d choose to keep 2 but finances might influence us otherwise. Like what Dave (@adlib247) shared in his comment.
Thanks for sharing!
Michael, both my wife and I are at home full time, so 99% of the time we are OK with only one vehicle. But, there is always that nagging issue of when you both need to be somewhere different at the same time. We have called on our family to help with the car issue, but I actually have a 2nd vehicle (1989 pickup truck) that costs next to nothing to drive. It’s there “just in case”. Ugly, beat-up. But I don’t have to worry about leaving my wife without the “good” car if she needs it. How about public transportation? How about rental cars for those few times? If you can rent a car for $20/day and you only need it once every couple of months – that’s not bad!
Good luck in your decision.
I didn’t read Jennifer’s comment, but we are in that same situation. We’ve been doing that for the past six years, works out good.
Michael,
Thanks for the comment. Public transit is not really a practical option for general getting around where we live. However, for Claudia to go to her sister’s place, she can take the train which is only three blocks away.
Hadn’t thought about renting. Good idea!
Also, after my student base grows, I won’t really be working from home. I go to the student’s houses for the lessons.
Michael,
Thanks for the comment. Public transit is not really a practical option for general getting around where we live. However, for Claudia to go to her sister’s place, she can take the train which is only three blocks away.
Hadn’t thought about renting. Good idea!
Also, after my student base grows, I won’t really be working from home. I go to the student’s houses for the lessons.
I would make the call on how urgent the need for more cash is. We have been a one vehicle family since…I don’t know…several years, and all with more than one child. I would definitely find a second car a super welcome addition, and there’s been inherent stress built into having only one vehicle, especially when it doesn’t exude reliability! My bottom line recommendation: keep two
Other thoughts:
~ get liability only for insurance (we’ve been doing that for years)
~ remember that the actual costs of maintaining two cars shouldn’t actually be more because you’ll be taxing both vehicles the same amount as you would the one
~ “monitoring two registrations” takes about 48 seconds each, per year
~ filling up one car or two, again should be similar to the cost (and potential annoyance of refueling) of one (assuming that you don’t actually double the mileage)
~ are these $15,000 cars or $3-5000 cars? If the latter, they don’t lose significant value from this point on
~ I think the “spending more time together carpooling” is a positive-thinking thought that you discipline yourself to have if you have to because you have only one car…but I wouldn’t necessarily call this a “pro” – I’d rather catch a movie, take a walk, or…you get my idea
~ in the effort to simplify, the complexity of working out your schedules that one car will introduce might negate the simplicity of having one car (I’d rather schedule an oil change on two cars than hassle with figuring out when my wife can meet up with your wife based on when I have a client to meet only to have to ask her to cancel because an important opportunity came up on the day she was going to be away…)
~ it’s said that the cheapest car you can buy is the one you own
~ the seat adjustments really concern me…they make this product to compensate: http://bit.ly/zeeeST
😀
Dave, my friend. Love your take here! To answer your question, these cars are not in the 15k range, more like 2-4k. So, you’re correct in that depreciation is much lower on something like this. Hadn’t given that too much thought.
Needing the cash is an issue. We need to take a closer look to see how much of an issue.
Love the link! Thanks for the laugh.
Dave, my friend. Love your take here! To answer your question, these cars are not in the 15k range, more like 2-4k. So, you’re correct in that depreciation is much lower on something like this. Hadn’t given that too much thought.
Needing the cash is an issue. We need to take a closer look to see how much of an issue.
Love the link! Thanks for the laugh.
I would keep both cars. I don’t know about Jude, but my kids were always getting hurt when they were little and I hated being stranded or waiting for a friend to come pick me up to take Hannah to the hospital because she slipped and cut her chin open.
Also, if your one car breaks you always have a back up car. I have learned that batteries die, cars just break unexpectedly and it’s much better to have a back up.
Just my thoughts though.
Awesome, Brendie. Thanks!
It’s less convenient, but we love it, Michael. I can walk just about anywhere I need to go, and know plenty of people who are fun to ride with/carpool if I need to go somewhere.
I’ve never had to take the kids to a hospital. They get hurt all the time, but heal fast. 🙂
Go for it!
Love it, Justin. I thought I remembered you saying that you and Christine share a car.
Hmm, contemplating…
I’ve never looked back. It’s great for our marriage, since now we actually have to talk and coordinate who’s using it. Christine always has it unless I put in a request. It’s done wonders for us.
That’s awesome, Justin! You know, I didn’t mention this in the post, but we haven’t been using one of our cars for about two months because it needs a new alternator. We have the money to fix it, I just haven’t taken the time yet. We’ve been making it work thus far. However, the thing is, I’m home quite a bit now, but after student schedule fills up, I’ll be out a lot more.
Cool that you’re asking this question.
For Kathy and me, we love having two cars (what’s more, we now have a teenage driver, so it’s a must). But what’s great for us is that we only budget $700 a month for cars and $300 of that goes to saving for a new car. So when you do that math, that means we keep two cars running (i.e. gas), repaired, and insured for $400 a month. We also have over $17,000 saved for our next car, which I’ll be buying for Kathy on her birthday this year (this is what happens when you consistently put $300 a month away for about 5 years).
The way we did this is we always purchase good used cars with low miles and hold onto them for years. What’s more, our commutes are short. My is about 35 steps, except when I drive to the airport to travel for speaking. Kathy’s is about 1 mile.
Personally, I can’t imagine not having two cars, but I also cannot imagine having a car payment.
Kent, love the input! That’s awesome that you have been planning that far in advance to buy a new car. That’s rare. We don’t have any car payments and they’re are older cars, but reliable.
You guys don’t have kids yet, right? Once kids come along, the convenience of two paid-for cars is so nice…especially if you live in a bigger city. And if you set your insurance deductibles right, the extra expense is next to nothing. Plus, if one car dies, you are in a position to think through options without having to make a “crisis-mode” decision.
Kent, we do have a 5 month old. Great thought on the crisis-mode decision. Hadn’t thought of that.
We have three cars. I have two vehicles, one a sport car that I had before I got married and I do not drive in the winter and a sports utility vehicle for the winter. Both vehicles were purchased new and we keep up the maintenance on our vehicles. My husband has his vehicle. We were working full time and paid off the cars before we retired. We are young retirees under sixty with other financial issues such as property tax, insurance, etc. but no mortgage or car payments. We have a trusted mechanic who had to put in a newer engine on the sport utility vehicle in 2006 when the car was paid off and only five years old. It is possible to keep and maintain your vehicle and afford two.
If you already have two cars keep both of them. If you only have one check around through your church, job and you might come up with an newer cheaper affordable vehicle as your second car. Since we are retired it seems that we are using more mileage and gas when we try out of town. Yes, we have a start up business but we never thought about selling any of our vehicles .
Vee,
Thanks for input. Looks like you have figured out how to make it work.
Michael, how far are you commuting?
Can you Bike to work? Add a $100 trailer for cargo? Good for the baby also if you get one that can take a car seat. 🙂
Jason, not an option as I’m driving around to student’s homes giving lessons. I like the idea, though. I’d totally do it if I worked nearby.
I’m curious…I didn’t jump in in time, so what was the final decision?
Ryan, we’re keeping both for the moment. We were leaning towards going down to one until so many people said they’d keep them both. So, we reconsidered. If it comes down to finances, then we’ll sell one.
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We’ve been one care household for 4 years – with three kids! We made some other changes that helped – moved to a more central location so we could walk to grocery store, coffee, restaurants, park, etc. We bought a scooter, and we own a $hitload of bikes. I’ve never used our public transportation, but it is there too if we need it. On rare occassions we have borrowed a vehicle from a family member (rare). It also helps that we both run homebased businesses….but it has been great! An adjustment in the beginning and scary, but now it seems totally normal. Sometimes you have to wait and be flexible, but that is ok.
Good hearing your story Sarah!
That is sweet that you live in walking distance to the grocery store and park. We live close to a park and I love that…