FIREing on one or two cars? - if you do not consume more than 6K-8K miles a year?

[Cobra9777]

DW and I have 3 vehicles... '97 Ford Ranger, '01 Chevy Suburban, and '06 BMW 325i. DW drives the [-]BMW[/-] money pit. I mainly drive the Suburban. I use the Ranger for hauling stuff that I don't want in the back of the Suburban, like a yard of dirt, a load of rock, or a new washing machine. The kids borrow it for moving stuff.

They're all old and high mileage. But we are comfortable in them. They each serve a purpose. We only drive about 6-7K miles per year, combined. If we go on a road trip (rare), we rent a car. Cost of keeping the 3 is very low... just insurance, registration, and inspection. Maintenance is minimal, but occasionally we'll spend $800 on something or other.

At some point, we'll sell the Ranger and go to two. Or maybe two plus a trailer. And as our miles continue to decline, and Uber/Lyft become more widespread, I can see one vehicle working just fine for us. For now, based on our lifestyle and needs, three is the right number.

 

[ggbutcher]

Two, both 2015 Toyotas: 1) Highlander, hauls people, 2) Tacoma, hauls stuff. Did both with the Highlander until recently, but my wife has a rock landscaping hobby and the carpet in the rear was starting to suffer for it. Tacoma is also our camping/fishing vehicle. Wife hauls grandkids places, so Highlander 'seats 7' is important. We'll probably drive this line-up well into our '70s.

Also of note is we serendipitously have a good walking situation; work moved near me, and the expansion of our nearby public university has fomented really nice shopping and dining development. Our nearest grocery store is a Trader Joe's, at which I'll stop for stuff when walking home from work.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

5 cars

The Mrs's 2014 Mazda 5
My 2009 Chevy Malibu and 1999 Mazda Miata (aka "garage queen" and former mid-life crisis car).

Plus 2 beaters - a 1996 Suzuki Sidekick (reconstructed title with a slightly crumpled fender) and a 1998 Toyota Camry. These cars sons #2 and #3 are learning to drive on, and will use once they get their licenses.

Sadly, I used the Miata less than 1,000 miles each of the last 2 years (since I retired). I've owned it for 16 years now, so I don't see it leaving the stable. I'm a firm believer everyone should have a "fun" car (if you're a car person). I smile just looking at it in the garage hibernating.

Every car has a purpose, including the Suzuki for quick runs to get coffee and groceries. I can park it anyway without worrying about door dinks, etc.

Too many cars at the moment, but hey if you aren't confusing and annoying the neighbors, what's the point??

 

[donheff]

We had two cars briefly to enable the kids to drive while living with us. Other than that we have always kept a single car. If we ever really need two at once we will rent. We live in a city center with good public transportation plus Uber, Lyft, and multiple car rental options. I can imagine keeping two if we lived in a remote area where options were limited.

 

[jollystomper]

From an availability and redundancy perspective we are keeping our 2 cars. Both have been reliable and have aged well. The additional cost is worth the ability to use a car at the spur of the moment without having to coordinate our schedules. We have budgeted for a 3rd SUV for road trips and the stuff I like to haul around, but are not in a rush to add it.

 

[bingybear]

Assuming your DW can’t drive and never will,

With 1 driver, I would think 1 car should likely do. I could see exceptions.

For us we have 2 and 2 drivers.

We deal with DMIL medical appointments, our normal trips and I use the one with a trailer hitch to put the boat in. So instead of having DW stuck at home when I sail or one of us being stuck when the other is taking DMIL where she needs to go... the second care is useful.

I could see with one had a big truck with a purpose like pulling a 5th wheel and wanted a smaller vehicle for more normal trips.

This is how I would handle it in my case. If only one of us drove, I would likely have one car.

 

[Big_Hitter]

So I got a question for you folks who FIRED and do not drive more than 6,000-8,000 miles per year. I only drive about 5000 - 6000 miles per year - most vacations are by air travel. Would you keep 2 cars, or just keep 1 car and sell the other and keep the Money + save on insurance and car property tax?

I have 4 vehicles and plan on keeping all of them

 

[davebarnes]

One of the things I wish people would put down is how close anything is located to their location.

41 restaurants within 6 blocks of our house
2 grocery stores within 3 blocks
4 breweries within 6 blocks
Gym within 2 blocks

Our normal walk distance is 3km, so 100+ restaurants.

 

[Ronstar]

One of the things I wish people would put down is how close anything is located to their location...

4.5 miles - small grocery and beer store
4.5 - McDonalds
10 miles - Walmart
10 miles - small town hospital
10 miles - a few restaurants
11 miles - home improvement store

So we have to drive a lot

 

[Texas Proud]

Thanks for putting down the info...


As you can see, davebarnes need for a car is much less than Ronstar.... so comparing them does not give much useful info IMO...


I am not quite as bad as Ronstar, but much closer to him than davebarnes..

 

[Sojourner]

One of the things I wish people would put down is how close anything is located to their location...

1.5 miles - Drug store / convenience store
2.0 miles - Grocery store
2.5 miles - Closest good restaurant
3.5 miles - Walmart
6.0 miles - Shopping mall

Not sure how good Uber is around here but there are no taxis without calling them and waiting...

Uber and Lyft are pretty great, as long as you are in (or near) a relatively large city where they have lots of drivers. I wouldn't hesitate to use them in situations where I needed to go someplace fairly close by and didn't have ready access to my own car. In my area, you rarely have to wait more than 5 minutes for an Uber or Lyft driver to pick you up once you've requested a ride, and their smartphone apps are a breeze to use.

 

[Corporateburnout]

We have two cars but we can manage with one if we have to. We live in the suburbs but within a 5 minute walk to shopping and restaurants and 15 minute walk to center of town and library.

We usually drive 18K miles between the two as we like to go on day trips to beaches and resort towns and to visit siblings and family 50 miles away.

 

[Big_Hitter]

1.0 miles - Drug store / convenience store
2.0 miles - Grocery store
0.5 miles - Closest good restaurant
4.0 miles - W*rk
5.0 miles - Shopping mall

 

[PatrickA5]

We have 2 cars (2018 Honda Pilot, 2016 Accord). I put very few miles on the Accord, but there is no way I would go with a one car setup. I would feel stranded (and probably depressed) if I couldn't leave the house because I don't have a car. A lot of times, I'll just go for a car drive to enjoy the day. I can't imagine calling a Uber and telling them to just drive me around

 

[CRLLS]

2 to 3 cars for us.(plus a small utility trailer). #3 is because I always have a "project car" to work on that may, or may not be licensed for the road at any given time. Having the cars paid for, keeps our annual cost at ~500/yr per car, for registration and insurance. Cheap compared to our overall expenses. If we went down to 1 car, a) I would have no hobby. and b) either I or DW would feel stranded as we both do some things independent of the other.

 

[W2R]

I average only about 3000-3500 miles per year, or less, all in town. I can't possibly imagine wanting more than one vehicle for that.

One of the things I wish people would put down is how close anything is located to their location

OK, I have to brag, now:

0.4 miles - Drug store / convenience store
0.2 miles - Grocery stores (three big supermarkets)
0.2 miles - Closest good restaurant (several!)
2.0 miles - Hospital/doctor/medical corridor
0.4 miles - Biggest shopping mall in the area
0.8 miles - Lowe's (home improvement store)
0.2 miles - Gas station

This is why I don't put many miles on my car! Most of my mileage is for pleasure drives, after lunch, which is both for fun and in order to maintain my driving skills.

 

[Just_Steve]

1.5 miles to gas station
2 miles to pharmacy
5 miles to grocery store
10 miles to Walmart

Uber doubtful, taxis fares are outrageous.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Made me look:

Grocery 0.1 mile
Walgreens 0.1
Library 0.4
Hospital 0.7
Good restaurants 0.3
Diner restaurant 0.2
Hair, gyms, dry cleaners, Starbucks: 0.2
My bank: 0.3
Commuter train station to downtown is a three block walk.
Elementary school 0.4
Middle school 0.3
High school 0.9

It’s not so much that we could go down to just one car, I think we could go down to no cars!

 

[GravitySucks]

I have 2 cars now. 14 Camry and 07 Scion TC.
DD was driving the Tc for a few years and got herself a Subaru.
Just sold the antique RV and have been trying to sell the Tc. Hard to sell a manual transmission these days

Getting down to one car will save me about $1000 a year in insurance, registration fees, and inspection fees. Not a make it break deal, but more than it's worth. I'll bicycle, borrow, or rent if I need extra wheels.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We have two cars. In most weeks we do maybe half our driving together and half separate. Our cars are paid for and have good resale value so there is not a huge amount of depreciation. We have run the numbers and it doesn't seem like we would save too much going to one car. Whether we put 5K miles on two cars in a year or 10K it seems like gas and maintenance would net out. We helped one of our kids buy a used, good value under $10K car this year that seems pretty functional. So as our current cars need to be replaced instead of going to one car we will probably just have one nicer car and one used, under $10K for the times we are both out driving separately.

Restaurants, grocery stores, post office, bank all walkable (under 1 mile). Uber and Lyft available.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

41 restaurants within 6 blocks of our house
2 grocery stores within 3 blocks
4 breweries within 6 blocks
Gym within 2 blocks

Our normal walk distance is 3km, so 100+ restaurants.

Damn, I'm definitely adding Denver to our list of places to possibly retire to! We can walk to some pretty good restaurants, but the nearest brewery is 3.3 miles away, and it is NOT walkable.

 

[Zona]

Just looked it up, our walk score is "1". Even if things were closer, our house is near the top of a long steep hill, so we'd still want a car for most trips.

Grocery/Pharmacy 3.1 miles
Library 2.0
Hospital 6.1
Our bank 4.1
Good restaurants 4.3
Closest restaurant (just ok) 2.0
Nearest family members 2.1 miles
Favorite family members 24 miles

When we worked at the same building we shared one car (and saved lots of $). Currently we have 2 cars but still drive on average less than 10K miles total. When our older car dies (160K miles & still going strong) we will probably go back to 1 car.

 

[Just_Steve]

Just looked it up, our walk score is "1". Even if things were closer, our house is near the top of a long steep hill, so we'd still want a car for most trips.

You made me look, I'm 6 out of 100. Yup, car dependent.

https://www.walkscore.com

 

[walkinwood]

We've lived with just one car for the last 11 years, but recently have been thinking of getting a second one.


On a daily basis, we don't drive much, but sometimes one of us wants to take the car and go for a hike or something and the other doesn't want to. That leaves the one at home stranded. Doesn't happen too often, but it does.


We decided to plan better (discuss a weekly plan each sunday evening) and then rent a car if there is a clash. Renting at short notice is expensive (around $75-85/day), but we think it will still be more econominal than depreciation/tax/insurance/maint on a 2nd car. There are 3 rental car offices within a short walk/ride from home.



We'll give this a shot for the next year of so and see how it goes.

 

[MRG]

You made me look, I'm 6 out of 100. Yup, car dependent.

https://www.walkscore.com

Thanks. We're a zero.

About 3 miles from anything.