My car I bought and paid for, over 10 years ago, is now sold and gone. She ran well, nothing wrong with her, but realized over the last year that I hadn’t been using it all thanks to decent bus service and my e-scooter.
In fact, turns out I haven’t even had it registered for years, I had forgotten to! It’s been sitting for so long out of nostalgia and fear that I would need it again someday.
Writing from the bus now, which I paid a few bucks for, I realized how much I was wasting by owning a car. $700 every 6 months, plus when it was registered that was another $600 a year. My total bus bill for the last year was $200.
We still have one car, but I’m excited! I think I’m going to use the money from the sale to buy an ebike!
Anyway, I just wanted to say it is possible, in north America no less.
That’s the dream
Good for you.
I got rid of my car many years ago (I’m agéd) when I moved into the city. I never miss it.
agéd
Franglish?
I was going more for like Shakespearean English or something similarly olde, heh
Welcome to the club. We have many options today and people ought to slowly transition to a car-free life. I had owned cars on-and-off but I often caught the bus or rode a bike even when I had access to a car.
Its been so much easier. Gone are any worries of where to park, or how much parking is, or traffic, or getting into accidents
Parking was my least favourite, it’s worse than the actual driving part. I can’t realistically park on-site where I live, and all the nearby roads are filled up too. There are multiple shopping malls and a university. Very busy area! On the unlikely chance that I need a car, I can just rent an EV by the hour. It costs a fortune and I don’t really need it anyway.
That sounds awful, and constantly worrying about your 30+ grand car sitting out multiple blocks away with no way to check on it sounds awful.
I had a Mazda Demio (aka Mazda 2) with third party insurance only (no fire or theft because there’s no need) and I had the best car alarm possible, I had pretty much every type of sensor but no GPS tracking.
Mazda Demio gets stolen because the key has no electronic security, whereas most cars have some kind of radio signal to authenticate. For the Demio it only needs the key turning in the lock, so I was smart and I got a proper alarm with a tilt sensor too, so nobody can even steal my wheels without triggering the alarm. Thieves will stuff up your ignition by ripping it out and playing with the wires and this happens all the time, even in people’s driveways.
A funny story - someone parked their Tesla near the airport on a public road. They were too cheap to pay hundreds of dollars for long-term parking, but because they parked on a public road for several nights, someone stole the tyres lol. They must have thought that because it was “high tech” therefore it was immune to theft. All the thieves had to really do was cover their faces hahaha.
Many of these cheap Mazdas get stolen by teenagers and then the police find the car rammed through a shop window at 2am. I never had that problem, nobody touched my car. If you have a valuable car it’s no good, you have to be so proud of it lol. Full insurance is so expensive it’s probably a good reason to not own a car again in the next 5-10 years. As soon as there’s a storm the premiums go up massively.
✌️ Grats! I tried this in 2008, but only because I lost my overtime and couldn’t afford insurance and repairs. I took the bus for years, but it was too cold for me in Buffalo. Great transit, but the winters are rough. Certainly possible.
Congrats! I got rid of my car after realizing I hadn’t driven in close to a year. I’ve since bought one again because the pan left me badly exposed (lived alone at the time) but it only gets driven rarely.
What were you spending the $1400 a year and $600 a year on?
Insurance and Registration
Insurance I can believe but that much for registration is criminal.
Insurance rates are also criminal.
That’s awesome! Were I ever to move back into or close enough to a city with even remotely decent public transport, I’d absolutely do the same.
I’ve come to realize that’s a minimum for me on places to live now, if a place doesn’t have good public transport, it’s not even in the running. I’m only going to be moving to places with better than what I have now.
Definitely sounds like a good rule. Heck, only thing keeping me where I’m currently at is because it’s close to family but like…it’s not really doing us as much good as we thought? So more and more I’m torn between moving somewhere that’s less…let’s just say problematic politically, or staying here to attempt change. Either way, public transport gonna suck cuz or the area.
An ebike is the right move. I replaced 99% of my urban driving with a cargo ebike and never looked back. It’s such a pleasant lifestyle.
Open to suggestions on brands if you have them! I’m suddenly not in the market
Mine is an Aventon Abound LR. It’s great apart from only having a 63kg weight limit on the back so I can’t carry most adults. The model I want to upgrade to long-term is a Tern GSD. They have a 90kg weight limit on the back, can stand up straight for easy storage, are easier to change the wheels on, and the parts will last a decade instead of five years. Even if you’re buying on a 0% APR payment plan, as a car replacement you want an ebike at least on par with the Abound. Anything cheaper than that is too sketchy and probably won’t be supported by local bike shops.
Thanks! After Rad collapsed I’ve been looking for alternatives, I’ll check them out! I think my local bike shop carries them
