Experiences of managing with one car

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Roro999

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Both retired. Do people in general still hold onto two cars or do they find they can manage with one.
 
Depends on where you live and what other options are available and why you drive eg not safe to walk or could you cycle or walk year round? Rurally it might be more of a challenge. And if you tend to do things together or separately, could you work around the person who stays at one activity eg golf gets dropped off by the other who needs the car for shorter activities. Also if you carry other passengers frequently eg grandchildren, would one car reduce this ability, especially if you are the back up and tend to be needed at short notice (ie sick child collected from creche, parent stuck in traffic and won't make pick up). So a lot of reasons for having two cars.


Also consider if some of the second car use could be solved by one of those short term rentals like Go Car, or otherwise solved by having things brought to you rather than you collect them. Check into electric bikes, I have heard anecdotes of older people especially enjoying the chance to be more active but having the back up of a battery for tougher sections. Look into grocery delivery, probably not as useful for smaller households as less big shops and more time to shop smaller batches, but if you sign up to a delivery plan you could get a couple of deliveries a week.

You could try it out for a time period by declaring one car off road and reassess. Though a lot of the times car usage is seasonal eg drive more in winter if walking or cycling routes are not as accessible during the dark so time something like that carefully to get a true picture.

We are a family with primary school aged kids with one car, we live in an area with excellent public transport and we manage well. It is certainly not as convenient as both of us having a car but really we don't need the second expense. Plus our kids are actually well used to walking places and very aware of traffic lights, road signs, using public transport (routes and fares) as a result as they are not in the car for every journey. And so many times we have had lovely encounters with wildlife and humans on our active travel journeys that we would miss in a car. But I fully understand the multiple factors that make this possible in our set of circumstances.
 
If options like reasonable public transport, and / or the likes of GoCar are available to you, then reduce to one car - with these options supplementing the remaining car.

You'll save quite a lot of money, if you can successfully reduce to a one car household.
 
Do you have a handle on the cost of ownership of the second car? If you can get this number it might make things very clear. If you are cutting back on something eg holiday, things you enjoy, or have a desire to do something out of your reach in current budget because of the second car, maybe having the goal of saving x by not having the second car and spending it on something really nice might help.
 
We have one car. We think it’s the right thing to do environmentally and financially. We are well served by local transport. About once a month some clash comes up whereby both of us want the car. When that happens we work out who benefits most from the car. The other person sorts a lift out, cycles or gets a taxi. The cost of 12 taxis a year is still considerably less than running a second car. One time we rented one of those ecars. I’d say if a lot of two car households thought about it they’d go to one.
 
DeeKie said:
We have one car. We think it’s the right thing to do environmentally and financially. We are well served by local transport. About once a month some clash comes up whereby both of us want the car. When that happens we work out who benefits most from the car. The other person sorts a lift out, cycles or gets a taxi. The cost of 12 taxis a year is still considerably less than running a second car. One time we rented one of those ecars. I’d say if a lot of two car households thought about it they’d go to one.
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This is exactly our situation . We are lucky to have great public transport. Most importantly we have a attitude that public transport , walking or cycling is a good alternative, even if it’s takes longer and is less comfortable
 
The OP is retired , so either them or their spouse may have health issues or will face them in the future which limits cycling or walking .

My parents got rid of one car as soon as Dad retired and it worked out well .

Their day was planned around the car. If Dad was playing golf and Mam wanted the do something , she’d drive him to the club and pick him up later . A lot of their friends were the same , so golf day for either of them involved car pooling with friends . It all worked out and as was said the cost of 20 taxis a year is a drop in the ocean compared to running a car
 
I would also argue that as we age driving becomes more of a challenge as well...eyesight, confidence, not liking night driving etc. I see my own parents limit where they will drive to very familiar routes and take the limited public transport using their free pass to busier locations where they would find it hassle to drive or if the cost of driving was very high (fuel, tolls, parking etc). So having a slow drift into not being fully car dependent is not a bad idea as opposed to a sudden change in health which may make driving impossible. This is extremely important in rural areas, and I feel we are in for a lot of issues of isolation for a lot of people who can only move by car in rural Ireland.

Don't forget cycling can be possible where walking is not as it is less weight bearing. We have very poor infrastructure in most places in Ireland but depending on what your journeys are some of them can be done by bike, particularly electric bike. This can keep aging people more physically active and allow for more social interactions as well.

Key to success is ensuring fair use of the remaining car...so that one person doesn't consider it "theirs" and that the other has to make the alternative arrangements, it should be on a needs basis. And agree, people baulk at the cost of a taxi but can't see the cost of car ownership as it is somewhat sunk/hidden.

One thing to consider is that one person becomes the named driver...not sure what impact that has in terms of no claims bonus etc?
 
misemoi said:
One thing to consider is that one person becomes the named driver...not sure what impact that has in terms of no claims bonus etc?
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I believe that after two years of not holding a car policy in your own name you loose your NCB and have to start from scratch again

For us at the moment we have decided to keep the two cars simply because all their costing us is the insurance, tax, fuel and repairs
If and when we have to replace one of the cars we probably will look into the idea of just having one
 
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Thanks for replies. Being near good transport is very important. We are rural so that will have a bearing for sure.
 
The first question I would ask is "why did you need two cars when working?" and work from there. It could be that they were needed for differing work patterns, or it could be they were never needed.
 
We have two cars and live in the suburbs with poor enough public transport (a 20 min car trip to the hospital takes 1.5 hr by bus (grand if you have all day but not ideal if you just want to pop in to visit someone for 15 mins). But I could see ourselves going down to one car eventually because there are options like electric bike, taxis, buses or walking.

I spend a lot of time ferrying one of my family to hospital appointments and we just take a taxi, door to door service, you know when they will show up and are a lot cleaner and safer than buses. And when the patient is not feeling well it removes all the hassle of finding parking and walking that last half a kilometre. The cost of taxis is a lot less than the cost of car ownership.
 
Cervelo said:
I believe that after two years of not holding a car policy in your own name you loose your NCB and have to start from scratch again

For us at the moment we have decided to keep the two cars simply because all their costing us is the insurance, tax, fuel and repairs
If and when we have to replace one of the cars we probably will look into the idea of just having one
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I have heard of people alternating the named driver each year to retain NCB.
 
We're both working, and went down to 1 car within a year of moving to our current house, about 6 years ago. It was very obvious that we only needed one car (there was still some apprehension at first). There was always a car in the drive way, we were switching cars to keep them both moving - not because both were needed. But, we were already big users of public transport and live on good transport links, 10 min walk to butchers, Fruit and veg shop, other shops, supermarket/hardware/etc. a 15 min walk.

We'd need to both change jobs to need a car for us to re-consider - I'd rather earn less than deal with hassle, but who knows what future holds and what will motive future me. My OH works from home, but didn't when we dropped to one car.

I walk more with one car, it takes me a bit longer to get to certain places, but I get a bit of movement in. During Covid, I used the car a lot more and had joint problems walking enough - walking/public transport fixes that without trying.
 
Just to add for people who live in built-up areas GoCar is a game changer as penetration is high and getting higher. I can find three GoCar spots within five minutes from where I live with hire starting from €11 an hour.

GoCar can help you transition from a two-car to a one-car household quite easily. In our case we are keeping one small car on the road with occasional use of a GoCar SUV for longer trips with a full family.
 
In laws kept 2 then traded both for 1 new one last year.

MIL barely drives at all anymore.

Motoring is a black hole of money so if you can be clever about it 1 car is defo the way to go.

Horses for courses mind.
 
you will save on insurance, motor tax, annual car service, repairs if any, petrol, parking costs and annual depreciation (often overlooked as a cost)
I enjoy walking. My wife enjoys cycling to work and we are near public transport.
So.....If you don't mind walking a bit and have available public transport worth doing .Its easier in the city than countryside obviously
 
It really is a personal choice because everyone's situation is different.
It wouldn't suit our house even though my wife is working and I am retired.
 
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