Do you need the second car in retirement?

[Koolau]

We went down to one car (at each geographical location) a few years ago. It's only been a problem when the one car needs repairs. That's been awkward a couple of times.

What I've found is that without driving a car, it costs at least a grand each year just to insure it and keep tags on it. (That doesn't cover depreciation or repairs). Makes more sense to manage with one car.

 

[Texas Proud]

Wow.... lots of one car people here...

We have two cars and cannot do without the two... even when we go to the gym we both drive as she wants to stay longer... DW also likes to drive to places that I do not care to go... and I do not want to be without a car...

I guess you could get by with Uber.. but to me that is an inconvenience... insurance would have to be really high to make me give up a car...

BTW, we really are 3 cars as DD has one at college we insure...

OH>>> before I got married I had 2 cars to myself... many years ago a Firebird Formula 350 for fun... had it 10 or so years... then got an Acura TL with a 6 speed manual... loved both of them...

 

[N02L84ER]

We have 1 car and a motorcycle. Works fine for us.

 

[38Chevy454]

Could I survive with only one vehicle? With a lot of difficulty. Live out on the country where you have to use a car. No sidewalks, certainly no public transportation, not really even safe for bicycling. Too many times when DW and I need to go different places at the same time. Plus being that old cars are my hobby, I have always had multiple cars. Current vehicle count is at 5 classic vehicles, 4 daily driver newer type vehicles, and 1 large motorhome.

FWIW, I have continuously had 2 or more vehicles since I was 18.

 

[Koolau]

By the way, we could afford not only the extra costs of an extra car but we could afford new cars. We've simply decided that we don't receive enough value from an extra car to justify the costs (which we could easily afford).

 

[Romer]

Could we, Yes. Do we want to, no

This is a personal thing. To some a car is just transportation and ride sharing to most everywhere makes sense

To others, cars can be kind of a hobbey

We actually have 3 cars for the two of us. Down from 4 last year

Most places we drive together, but there are times we drive on our own, like when she goes shopping all afternoon and I go to the hardware store

I do like camping and offroading, she does not

she she has a Cadillac Lyriq EV, I have a 2014 Toyota Land Cruiser and a 2024 Toyota Tacoma.

I doubt I could pull my Australian camper with her Caddy in the outback of the US

 

[Car-Guy]

Need? No!
Want? Yes!

I drive a lot so I want a backup in-case I need to work on one of the vehicles for a while. Plus, we live so far out in the country, I don't want to be stranded. There are no buses or cabs or any sort of public transportation around here.

In the 15 years we've lived out here, it's never happened. But past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

[Cobra9777]

We drive 10K/yr combined. We share a 2019 Subaru for daily driving. But we also have a 2001 Suburban for hauling stuff, or the rare occassion that we both need a car at the same time.

However, we recently acquired a Class B camper van. Between trips, I've started using it instead of the Suburban for lots of local errands. So at some point soon, we'll probably sell the Suburban. It's not expensive to keep around. But gets less than 1K miles per year.

I think we could easily get by with one car. I also have an ebike that gets me all over town. With a backpack, I often do small grocery runs. Uber is a great option for us as well.

 

[Scrapr]

Thank you all for your time and comments.

I will call the insurance agent to get a quote for a $5000 transportation. But I am leaning toward just keeping one car. Let's say a Uber ride is $30. $6000 is 200 rides. If we use 1 ride per week, that will be almost 4 worry free years.

Remember the Uber is each way. so 100 round trips. 2x's a week is one year. All of a sudden the trip to the coffee shop got real expensive

we are at 2 cars. She has a beach house & is there for a week at a time. I go over but don't usually stay as long as she does. She has her own routines around town & so do I. There is some talk of selling her Rav4 & using my Volvo. Which would allow me to go back to Sweden to pick up another car!

 

[Ronstar]

I don’t think we will ever have just 1 car. We now have 3 - a car for DW, a Jeep for me, and a truck for me. And I don’t see this changing in the near future.

 

[pacergal]

We have two cars, but primarily only drove one. Rarely do we both need one at the same time.
Thus, when DS was rear-ended and his car totaled, we let him take one of ours for now.
So we are down to one this time. It is pretty easy to do for us.

 

[Aerides]

We do, though DH uses his far less than I do mine.

However, I would say put off the decision until you've been retired at least 6 months, to see what you really need. A lot of people retire with plans to do XYZ and really and up with JKL.

I doubt any agent would give you a quote for "generic cheap care" as the actuarial tables are specific to make and model.

 

[Flieger]

If we had to, sure, we could get by with one car. But there are enough times that I want to go to point A and she wants to go to point B at the same time that two vehicles is very nice to have. And since the "new" one is eleven years old they don't cost much to insure, and since admittedly they spend most of their time in the garage they don't cost much to maintain either. So we'll keep two, probably until one of us has to give up driving.

Yeah, I think we will have 2 until someone is "unable". As far away from everything as we are (by choice) I can't see one of us being left at home without transportation.

Flieger

 

[Dtail]

2 cars for us. She goes to Pilates and I play Pickleball. It just wouldn't work with 1 car. My brother who lives with us also has a car, which we borrow from time to time.

 

[5Miler]

If I didn't have my 24 year old truck how would I get back and forth from the car parts store to keep DGS's 24 year old SUV running?

 

[Lewis Clark]

We have considered going down to one car and could easily manage with one almost all the time. When we spend the summer at our summer home we only take one car and get by just fine.

It depends on what activities you and your wife will participate in. How often will you need to go different places at the same time? Only you can answer this question, and the experiences of others will have no bearing on what you want or need.

If you have one car now, I'd suggest staying with one car and then evaluating whether you really need or want a second vehicle. Don't get the second vehicle until your activity patterns show that you need or want one.

 

[dirtbiker]

This is something I honestly never considered. Of course, I'm 15-20 years from retirement.

I live out in the country, a 20 minute drive in any direction to the nearest store, 30 minutes or further from any large stores. My wife and I work in opposite directions and at mostly the same hours, so during our working years, we will always be a two car family. When we're not working, 99% of the time, one car would be enough... But I think I would still want my own. For one thing, I drive a giant F350 diesel, and plan to always drive a big truck (we do a lot of hauling and towing on my farm, and I tow an RV), and my wife doesn't really love driving my truck, and I don't really love her driving it either . For another, I really just like having my own vehicle. This being said, if things got tight, a second vehicle might be one of the first things to go.

 

[reneeh63]

Before you sell, try a month or two strictly using ONE car (and keep track of the Uber ride cost). Be sure to track long enough to include most of your regular activities including hobbies, shopping trips, doctor's appts., etc.

 

[street]

Never work for us in rural America. We had three just a few years back and downsized to just two now.
Thinking seriously about getting another ranch pickup. I'm looking so it could happen.

 

[ls99]

Nearly 17 years retired. I could do with one car.
Prefer to have three types of vehicles. Car, pickup truck, Full size suburban.
For the last 50 years always had at least three.

 

[rk911]

We've been married for 55-years and have had two cars for around 50 of those years. My wife is partially disabled now so we're keeping our '10 Jeep Liberty as it's easier for her to get in and out. We use that car when we go out together. When I go out alone I take my '23 Jeep Wrangler 2-door Sport-S. Why? Cuz it's fun to drive.

I suspect we'll have just 1-car at some point. Hoping that's waaaaay in the future.

 

[Mark2024]

We live in an area with many stores and restaurants with in a mile. In a good day, I would actually like to walk to stores to grab a few items even the car is available.

However, it will be a drive to the golf range and hiking parks and gym.

With millions of investments, we could afford a new car and insurance. But just considering the option. Since we have been doing one car for about 7 years.

 

[MRG]

We have two. She seldom drives. The two are more seasonal and I enjoy driving them. For now they stay.

 

[Out of Steam]

Since we leave town separately fairly often, and live in a suburb with very limited transit, I can't see how my wife and I could share a single car right now.

Having two newer cars seems extravagant these days, but we like both cars and they are useful for different things.

 

[Montecfo]

We have two or sometimes three. We sometimes have activities at same time. Plus we like different driving experiences.