How many miles are you driving in retirement?

[Fermion]

Very variable for us. This past month we have driven a total of 7 miles (snowed in right now) but last year during the eclipse road trip we did over 8000 miles in 2 months.

 

[audreyh1]

I don't know how true that may be given the costs involved in owning the car. Even idle time or driving just a little, you have insurance, depreciation, in some cases property tax, upkeep, and some maintenance (wear Items). I would guess that the sweet spot may be around 10,000 - 12,000 miles per year for a lease to make sense. With cars costing what they do these days (like $45,000 average U.S. price new), depreciation is hefty during the car's life.

Yeah, but it’s mine. I didn’t buy it to save money. And you still have to insure leased cars. And maintain them. So it’s just a play on depreciation which can be in your favor or not.

 

[AudiDudi]

15-20k/yr. Snowbirds in the motor home. Plus, when at home, it's at least 110 miles round trip to get groceries or see the doc.

 

[starry night]

You probably will qualify for “low-mileage” rate reduction on your auto insurance. We qualify for that if odometer does not exceed 7,500 miles per year.
Also, we get a 5% discount for completing senior safe-driving certificate, like those offered on-line by AARP, etc. Ours was done at roadreview.com, costing $10.

 

[aja8888]

Yeah, but it’s mine. I didn’t buy it to save money. And you still have to insure leased cars. And maintain them. So it’s just a play on depreciation which can be in your favor or not.

Yeah, went brain dead on the insurance requirement (this is happening more frequently with me). Sorry! But a lease with 30 K miles over three years will not have much needed in the way of maintenance, probably a couple of $80 oil and filter changes and $50 for an engine and cabin air filter cartridge change. Tires and brakes will still be good at 30 K. Or if you lease an EV, you should not have any periodic maintenance costs over 30 K miles.

Auto leases in Texas are not a good deal because this state requires you pay the entire 6 1/4% sales tax on the total value of the leased car versus just on the 3 year use value like many (all?) other states impose.

 

[mistermike40]

I purchased my current car in March 2019 and it has almost 84K miles... so, about 14K/year.

 

[38Chevy454]

Between all of my 4 newer daily driver type cars, about 15/yr total. Motorhome about 4k/yr, and my 5 classic cars about 4k/yr total. None of my cars individually get any more than about 5k/yr.

My total driven miles in a year is therefore about 24k/yr all in.

 

[Zathras]

hehe, last year I put about 1,200 miles on my car. Probably another 100 on my wife's car, so 1,300 miles.

I meet up with friends 4-6 times a week online. Once a week we host a game night at out house, so no driving there.

I hate trips, so in general I don't take them.
No, I am not missing out on anything and enjoy my lifestyle

 

[aja8888]

hehe, last year I put about 1,200 miles on my car. Probably another 100 on my wife's car, so 1,300 miles.

I meet up with friends 4-6 times a week online. Once a week we host a game night at out house, so no driving there.

I hate trips, so in general I don't take them.
No, I am not missing out on anything and enjoy my lifestyle

That's clearly about as low as people have posted here! I put on more than that just going for groceries, other errands and doctor appointments over a year.

 

[bada bing]

Calendar 2024 I drove 11,700, spread over 3 cars.
I flew 42,000 miles
I biked 2,300
I walked 1,522

 

[N02L84ER]

We usually average around 7000 miles per year. It will probably drop a few thousand now that the in-laws have passed. They were a 1000 (FIL) and 1200 (MIL) mile round trip each visit. My MIL typically put less than 500 miles per year on her car for her last 10 years.

 

[bluelight]

Once I did away with long commutes years ago, I stopped putting on many miles. My previous car was 19 years old and had a little over 100K miles.

I bought my current SUV in early 2021 and it has about 22K miles. Most of the trips since I've retired consist of shopping or taking my grandkids to after school activities. My husbands 2013 sedan that we bought with 21K miles on it in 2014 has about 60K on it. We used it as our primary car until 2021. I think he only filled the car 4 times last year. I now do about 90% of the driving.

 

[FlaGator]

I'm running 12-14K/year on the car, and another 2K each on the moto and bicycles.

Routine daily mileage is generally modest, but only a Publix grocery store is close in my part of the Panhandle. Everything else is a hike-WalMart and Lowe's are 20 miles away, Sam's Club is 40, and Costco and my kids in Tallahassee are 130. Big change from the life in SoFLa where those 15 minutes or less away, and I had 3 Target stores within 10 miles.

I enjoy driving and those distances are part of the tradeoff I made to live in a quieter, lower cost area. I buy cars to wear them out, not preserve as a collector's item.

 

[kgtest]

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?

I put 7,000 miles on our truck, but wifey put 35,000 on the car. Still working in the throws of raising a family and DW travelling via car for work.

 

[Out of Steam]

I don't know how true that may be given the costs involved in owning the car. Even idle time or driving just a little, you have insurance, depreciation, in some cases property tax, upkeep, and some maintenance (wear Items). I would guess that the sweet spot may be around 10,000 - 12,000 miles per year for a lease to make sense. With cars costing what they do these days (like $45,000 average U.S. price new), depreciation is hefty during the car's life.

I kept my last two cars 175K miles or more, so depreciation wasn't much of a factor. Since I had major repairs on both after 150K miles, I have decided that I will sell my current car by that point.

While I was doing a long commute, I would have had a serious depreciation problem if I wrecked a car in the first couple of years of ownership. I was more careful about depreciation when picking the second of those cars, which I knew I would be doing a lot of driving in.

 

[fisemper]

My 2016 Colorado just went over 40K last week. It is now only used for hunting. The 2020 BMW is at 50K and is used as the main travel vehicle. Both bought new.

 

[Hyper]

Haven't paid too much attention but I'd guess 20-25k a year. We live remote. Our GK are 100 miles away and we drive there 1-2 times a week. We also have to drive that far to buy groceries, supplies. We don't eat out much but we will drive 30+ miles for an ice cream cone or doughnut because we can. Usually use it as an excuse to take a break as we work alot on our property.
Blessed by the great Lord!

 

[Koolau]

So far this year, it seems we've driven to church or to the doctor(s). When we're out doing those things, we stop at Costco or Sams for groceries. Not too many miles in those trips.

 

[Alex The Great]

Barely 4K miles annually. Local shopping, doctor's appointments and hiking trailheads.

 

[2017ish]

We are also in the 20,000 miles per year range since 2019, when we started focusing on seeing the USA as well international travel. In 2024, we had a 9800 mile road trip in the US and British Columbia, 2 months driving around NZ, and numerous 1000 mile round trips to visit family... Then the day-to-day trips when at home (25 miles each way to the restaurants we choose to patronize and to entertainment events).

This year, we have a Northeastern USA and Canada Atlantic Provinces trip planned, which will accumulate some miles/KMs--as well as a couple weeks driving in Namibia.

 

[ncbill]

Barely 4K miles annually. Local shopping, doctor's appointments and hiking trailheads.

Ditto.

Anything over 6 hours away by vehicle I'm heading the the airport instead of driving.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

My milage in retirement is about 20k/yr. When working it was 35/yr

 

[GaryInCO]

I never put many miles on, since I was self-employed and didn't have to commute. Since retiring I do 10k/yr or less for various trips, and about 10-12k/yr road trips to visit family &etc. My car is a Tesla model Y, and I use it as a "mini RV," sleeping in the back.

Total 22500 miles since July 2022.

 

[aaronc879]

I'm under 5K/yr but that's because i'm lean FIRE. If I had more money I would more than double that.

 

[Zona]

You probably will qualify for “low-mileage” rate reduction on your auto insurance. We qualify for that if odometer does not exceed 7,500 miles per year.

Our insurance is the same - if we drive less than 7,500 miles in a year we qualify for the low mileage discount. But, we had to know to ask for it because the insurance co. had no idea we had retired & were driving so little. Now, they call and ask for our odometer reading every year or so to keep the discount.