Hardly drive but would owning a car be the best option given my circumstances?

Lurker1

I live in the surburbs and only drive my car once a week for groceries, twice if I meet with my friends once in a blue moon. I have been considering selling my car as I do not know if it is justifiable to keep a car when I hardly use it. However, cycling to say the centre would be too far, train station is half an hour walk and bus takes ages to get into the centre.

Typing all this up makes me feel my only option is to keep my car but please is anyone able to advise of any possible alternative cheaper options? I had a look at possibly renting a car once a week of some sort but that is more expensive than owning a car (factoring yearly cost: insurance, MOT, service and petrol etc.).

Grumpy_chap

Lurker1 said:

I live in the surburbs and only drive my car once a week for groceries, twice if I meet with my friends once in a blue moon. I have been considering selling my car as I do not know if it is justifiable to keep a car when I hardly use it. However, cycling to say the centre would be too far, train station is half an hour walk and bus takes ages to get into the centre.

Typing all this up makes me feel my only option is to keep my car but please is anyone able to advise of any possible alternative cheaper options? I had a look at possibly renting a car once a week of some sort but that is more expensive than owning a car (factoring yearly cost: insurance, MOT, service and petrol etc.).

You may find this thread worth a read:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6319441/thinking-about-getting-rid-of-my-car/p1

Lurker1

Grumpy_chap said:

Lurker1 said:

I live in the surburbs and only drive my car once a week for groceries, twice if I meet with my friends once in a blue moon. I have been considering selling my car as I do not know if it is justifiable to keep a car when I hardly use it. However, cycling to say the centre would be too far, train station is half an hour walk and bus takes ages to get into the centre.

Typing all this up makes me feel my only option is to keep my car but please is anyone able to advise of any possible alternative cheaper options? I had a look at possibly renting a car once a week of some sort but that is more expensive than owning a car (factoring yearly cost: insurance, MOT, service and petrol etc.).

You may find this thread worth a read:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6319441/thinking-about-getting-rid-of-my-car/p1

Thanks. I did read the thread but the poster and commenters seem to use their car a lot more than me and good transport links. I have heard people talk about car sharing but that seems expensive to hire for once a week.

Herzlos

I think you need to calculate exactly how much car ownership is costing you, and figure out how much it'd cost to replace the car with walking and taxis.

Remember that if the train station is a 30 minute walk, that it's probably a 10 minute cycle at most. You shouldn't have any issues taking a folding bike on the train either as they are pretty small even when not folded. I did that for a while before working from home.

You can get a decent folding bike from Decathlon for about £200.

Hiring a car sounds like a good idea on the face of it, IF it's easy enough to get to the hire car. It sounds like you're out of the city so it's not likely you'll have a car club handy (where you can rent a car by the hour).

gwynlas

Whilst it is an expense keeping a car and it could possibly be cheaper using a taxi weekly you also need to consider maintaing your driving skills and independence. If your local transport changes at all you might regret giving up a car. 

MichaelMoneySaver

How about an e-bike? I converted my pedal bike with a Chinese kit at a cost of about £600 all in. This allowed me to do my hilly 10 mile commute (each way) in under 20 minutes. Recently I had to buy a car when my commute increased to 35 miles. 

theoretica

Worth running the calculation on taxis too - especially if you walk or bus to the shops and just taxi back.

zagfles

What about grocery delivery services? Or walking to a more local shop and getting a taxi back if you can't carry the groceries? Even if you have to use a more expensive local shop it would likely be nowhere near as expensive as the extra cost of a car.

If you only meet up with friends "once in a blue moon" then you could get a taxi, or walk if you're able, can you not do an occasional 30 min walk to the train station? I walk an hour+ most days just for exercise.

Herzlos

gwynlas said:

Whilst it is an expense keeping a car and it could possibly be cheaper using a taxi weekly you also need to consider maintaing your driving skills and independence. If your local transport changes at all you might regret giving up a car. 

There'd be nothing stopping them buying another car later. I can't see used car prices getting much worse, so now seems as good a time as any to sell a barely used car. Though I'd definitely recommend keeping the car for a month and acting as if it's not there, just in case.

Lurker1

Herzlos said:

I think you need to calculate exactly how much car ownership is costing you, and figure out how much it'd cost to replace the car with walking and taxis.

Remember that if the train station is a 30 minute walk, that it's probably a 10 minute cycle at most. You shouldn't have any issues taking a folding bike on the train either as they are pretty small even when not folded. I did that for a while before working from home.

You can get a decent folding bike from Decathlon for about £200.

Hiring a car sounds like a good idea on the face of it, IF it's easy enough to get to the hire car. It sounds like you're out of the city so it's not likely you'll have a car club handy (where you can rent a car by the hour).

It is quite hard to calculate especially now that my car seems to fail MOT each year and work is needed to be done which can be cheap to costly to fix. I guess the reason why I had these thoughts is because it feels keeping my car will be way too much hassle as time goes on with the amount of problems that may arise. I never thought about a folding bike but that does sound better than trying to cycle all the way. Car hiring option would not be feasible since the closest to me is hiring a van and thats about £100 a day.

Lurker1

gwynlas said:

Whilst it is an expense keeping a car and it could possibly be cheaper using a taxi weekly you also need to consider maintaing your driving skills and independence. If your local transport changes at all you might regret giving up a car. 

That is the one thing that is stopping me from selling the car is the independence and when I need to go to say the dentist or GP. Just seems a waste letting the car sit majority of the week and driving it only once as I have read issues can arise as well if you leave a car sitting too long.