Two cars, or not two cars, that is the question.

Langtang

We've always been a 2 car household. It makes sense for us whilst we are both working - different working times (I work shifts)

We are looking to retire in 18 months or so, and we've been thinking about scaling down to 1 car between us. This would obviously be a large money saver.

I wondered if any others have done the same thing, and would you be willing to share your experiences? How have you managed with only the one car?

From my pov, the biggest hurdle to this would be me. I've always had a bigger car (body style - SUV, rather than engine size), and my wife never drives it because of that. If we were to go to 1 car, it would have to be a smaller one (Fiesta etc.). I'm not sure how I would fare "downsizing" Again, any experiences with "downsizing"?

A nice dilemma to have.

tacpot12

We went down to one car as part of our retirement planning. The cost savings are certainly significant. Part of this is the  saving on insurance; we don't need business or commuting use on our insurance, Social/Domestic/Pleasure covers all our use, and we drive about half the number of miles per year. Declaring your occupations as "Retired" also reduces the premiums, as does being able to confirm that the car is kept at home during the day.  

One downside item with the insurnace is that only one of you is the Policyholder, so only that person has the right to drive other (insured) cars with the owner's permission. I'm the Named Driver on a policy that my partner is the policyholder for, so I can't drive other cars. On reflection, I should have been the  policyholder, and I always do the test drive when we are looking for cars - this was the case even when my partner had her own car, she would always ask me to drive it on test drives.

Luckily for me, my partner prefers big cars, so we are running a Mondeo as our joint car. However, I would say that any mid-size hatchback, such as a VW Golf would meet most people's needs most of the time. We have a flat we rent out and adult children who occasionally need help to move larger items of funiture, so we sometimes use a roofrack to move large items. I also bought a top-box of eBay that we have used to go on holiday when we took our dogs and the two youngest children with us and needed more space. These items add extra flexibility to an already flexible format due to seats that can be folded down. The only reason I could see to go for a bigger car is if you have regular obligations to transport aged parents, in which case the larger doors might make more sense.  I think a mid-size hatchback plus a roofrack and possibly a top-box will meet all your needs. You can find better specified models of common hatchbacks if you look at Volvo and Skoda (for upmarket versions of the Ford Focus and VW Golf/Bora).

We have found that now we are both retired we have lots of flexibility about when we need the car, and very rarely have any sort of clash where we both need the car at the same time. Only very occasionally does the lack of having my own car grate at all.

Grumpy_chap

Why not run a trial period?  Put one of the cars on SORN for a month and see how you fare.

sjp999

I think you'll notice a big difference in the height of anything lower V the overall size of your current SUV - can the pair of you decide on a smaller bodied but similarly tall something-or-other compared to what you're currently driving?

I know we're unlikely to be buying anything lower than we've become used to over the last 15+ years, single car couple since I sold my Fiesta (original 1.4 Zetec - near XR2i performance when pushed but with comfy seats, replaced with a mostly commute but low mileage touring capable motorbike) - the wife was 2 Renault Scenic's in by this point with a third on the horizon (2 litre, 4 speed auto Grand Scenic that was an absolute fuel guzzling dog of a car).

After a 3 year stint in a Meriva (taller than a Corsa but not tall enough for SWMBO), we're now in a 1.6l Sportage. Good height and fairly decent fuel consumption.

Perhaps a shorter wheelbase, small to mid sized SUV would suit? 

pollypenny

It was a long debate in our house. I wanted to go down to one and was working towards  that as it's rare we're out separately.  Then OH had trouble. With his foot and was deteriorating get an automatic.  I hate it!  

Upshot was I had a bargain pre-reg Corsa, eith all the extras as a new model due,andwe passed the 07 on to daughter. 

Lockdown meant neither car got much use!  

Annie1612

We have gone from a 3 car household (plus campervan for a time) to a one car household. More of a natural progression as the kids gradually took ownership of two of the cars and drove off with them to pastures new and we sold the campervan.

It’s not really a problem with one as we tend to go most places together and if one of us wants to pop somewhere on our own it’s ok as we don’t lead busy lives really (retired). We cycle/walk and use public transport as well.

I get that your partner would prefer to drive a smaller car. I would too but i understand it’s not really practical for us. In fact we are going to upsize to an estate soon. But I think it’s pretty easy to adjust to driving something larger once you get used to it. We definitely don’t miss the bills associated with having 3/4 vehicles. As each one disappeared, we breathed a sigh of relief as someone else took responsibility for it.

TELLIT01

I'm retired and my wife retires in September next year.  Her car is 07 reg but low mileage.  We will almost certainly keep both until such times as her car goes to the great scrap heap in the sky.  It has little resale value, and tax and insurance aren't hugely expensive.  It probably won't get a huge amount of use but it's nice to have it to fall back on if anything goes wrong with my car, it's in for service etc.

missile

Gone down to one car and occasionally it is inconvenient. I have been investigating Co Wheels. There is one parked 0.4miles from our home. At £35 per day, it seems like a viable option for the rare occassions when we "need" another vehicle.

Savvy_Sue

We went down from two cars to one when the boys were much younger and we were both still working: yes, it took organisation, and still does, but it's very rare that the lack of a car is an inconvenience. And as I said at the time, what we'd save on running the second car would pay for multiple taxis - and we've used very few. 

Then we went down from a large Saab to a Yaris once we were rarely transporting 3 boys plus luggage. We did a couple of those trips in the Yaris and the boys were wedged in with sleeping bags. After that we started hiring a 7 seater for those trips: much more pleasant! 

Then we changed to an automatic when I crocked my shoulder - it's worth considering that option, because it certainly is easier to drive, although I appreciate not everyone 'likes' that. Definitely worth trying different cars, I understand for example that the kind of automatic we have was superseded almost immediately by a different way of doing it. 

However, one car works for us because we do have a semblance of public transport! There's a train which should be every forty minutes (but is currently hourly because of major engineering works). There's a fairly fast and frequent bus service near the station (for when I miss the train), but it doesn't run late into the evening. And there's another bus service at the other end of the road, less frequent, slower, but running late into the evening, at least in theory. BUT that public transport goes in and out of the centre: getting round the edge is problematic (hourly bus to the hospital which stops EVERYWHERE and takes an hour to get there: we can walk in that time!) And we are both willing and able to walk / take public transport - although DH has had trouble with his ankle lately so walking has become more difficult. It is worth considering that kind of issue. 

Langtang

tacpot12 said:

We went down to one car as part of our retirement planning. The cost savings are certainly significant. Part of this is the  saving on insurance; we don't need business or commuting use on our insurance, Social/Domestic/Pleasure covers all our use, and we drive about half the number of miles per year. Declaring your occupations as "Retired" also reduces the premiums, as does being able to confirm that the car is kept at home during the day.  

One downside item with the insurnace is that only one of you is the Policyholder, so only that person has the right to drive other (insured) cars with the owner's permission. I'm the Named Driver on a policy that my partner is the policyholder for, so I can't drive other cars. On reflection, I should have been the  policyholder, and I always do the test drive when we are looking for cars - this was the case even when my partner had her own car, she would always ask me to drive it on test drives.

Those are great points regarding insurance that we hadn't thought of.

Out of interest, let's say I was the policy holder for a number of years and then my wife decided to get her own car. Would her NCB still be valid (It's full at present) or would she be starting again from scratch?

Langtang

Grumpy_chap said:

Why not run a trial period?  Put one of the cars on SORN for a month and see how you fare.

That would be a great idea, but alas with me working day/night shifts and my wife day shift only it probably wouldn't work at present. We will definitely do that once we retire, though. Thanks for that.