Living with no CAR!!!

redmel1621

Hi

How many of you on here have no car and is it possible/comfortable to live with out one??

We have always had a car from before both our boys were born and really rely on it quite a bit, however, since moving into our new house we are les than a 10 min walk from the boys school and my job.
We get our shopping delivered by Tesco and don't really have much spare cash so don't go into town very much at all...

We are beginning to think our car is a waste of money...fuel-wise we only put about £10 a fortnight, or a week at max. but the tax, mot, and ins are quite high as dh has points on licence and car is old so always needeing something fixing...

I am just scared to get rid of it, although we have talked about getting a new small car, cheap tax ins etc. this would take us a fair while to save up the money (don't want finance!!)

What shall I do??? please tell me we can manage without it.

Mel x

Cazzdevil

I've had no choice but to do without one for the last 2 months, some eejit drove into the back of mine just before Christmas and wrote it off. The insurance company paid out a pittance (£300) for it so we're having to save up for a replacement.

I've found it quite easy being without one actually, the only thing that bugs me about not having one is that I can't go mountain biking anywhere exciting at the minute, but other than that I haven't really missed it at all.

Trow

We used to live without a car - I worked 17 miles away from home, and thats where the supermarkets were as well. We coped with an occasional borrow of my mums car - maybe once a month - to stock up on heavy and bulky items. We didn't have the luxury of a supermarket that would deliver, and all our public transport finished at 6pm - apart from one late bus twice per week.

Now I work somewhere else and start at 7am/finish up to 9.30pm there is no way I could do without the car - but we are in a rural location. I would be very surprised if you struggled.

Oh - we also would occasionaly hire a car at a weekend rate (usually £50) from Friday to Monday, so we could have a weekend out and about. It was stillc heaper than having a car..

I reckon you can do it no problem.

danz0l

We've never had a car and it can be hard although we've managed for 18 years.

With out of town shopping complex's taking away the heart of local town centres that would far easier to get to on public transportation we pretty much have to rely on people taking us for anything like sofa or bed shopping etc.

Public transportation is a joke too and is often over subscribed and over priced.

Having said that we shop online for food, walk many places (and enjoy a good conversation), obviously save on fuel, tax, mot costs and help save the environment.

But it can be a pain on a sunday when its a lovely day and you can't get anywhere other than extremely local due to crappy public transportation.

You'll find you can't spur of the minute pop out as it takes planning and patience (a lot of patience as you have to wait for buses, connections etc).

redmel1621

We (usually) go camping from spring onwards too, so i think this would go by the wayside a bit, but saying that me and dh are both studying at the moment so haven't got a lot of time this year to go, we only managed one weekend away last year. I suppose as Trow did, we could always hire a car for a weekend or two away...

Mel x

skintscotslass

Hi Mel

I sold my car in November in bid to become debt free. It has made a huge difference to my finances. I live in a town and we have a good, cheap bus service. I also walk to the town centre, which is a 20 min walk. What I would suggest is if you look at your spending on your car for the past year and add it all up, that should give you the motivation to give up.

You can do it!!!

purpleivy

You can get an awful lot of taxis for the running costs of a car. Maybe plan a year without and see how you get on . WIll give you a chance to save for a new one if you want, or use the pot as your transport fund,

waddy80

I don't drive, and although OH does have a car very rarely need it. He just drives to work. I get the bus every day, shopping delivered, and walk anywhere else.

I would imagine that if you ever needed a car for holidays etc it would just be cheaper to rent one when you need it.

Olliebeak

Ever since first getting married (1972) I've never had access to a car. Ex-OH didn't drive and neither does current OH. I've always relied on walking everywhere and buses for longer journeys. I make a habit of shopping once a month and usually get a taxi home with around £100 worth of shopping - cost me about £4.50 for the taxi. Then again, I am lucky as where I live is on the outskirts of Liverpool and that is one city that is quite notorious for it's amount of public transport!!!!!

My two sons both have cars and do offer lifts occasionally, which is a very nice change.

We even travel to Scotland for self-catering holidays every year, by National Express buses/Scottish Citylink, and then travel around there using local transport/postbuses. It's amazing how many interesting local people you get to meet that way and really brightens up our holidays.

redmel1621

Yes, Yes You are all convincing me it would be the right thing to do....

I will save for another more economical one (as I will need one next Sept) but i'm sure I can do with out for a while.

Thank You All

Mel x

redmel1621

skintscotslass wrote: »

Hi Mel

I sold my car in November in bid to become debt free. It has made a huge difference to my finances. I live in a town and we have a good, cheap bus service. I also walk to the town centre, which is a 20 min walk. What I would suggest is if you look at your spending on your car for the past year and add it all up, that should give you the motivation to give up.

You can do it!!!

Our car is costing us...........£1448 a year, and that is not including any repairs required:eek: