The economics of my retirement

[CardsFan]

We have 2 cars. We like being spontaneous and it’s a pain to have to plan every trip.

^^^This.

My car was in the shop a while back, and every time DW left, I would immediately think of something I would like to do, but couldn't without a car.

 

[karen1972]

We went down to 1 car for 3 years and then my BF got a job where he had the car from 8-5 every day and then I was trapped and home and had to go buy a second car as I couldn't handle it any longer. Now 2 years later he works from home again so now he is stuck to his desk from 8-5 so honestly we could go down to 1 again.

I think it just depends on how social you are, how long you may take the car out, and how accessible things are. I mean if you go fishing say and take the car for 10 hours, will the spouse be ok with that? Are you at home most of the day anyway? just depends.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We do 90% of everything together, so it works for us. 1 car for now that is, but it is always subject to review. It has been fine for the last 5 years.

 

[pacergal]

Yes, ray, you deserve a new fishing rod! And continue to enjoy retirement.
We bought two new cars 1-2 years prior t retirement. We are keeping them both, rare occasion we both have different places to go or in case one of ours or the kids is in the shop.

 

[NYEXPAT]

We live in the city and have no use for a car. I had one about 10 years ago, but sold it as I would always forget where I parked it!

 

[Bir48die]

In an effort to downsize we will have to whittle down the fleet a bit;
-2005 diesel Excursion for pulling the camper/family outings
-2004 GT Mustang convertible, my DD
-2006 Jeep Liberty Renegade, her DD
-1986 Porsche 944, my toy
-2003 BMW 325 convertible, her toy
-1996 F150 farm hauler

We have plans to sell the Porsche, and the BMW to cut down on license plates, and insurance, all of these are paid off.

Thinking about doing something like that since our DMV fees doubled as an overall plan to “improve infrastructure”. Since our state transportation department sucks I don’t have high hopes to see any improvement

 

[38Chevy454]

Me as an individual have had 2 or more cars since I was 18. Now much past that point and married, my DW and I have 4 daily driver type vehicles, 4 old classic vehicles, and a motorhome. Even though we typically only have one car out at any time, I could just never have less than at least one car per person. While they mostly sit in a garage, having the additional vehicles is my choice. I also live out in the country, so there is not an option for taking public transportation or bicycling or walking. If the vehicles are paid for, the cost for insurance and reg is not that much, at least where I live.

 

[imoldernu]

96 Cadillac SLS, and a 98 Lincoln Signature. Keep both,"in case of".

Now less than 2K miles/yr total. 150 yards to activities at our CCRC. Nearest stores 300 yards to Aldi's and 1.3 miles to Walmart.

 

[Ronstar]

Ray - you don’t need 2 cars. You need a car and a truck. We survive the winter with one car which works out somewhat ok, but I can’t get to hiking trailheads on unpaved roads without my truck. We have 3 cars and a truck the rest of the year. I could get rid of 2 cars if I had to.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I, you are my car hero). It’s cheap for us to keep 2 cars as we walk a lot and we are keeping ours forever:

 

[Scuba]

Whether or not you need two cars depends on your lifestyles in retirement. If your interests and hobbies are different and you are frequently away from home at the same time going in different directions, then you might need two cars.

If most of your activities away from home are done together, then you may only need one car. This may be especially true if you are able to walk or ride a bicycle to run errands near the house.

For people that are moving and want to get an idea how walkable their new neighborhood is, this is a pretty good website:
https://www.walkscore.com/

My wife and I have two cars, but once she retired a few years ago we could easily get by with one car. I still work part time, but work from home, so I don't normally need a car.

I kept a spreadsheet for over a year and tracked the number of times that both of our cars were away from home at the same time. For us, in most cases, one of us could easily have shifted the timing of our car usage to avoid the need for a second car. For example, if I am at a club meeting and my wife is at the grocery store, the grocery store trip could easily have been shifted to another day or time.

We found that on average, there was about one instance every couple of months where we needed two cars, since we were going in different directions at the same time, when neither event could be shifted to another time. In the long run, it would be much cheaper for one of us to take a taxi or use ridesharing (Uber or Lyft) once every couple of months than to maintain a second car.

Both cars are paid for so we have chosen to keep them for now. But when the first car reaches the end of its life, we will probably experiment with only having one car. This is not an irreversible decision, so we can always get a second car if we wish.

This is exactly our situation. I don’t have a spreadsheet tracking our movements but I’m pretty sure the times we need to go opposite directions at the same time are rare.

 

[brucethebroker]

Weaned off two cars when BIL asked us to "babysit" his car while he was posted 2 years overseas-so we sold our second car. Were nervous about driving his, so we used it only rarely, and were surprised how easily we adapted to "one" car. When BIL came home, we only had the one car. That was 8 years ago.

Like others have shared, we rarely need to rent a second car-maybe one or two times a year. But we live in a walkable small town and also bicycle a lot.

Interestingly, we are currently snowbirding without a car. We used a one way rental to drive down, and walk/bike while here. (Too many miles on our up north car-did not want to push our luck driving down.) Working so far. (A little tricky balancing a gallon of milk on the bicycle trip to the grocery....)

 

[Rowej]

Ray, you will need two cars once you get that much deserved new fishing pole. You will need the car to get to the fish for hours at a time. Lol

 

[Dawg52]

One car and one golf cart. If you live in a golf community a cart is a must. Nice to be able to drive home from the 19th hole on a cart path. I guess I could do that too in a car but I would probably be arrested.

 

[greydog17]

A couple of years into Fire we went from 2 cars to 1. We were a bit apprehensive having had 2 cars forever, but surprisingly now after almost 4 years, we've only had schedule conflict a handful of times that couldn't be resolved, and then I've used Uber. One car is very doable, and now with Uber/Lyft available in most places its an easy way to save a good chunk of annual expense - not to mention depreciation.

 

[Choices]

We only need one car except for when DH goes to visit his fam, he could fly but prefers to drive. Picking up a rental would be a 30 mile trip.
Apparently our second ride needed to be a pickup...who knew? It gets its workout going to the transfer station every week or two. But by gum, when we need wheels to ever pickup goats or sheep or something, we will be ready!

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We never have a car that is over 3-4 years old, so the "If one Breaks" scenario is mitigated. They come with free towing, maintenance and fixing, so if it ever occurred it would be a minor inconvenience. So far so good going on 15 years. We may go back to a SUV some time, but quite enjoy nice sedan.

 

[audreyh1]

This is exactly our situation. I don’t have a spreadsheet tracking our movements but I’m pretty sure the times we need to go opposite directions at the same time are rare.

It was super easy for us to figure out. Shortly before retiring, I had gotten a new SUV replacing a 12 year old car. Our second nicer car sat in the garage unused for many months after I retired. DH doesn’t care to drive. Most of our away from home activities were done together. So it was obvious.

Full-time RVing - can only tow one car.

Back to a house, never got a second car. At home now DH uses his bike for most of his activities and we don’t go out much - mostly just to run errands which we do together.

The only time we ever need a backup now is every two or three years some car work that requires a long wait at a dealer across town. It’s more convenient then to have the nearby Enterprise pick us up and rent us a car for day. That works out beautifully.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I think what we might do long term is keep two cars but the second one can be inexpensive. We helped one of our kids buy an under $10K car this year - low maintenance, good MPG and should be good for another 100K miles, so I can see keeping a car like that for a backup car.

The second car comes in handy for us when one is getting repaired or one of the kids flys home to visit and borrows our second car.

 

[flyingaway]

I am not fully retired. My last car only increased 3,000 miles each year. So after it was totaled in an accident, I decided to go car free.
My wife has a car. I think we will have one car in retirement.

 

[ckelly78z]

But by gum, when we need wheels to ever pickup goats or sheep or something, we will be ready!

We have hauled both, along with hay, firewood, scrap metal, appliances, lumber, bags of quikrete, dirt bikes, and even a camper.

 

[Retch The Grate]

$300 a month is a lot of money I think i deserve a new fishing rod don’t you. Was anyone else surprised?

A new rod, definitely, but are you sure you don't also deserve a nice new Shimano reel?

 

[KCGeezer]

And to really test it out and get comfortable with the new rod, say a week in the Keys or appropriate waterway?

 

[rayinpenn]

And to really test it out and get comfortable with the new rod, say a week in the Keys or appropriate waterway?

That’s the plan Sarasota early spring...