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

missile

Langtang said:

missile said:

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.

Are Co-wheels the electric cars? I'm still on the fence with electric. more logistics than actual driving experience, though. I genuinely can't imagine us "needing" an extra car, much easier to just cope. But, do we want to just cope?

You have a choice of which vehicle (including vans) you want to hire. The one closest to me happens to be a hybrid.

Clowance

We used to have 2 cars, and went down to 1 when OH got works van, which he uses only for work (not allowed to use for anything else and tracked). So that works fine. At the weekend or evening we rarely clash ( maybe once a month) and certainly would not be prepared to pay tax, insurance, running costs, repairs on second car for that. If we were that desperate we would hire one. 
I suggest that anyone planning to do this log how often you both use your cars at the same time and whether there is any alternative (do something at a different time, taxi, bus etc ) to see just how often this would bother you and make a decision based on that. 

seven-day-weekend

We have gone the opposite way and gone from one car to two and a motorbike .

We have our main car which we both drive, a Skoda Yeti. We have always had good size cars so I don't have a problem driving it.

Then we treated ourselves to a little 05 reg but low mileage  Mazda  sports car to have fun in.  I have only driven it twice - mainly because we tend to go out in it together and my husband is always the main driver.  

Then we have my husband's pride and joy, his motorbike.  We have usually had a motorbike, apart from the eight years when we lived in Spain - at one time in our twenties we ONLY had a motorbike!  But he is thinking of selling it, as most of his time with it is spent polishing it and admiring it; he very rarely actually rides it these days.  Too much trouble to put all the gear on.  So its days might be numbered.

We could manage perfectly well with one car, but I think it depends what you are used to and where you live.

triplea35

I am still working and need a car, and my wife has a little auto Kia Picanto which does not do a lot of miles. During lockdown it was clear that we will not need 2 cars when I retire. Recently had to change my wife's car and although it was a perfect opportunity to consider getting something bigger more suitable for both our needs, could not persuade her to go large and she has ended up with a new Picanto.

So when I retire I will have to run my existing car and at some point in the future might consider letting it go and renting for the few weekends away etc when we need a larger car.

Not the ideal 'moneysaving' solution but  we can afford it and  both our mobility needs are satisfied.

2childmum2

We went from one car to two when the children went off as we mainly used it to ferry them in different direction.

DH drove a SMax, which I found much too big, and I had a i10, which wasn't any good for transporting stuff to and from uni for the youngest.  So we compromised on a Picasso C3, with roof box when needed.  We do miss the very big boot when we go to IKEA though!

Murphybear

We have 2 cars, both old.  One is a Lexus RX which is used for holidays and longer distance trips. The other is a Toyota Yaris which is used for shopping and short trips.  The Yaris is very cheap to run, the Lexus not so much but after a 2000 mile trip to the Lake District and Northumberland before the Covid outbreak it was worth every penny.

We have money set aside to replace one eventually and we’ll probably go down to one. 

Silvertabby

Langtang said:

Annie1612 said:

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. 

The few times my wife did drive my CR-V, I think she secretly liked it. However, she is quite short in stature compared to me and finds it difficult to get the seat position right so that she can both reach the pedals AND see out of the windscreen.

We dropped to one car over 5 years ago, and it's never been a problem.  Our current vehicle is a VW T-Cross, being a small suv (on the Polo chassis, but with chunkier bodywork).  I am also vertically challenged, but love driving the T-Cross - it's higher up, so I have a better all round view.  

Slinky

OH is still working whereas I've 'retired early' now. In theory we could make do with one car but OH will need it for 2 days a week when he has to go into the office 2 days a week and I don't want to be limited to walking or public transport, both of which are pretty good locally, but I still like my freedom of going where I want to go when I want to go.  I'm not so keen on driving his BMW as I'm scared of bashing his pride and joy.

We've just got rid of my old diesel Astra Estate which needed a lot of money spending on it, and bought a new Fiat 500, so I'm having to get used to carefully packing the supermarket shop into the tiny boot rather than having acres of space to fill up with bargains! The pride and joy also has to do the trips to the tip now! The Fiat could well be my last car if it lasts well. At that point I may stop driving and rely on local public transport/taxis.

[Deleted User]

Grumpy_chap said:

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

I didn't know that this was possible just for a month?
If it was - people could SORN their cars when they went on holiday to save a few £'s

missile

Deleted_User said:

Grumpy_chap said:

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

I didn't know that this was possible just for a month?
If it was - people could SORN their cars when they went on holiday to save a few £'s

Not many go away on holiday for more than a month without their car. Those that have off road parking could SORN.