Single car households how do you cope?

[Razp_Sorbet]

As a single car household and the one who has to catch public transport it's exhausting. Considering going more in debt and getting a second car just for the convenience!

It takes me over an hour to get home on public transport even though the journey is only 10-15 minutes by car. I get incredibly travel sick so by the time I'm home im over absolutely everything. 🥲

Updates

+1 y

We are trialing this week me having the car and going back out in the evening to pick my partner up. Just means on swim day I have 45 min of waiting around or running errands 😌

[RebelinSteel]

I’ve lived rural most of my life and having only one car is a real pain. It also impacts you dating etc, as your girlfriend may have to travel 20 miles to work and rural public transport is often 2 buses a day.
As a GaG question, Does your girlfriend need to be able to drive?

Definitely lol or she ain’t going to get far.

[RebelinSteel]

The other bit is that the person with the car ends up doing stuff like the food shopping, or you need to leave it to weekend. Also for the one without the car, they cannot easily just go into town or nearest city or go shopping.

[jennifer_bloom]

My dad has a friend who bought an $80,000 - $100,000 van ten years ago and he saved up for it by taking the bus to work for over 3 years even though he was a high level accounting manager with big money and his wife made equal or more than him. It’s okay to temporarily demote your living standard if it helps you save money. We are not going to roast you if you do not have perfect processes and conveniences that people associate with status.

[Apple1996]

It's soo rough having to share a car with your partner. I did it for years with my husband. During that time I walked a lot

[Razp_Sorbet]

Yep a lot of walking and waiting 😫

[exitseven]

I don't know how people do it. America has a car culture. Our whole civilization ai based on the interstate highway system. To think people will give up their cars is just nuts.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO

[IslaTheWitch]

I work from home... and public transport in Germany is great... so I don't own the car :D

[Static_In_The_Attic]

As for my household it’s a single car household & I’ve made it work all these years.
You know what my trick is? I share the car with myself because I live alone.

[Lowiu]

Like public transport here is pretty good I dont even have a car

[bowenw]

Try to arrange it so one can drive the other.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Not possible for me in the evenings unfortunately. I finish work earlier than my partner.

[bowenw]

Could you take the car and pick up your partner later when they are done? Of course it depends on your starting times.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Technically yes but it would be using a lot of petrol as we have to drive over a hill 😪

[Razp_Sorbet]

Some days my partner goes for a swim after work though so that makes that even trickier

[bowenw]

It sounds like a second car is the way to go. Can you get a reasonably priced used one? Alternately have you or your partner thought about making arrangements with a coworker?

[bowenw]

Let us know how the trial goes with one car.

[Redstang88]

Can’t find a cheap older car? Beats walking or an hour on the bus

[Razp_Sorbet]

It's not the cost of the car that's the issue it's the insurance, and maintaining it

[Redstang88]

Yeah I suppose maintenance is always a gamble, I always seem to find vehicles that are nothing but problems. Is insurance that much there?

[Razp_Sorbet]

$70 a month ish depending on the vehicle for insurance (that's for my 2007 car, prices vary on type and age of car) plus registration $120 a year plus fitness warrant $50-$70 every 6 months for cars registered before 2000s 12 months for cars registered after 2000s. Then of course petrol which as we all know isn't cheap. And service once every couple years could be up to $400. Plus need specific tyres because of the hill driving, those are about 1k and they need to be rotated every 6 months which is about $50-$100. 😪😤

[Redstang88]

That’s actually pretty cheap for insurance. The mandatory inspections would be annoying for sure but at least that will point out issues without having to get service/“check ups” other than oil changes
Why would you need special tires for a hill? And rotating your tires that frequently is a total myth with modern tire construction, as long as your alignment is good I only do mine at around half tread and that’s plenty

[Redstang88]

And you have to consider what your time is worth, if a car saves you potentially hours everyday that adds up quick

[Razp_Sorbet]

Tyres that don't wear as easily, it's a steep hill with a lot of turns going over Multiple times a day fucks the tyres like nobodies business. Moved here in November the tyres on the car were about a year old, had to replace them all in Feb... It's definitely something we're looking into but being new home owners with an expensive mortgage and a house to paint we don't have a lot of disposable income

[Redstang88]

Hmm wild, I put a lot of hard miles on in the mountains and sure haven’t worn out tires like that

[Bklynbadboy12]

God bless them don't know how they do it I live alone and have more than one car. What if that one car breaks down then what?

[Razp_Sorbet]

Then we are screwed 😌

[Bklynbadboy12]

Well hopefully that doesn't happen

[NYlatefun]

I’m lucky enough to have lived in cities where you don’t need a car.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Don't "need" one here either just takes a lot longer to get to where you need to go

[NYlatefun]

A car is just inefficient in manhatttan. I can get to work in 10 mins walking.

[Rosexøxø]

Yeah ny is easiest for travels. Didn’t think you were actually from there.

[NYlatefun]

@Rosexøxø gotcha yup I’ve lived here for 20 years

[smahala1991]

With no car I walk to work. It’s 1.5 miles each way or 2.4 kilometers

[NathanDavis]

I've been using Uber since the pandemia...

[NathanDavis]

locally... parking spots situation is a nightmare, and also coming back to your car and it is 160 degrees inside

no thanks... I'll just catch an Uber anytime, anywhere... and cool as a cucumber already, lol

[Astarlessnightsky]

I take the bicycle to go to work and back home.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Lovely

[jahaims]

I'd walk before I took public transportation

[hafinjun]

It's my car