How many miles are you driving in retirement?

[aja8888]

The last thread on this subject, mostly "driving cost" related, was 9 years ago and some people were still working.

I am an 81 year old widower and I drove 19,500 miles between 2/2024 and 2/2025. Seems like a lot, but I drove a lot before I retired, and I see no reduction in sight. When I was working, I drove more, as I did engineering consulting projects primarily in the energy business (oil & gas, refining, chemical plants, etc), Since I live in The Great State of Texas, a lot of work was done easier by driving, although I flew a lot too. Long drives are easy here as there is a great highway system between the big cities and speed limits are 75 in most areas and higher in a few others (Zoom, Zoom!)

These days, I meet friends most every morning for coffee/breakfast, go on shopping trips, play golf, visit my daughter, take short trips to visit local friends, go out to dinner with friends, etc. Seems like each day I rack up between 50 - 100 miles on the car. My long drives in previous years were to Connecticut and back with some friend visit stops in other states along the way. I have one such trip on the plan for this year and expect to drive about 4,500 miles.

When DW was alive, we took several driving trips to visit her family in California and Wisconsin. My longest drive in 2024 was about 1,250 miles to visit a close friend for a few days in western Missouri.

I am used to driving a lot and have no physical issues to slow me down of hinder my ability. I also drive at night as I have no issues doing this and never had cataracts or other issues that would make night driving difficult. I do wear glasses, though.

So what's everyone driving on an annual basis these days now that COVID has passed (for the most part)? Am I an outlier here with my large accumulation of miles driven annually?

 

[foxcreek9]

Our main car, bought in May 2020 just hit 20k, our other car, bought in Dec 2016 just hit 34k. Meanwhile my bicycle from Dec 2016 is just over 32k

 

[Midpack]

When we were both working, we put 12-13K/yr on both our cars, so about 25K/yr combined. We both had work miles, weekend boating, and driving into Chicago for dining/culture/shopping/entertainment. Now both retired, we're putting 8-9K/yr on both cars, so 17K/yr combined. We don't feel at all deprived - still lots of activities and driving into the metro for upscale dining/culture/shopping/entertainment - more than we did when near Chicago.

 

[MarieIG]

I would say that DH is in your category, with frequently long trips to help with the grands, and then driving them cross-country for medical treatment/ testing for DGD. He uses his beloved Volvo for long trips and my old Honda accord for trips to the beach (he's a bird watcher) and for food shopping.

I, on the other hand, drive minimally locally - i.e. church, chiropractor, medical appointments, very rarely shopping, meeting friends. (Pre-retirement I drove about 12,500 a year -but that was in combination with frequent public transportation.) I do want to have a car available when DH is gone or in the rare event that he is home and I want to take a solo trip or we have a time conflict. (He usually drives me to my appointments when he is home.)

 

[audreyh1]

We drive very little locally but love road trips. We’re over 25K miles in 2.5 years so I guess that means 10K miles per year. We just have 1 car.

 

[Dtail]

Averaging 13k per year in retirement with 10k last year.

 

[Koolau]

We've put 21,000 miles on our "new" used car since 2017 so that's about 7.5 years. That comes out to an average of about 2800 miles per year in the Islands. Considering that we can't drive farther than about 23 miles without hitting an ocean, that seems normal to us. I recall when we lived Windward we mentioned that we drove 17 miles to church and people were flabbergasted. Some had never driven that far in their 80 or 90 years on Oahu.

Our old, used car, on the mainland we've driven 34,000 miles in 12.5 years or 2700 miles/year.


I guess we just don't get around much anymore.

 

[calmloki]

I'd guess yes, you're atypical. Gal and I are ~75 and used to do over 13k/year. I note that it has been dropping as the years go by. Last year we only did 8500, and that includes the two 1050 mile trips from Oregon to SoCal and back again. We also typically do another 800+ trip to explore in Arizona. Getting to the point sticking close to the home fires is more attractive, and starting to consider flying back and forth..

 

[street]

about 17K with two vehicles a year.

 

[akck]

We have a 25+ year old car with 90,000 miles and a 16+ year old car with 70,000 miles. Most of the miles were due to work commuting. Now, we put less than 3,000 miles on each. We live in a landlocked area, so long road trips are difficult to do.

 

[aja8888]

I'd guess yes, you're atypical. Gal and I are ~75 and used to do over 13k/year. I note that it has been dropping as the years go by. Last year we only did 8500, and that includes the two 1050 mile trips from Oregon to SoCal and back again. We also typically do another 800+ trip to explore in Arizona. Getting to the point sticking close to the home fires is more attractive, and starting to consider flying back and forth..

I hear you and I don't know what to cut out to drive less. I suppose the big trips would be the easiest as I could fly and rent a car. If I cut out my almost daily meetups with my close friends I could cut 5,000 miles a year. But I am not an introvert and need friends to be around. Plus, our group does outings together from time to time.

And also, not having in house companionship (except for the dog) makes me feel like I need to get out and do something rather than sit around all day.

 

[braumeister]

For most of my life I've averaged well over 20K miles a year, so I'm in your atypical group.
One difference is that I don't like to drive at night anymore, although I can handle it when necessary.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

About 5,000 to 6,000 miles a year on average for the last 20 years. A 10km Least works out fine.

 

[aja8888]

With some of the posters here driving less than 10,000 or so miles per year, I can see how leasing a vehicle might make sense.

 

[REWahoo]

DW and I (mostly I) put around 15,000 mi on our two cars last year. About 9,000 of that was local in our EV and the other 6,000 was mostly road trips in our hybrid SUV. Total cost of fuel for those 15,000 miles was approximately $700: $200 for electricity and $500 for gas.

 

[frank05]

Almost 12500 last year, flying more instead of driving those distances.

 

[Car-Guy]

I've cut back in the past few years but I'd guesstimate about 30k per year. Probably no more long trips in my future (like to Vegas ) but several+ 350-400 mile round trips per month. Driving at night is no problem but more than 500 miles in one day is getting too tiring.

 

[Qs Laptop]

With some of the posters here driving less than 10,000 or so miles per year, I can see how leasing a vehicle might make sense.

That depends. If you only drive 6,000 miles per year over a three year lease that is only 18,000 miles of the 36,000 miles you paid for. While you can get leases for 10,000 miles/year, it makes the most sense to use close to the mileage you are actually paying for.

I'm not retired yet (soon, hopefully) and I'm driving an average of about 6,000 miles per year. Most of my needs are within 10 miles of home so I don't drive much. I don't see that changing much in retirement.

 

[Cobra9777]

I did 20K per year for 25 years while working. That's half a million miles. This was in DFW... mostly I-35 and I-635. That'll take a toll on your sanity.

Now, DW and I (combined) drive 10K total per year, spread across 3 vehicles. We're 63 and 64.

Our daily driver is a 2019 Subaru Forester with 44K. So we average 7K, mostly just running around town, plus helping get the grandkids from place to place.

Our 2001 Suburban has 200K miles, but sees very little action these days. Probably less than 1K per year. Mostly just trips to Home Depot, or if we both happen to be out driving at the same time.

We now have a 2022 Class B camper van. In 3 years, we've accumulated 9K miles. So that's the remaining 3K per year. We hope to start taking significantly longer trips soon. But we're limited because DW is the primary caretaker of her Mom (91) who lives with us.

My ebike has 4500 miles after 18 mos. So I'm averaging 3K/yr on the bike, which is MUCH more fun than driving on LBJ.

 

[HFWR]

9/21-2/25, ~33k, so 785 mi/mo avg.

 

[imjustawarrior]

While working I drove 6k/yr. My DW SAHM peaked at 20k/yr shuttling the kids around.

Last year was my first full calendar year of retirement, and I think I drove about 15k miles. My DW probably drove about 10k miles. I was taking a lot of small road trips that were about 1k miles each. I also did 3 longer drives of about 2k miles each. Our kids each have a car. I don't know how much they drive.

I usually only drive 3-4 times a week, while my DW seems to go somewhere every day, usually multiple outings. She is much more social than I. I make up for it with my solo road trips. When the family flies, I tend to drive. I'll leave a few days early and come home a few days after them.

Once the kids are independent and the dog passes, I imagine we will log some serious miles since we each like long road trips.

 

[imjustawarrior]

I did 20K per year for 25 years while working. That's half a million miles. This was in DFW... mostly I-35 and I-635. That'll take a toll on your sanity.

When I lived in Mansfield and worked in Arlington, I got temporarily assigned to our office in Richardson on 75. I had to do that round trip for about 6 months. That drive home on Friday evenings was insane and that was over 25 years ago. Fortunately, we convinced management that our extra driving counted as work time even though we were salaried.

 

[Pointby2]

We have the Realdrive discount with Mercury Insurance so we have to prove our low mileage every year.
2016 Focus RS 1,232 miles/year
2017 VW GTI 2,915 miles/year
We took two long road trips to explore the South and the Northeast but we flew in and rented cars for both.
We pay only $94.33 a month ($566.76 every 6 months) for both cars.

 

[DallasGuy]

About 2500 miles a year....not very much.

 

[disneysteve]

More than when I was working I’m pretty sure. It’s only been about 9 months though so we’ll see what happens. I’m definitely out and about more. My wife and I are traveling more. I’ve made 3 trips to North Carolina for my reselling business at about 950 miles each. Before I only drove a few miles to an office and stayed there all day.