Anyone Share a Car After Retiring?

[ksr]

Just wondering if anyone decided to drop back to just one family car (sharing a car with your spouse or SO) after retirement? If so, has it worked out well?

Although SO and I have our own cars now, I think I've persuaded him that we should just have one shared car after he retires. We could almost manage that now since I don't need a car very often, but for convenience we're going to keep going this way at least until we'd be thinking of replacing one of our cars.

The costs of repairs and maintenance has been skyrocketing and we'd like to minimize this cost when we can. I'm interested to hear how it's working from anyone who's tried this.

[W2R]

That sounds like a really good idea for saving money. Maybe you could have a bicycle, too, as an alternative mode of transportation sometimes.

I am not married and plan to have my own car in retirement. But I think it would be pretty redundant for some married retired couples.

[waltwill8]

One car is plenty (as long as there is a pickup to pull the boat)

[Walt34]

For the foreseeable future we will have two vehicles. One is the stereotypical gas-guzzling 4WD pickup truck, always handy to have for the boat and other large/unwieldy objects, one is the mid-size car that gets about 27 mpg, and the most recent addition is the 43-mpg-motorcycle. Weather and load permitting I ride the bike most often.

There's just something "wrong" about driving a 2 1/2 ton truck to get a six-ounce prescription.

When the car wears out we'll probably get something smaller like a Honda Fit, and unless disabling illness/injury makes it useless we'll always have a pickup truck, but perhaps a smaller one next time.

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 There's just something "wrong" about driving a 2 1/2 ton truck to get a six-ounce prescription.

OTOH it a requirement to go get a six pack with the gas guzzler.

[bbbamI]

We've done the opposite...we still have two cars and last year bought a motorcycle. We like the freedom of having our own vehicle and not having to check the other one's schedule.

I imagine after about 10 years though, we'll end up with just one car. By that time, I imagine we'll slow down a bit.

[kcowan]

We got rid of my Beemer convertible because it sat all the time we were snowbirds. So last June I sold it on craigslist in a week. With the bike, the feet and the bus, we seldom have to take taxis. The liquor store, pharmacy, grocery store and barber all all within 5 minutes walk.

When we return from Mexico, we will have no car because we drove the remaining car down here to leave. We will see how that works out...

[Rustic23]

We have one car. We also have two Honda scooters. It cost $75 to have something delivered to our sub-division by Lowes. As we have had only one or two shipments in the past four years it seems cheaper to have stuff delivered than buying a truck. We are going on 4 years and so far we have not had any conflicts we could not work around.

[Bestwifeever]

I thought we could get rid of one (actually DH used to commute via public transportation so we didn't really need two cars once the kids were gone), but like bbam we need two more than ever now.

I'm not getting a motorcycle though. No, not now, not ever. Never. Wait, my sisters and brother each have their own. No, never. Never.

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever I'm not getting a motorcycle though. No, not now, not ever. Never. Wait, my sisters and brother each have their own. No, never. Never.

I bet you'd look great on one!

...the vibration is fun too...great for the muscles...

[FUEGO]

Interesting question - I had not really thought about the potential for reducing the cars to 1 (from 2). I'm thinking the main cost savings would be depreciation, followed by maintenance, insurance, taxes, registration/tag, and inspections (in that order).

I guess the occasional car rental or taxi would still be cheaper than owning a second car, even if it was an old beater. And we live right off multiple bus routes as well. But we will have kids in school still during the first part of ER, so a second car will likely be a huge convenience item.

I guess getting rid of the second car could be a good plan C option for us.

[Texas Proud]

I would never get down to a one car family...

Living here, you need a car to get around... there is NOTHING in easy walking distance.. even though it take 5 minutes by car.. it would take you 40 minutes to walk... and you have to cross two major streets (or walk down one a ways)...

It is way to cheap to have a second car... I have two myself and one for the wife...

[donheff]

DD moved back home and has one of our cars so DW and I, essentially, have one. No problem at all. When DD leaves she will be taking the second car with her. We do have four bikes to take up the slack.

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO .... I'm thinking the main cost savings would be depreciation, followed by maintenance, insurance, taxes, registration/tag, and inspections (in that order). ....

I live in a city where owning a car was a nuisance, parking was tight so I spent some effort remembering which streets were cleaned on which days so the car had to be moved; parking garages near home or work were too expensive so the car sat on the street near home while I commuted by public transit. The car was vulnerable to hit and run accidents and vandalism.

Counter-intuitively, having no car saved me a lot of time; I hated spending days of my free time on maintenance, buying stuff like new tires, fluids, I even didn't like taking the time to stop for gas. I sold the car in 1980 and never looked back, have no idea what I would do with a car now; many a weekend while working, I looked forward to spending days on foot and I still enjoy that. The money I saved (from Fuego's list above) was put into my retirement fund.

[donheff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CuppaJoe I live in a city where owning a car was a nuisance... Counter-intuitively, having no car saved me a lot of time...

In DC, New York, and other cities services like Flex-car can make going car free quite workable. If you join these services, you can go online and reserve rental cars parked in convenient locations around the city. Rentals can be for a couple of hours (shopping trips) to longer periods. I have flex car locations within easy walking distance so if I dump the weekend house I will consider going car free.

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff In DC, New York, and other cities services like Flex-car can make going car free quite workable. ....

And the savings from having no car would pay for a lot of cabs and/or limousine rides. LBYM is so ingrained, I rarely ride taxis and rented a limo only once so far. Seems to me the Flex-car method works especially well for retirees because we are out there while others are at work. There's a Flex-car parking lot within a short walk of my apt.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ksr Just wondering if anyone decided to drop back to just one family car (sharing a car with your spouse or SO) after retirement? If so, has it worked out well?

When our kid got her license, we inadvertently discovered that our insurance rates didn't rise because we only had two cars for three drivers. USAA decided that the newest driver was only "occasional". Our premiums are $400/car/year for the state minimum coverage plus liability & UM/UIM. No comprehensive, theft, or collision.

OTOH our piece-of-crap '97 Altima sedan, with over 100K miles, consumes about $500/year in repairs. We've been keeping it together with our own work but it's only a matter of time until we score a big mechanic's bill.

Since our kid does as much driving as possible, we parents are effectively a one-car couple. As long as we know when I'm going surfing and she's going to volunteer gigs, no troubles. If the Prius breaks down (doesn't seem to happen) then we'd use a tow truck, a taxi, or a rental. But the savings are at best $1000/year so we'll probably keep the Altima for a year or two after she leaves the nest.

I can fit up to a 10'6" in the Prius. If I took up stand-up paddle surfing then I'd have to look at a beater pickup...

[Moemg]

We have two cars but rarely use the Durango so we could easily go to one car

[ksr]

It sounds like sharing a car between a couple is working for quite a few of you. I'm pretty convinced that we're going to try this when it comes time for one of our two cars to be replaced (or when SO retires, whichever comes first).

The bicycle idea is a good one, and I've tossed that around before. The problem is that I live in a busy suburb of a large city, and I fear I'd be taking my life into my hands if I tried to actually go anywhere on the bike. Interesting to hear that some of you have gone with a motorcyle.

[Kronk]

I can't imagine going with one vehicle, unless our lifestyle changes considerably between now and retirement. Figure a couple of out-of-the-house hobbies apiece, and some of them will have clashing timeframes. There is no way to do busses or trains in our neck of suburbia.