It’s raining, and traffic is at a stand still. Today it seems as if everybody decided to simultaneously get on the highway. A driver to my left is yelling at the car in front of him as he repeatedly looks at his watch. A few cars up, a driver is trying to merge to the left, inconveniently blocking the carpool lane. The bus driver honks, and I go back to reading my book.
Whenever I tell people that we don’t own a car, usually the first response is confusion (or maybe pity)
“How is that possible? How do you get to work?”
Usually I take the bus, but sometimes I ride my bike
“Isn’t that really inconvenient? It must take a long time.”
Not really, I just go downstairs and get on the bus. About 30 minutes later it drops me off a block from my office. I don’t even need to find parking or stop at the gas station
This is typically followed by a series of reasons of why they absolutely need a car
“Wow, you are really lucky to have the option to bus to work like that. Where I live it would take me 90 minutes with 2 bus transfers, so I definitely have to drive”
Yeah, that’s probably true. It was important for me to not have a car, so I picked my current home based on having a direct bus route to work. It’s been working pretty well
“We also really need the car to get groceries. It’s a few miles to the closest grocery store.”
Really, that far? That sounds really inconvenient. We’ve really enjoyed living a block from the weekly farmers market, a block from Safeway, 4 blocks from Trader Joes, and 8 blocks from Whole Foods. Usually we pick up a few days worth of produce from the Saturday farmers market and if we need something during the week I’ll just walk or bike to the store and carry it home in a backpack.
“That’s great, it sounds like it works for you, but it could never work for me because I have to drive my children to soccer practice, ballet, swimming lessons, chess club, martial arts classes, drama club, and mandarin language class.”
OK…???
There are many different lifestyles, and there isn’t one right way to live. People have different goals, values, and priorities, and consciously or unconsciously a person’s life will reflect them. If a car is assumed to be a necessity, then almost inevitably it will be required to get to work and buy groceries, and without changing homes it would be inconvenient if not impossible to eliminate it. But at what cost? Not factoring in the health benefits of less walking or biking and dealing with the stress of the road, or the intellectual benefits of increased reading time, here is a quick look at the financials
This is a fairly representative sample of our monthly travel costs before I quit my job:
- Bus fare: $90 monthly bus pass for me (paid by work), plus $25 in bus fare for Winnie ($2.50 trip cost x10) (We no longer have the work paid bus pass, but I also no longer bus to work)
- Taxi: $20 (used on occasion for a late night trip home from dinner with friends)
Total cost: $45 out of pocket, with a real cost of $135 (Total in the past 2 months is closer to $40, less than while working
Monthly cost of typical car ownership in the Seattle area:
- Lease payment including tax – $500 (based on ~$30k vehicle)
- Insurance: $150
- Gas: $200
- Maintenance: $50
- Amortization on down payment: $1800 / 36 = $50
- Licensing and taxes: $20
Total: $970
This is a difference of $835 a month, more if 2 cars are involved. After federal and state income taxes of 25%, and FICA and Medicare taxes of 7.65%, it would be necessary to earn $1240 just to pay for the car, or 50 hours of work at $25 an hour.
At the end of a 3 year lease, the car driver will return their vehicle and have $0, or less if there are excess miles or deferred maintenance. The bus user will have $30,000 plus investment returns. In 10 years at 6% returns, that will be over $135,000.
What would you do with an extra $100,000?
This is truth.
For anyone skeptical of the numbers – “I mean who leases a car anyway?” – here are the actual figures from the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA) for financed vehicle purchases:
http://www.nada.org/NR/rdonlyres/C1C58F5A-BE0E-4E1A-9B56-1C3025B5B452/0/NADADATA2012Final.pdf
Last year, the average purchase price was $25,405 financed over 62.3 months at 4.73% interest for a monthly payment of $456.18.
This is a blended average of new and used vehicle sales. New car prices were even higher at $30,659.
Financing a car is robbing your future.
Hope you like the car.
$100,000!!! We can buy a new car then :D
Great post, I sold my car when I moved to Seattle a couple years ago and haven’t missed it a day since. For the times that I do need a car my zipcar membership is there for me. Gas? Included. Insurance? Included. Maintenance? Included. Even still, I have spent less than $100 this year on car rentals. Walking and riding the bike also has the benefit of being good for your health and the environment. Win, win.
That sounds like a great situation you created for yourself. Definitely win win
Zipcar is great. Car2Go.com is also a great option.
We also use Uber or Lyft on occasion, especially if we are going to stay in one place for a long period of time like a friend’s house for dinner
We have a lot of ideas for Car Free Living on our recommendations page
https://gocurrycracker.com/recommendations/
Let’s face it, auto-use is a filthy habit. I retired at about 30, in 1998. I did like you; I paid off debts, saved, and stayed auto-free. I lived nicely for about 12 years then inflation hit around 2010. I have 2x the assets I had when I retired but because of inflation, now I am a poor person. At 47, after 17 years of retirement, getting a job as a lawyer or anything else is out of the question. You have been retired for only 2 years. What will you do when inflation hits you in 2025?
Hi Michael. Why would you be poor with 2x the assets, when prices have only gone up 50% since 1998? (and only 8% since 2010)
When inflation hits each and every year between now and 2025, we will spend more. Our investments will continue to grow faster than inflation
https://gocurrycracker.com/path-100-equities/
The low inflation figures that you cite, and I once believed in, do not really reflect the goods and services I use. Food prices have tripled in the last 6 years or so. Here in New York, dollar stores and used clothing stores have all but gone out of business or have very poor inventory. Subway fares have doubled since I retired. Rents on regulated apartments now increase by 3.5% each year. Jet fares to Europe are double what I paid in 2005 and four times what I paid in 1998. Further, unanticipated technological changes can render some services obsolete; my shared landline in 1998 cost $120/year. Today, personal cell phone service is required for about $600/year. The statistical inflation rates are based on durable goods, like washing machines and autos, or on gasoline, products I do not buy anyway.
P.S. I really like your website and I am thrilled to communicate with someone else who has retired early and so beautifully articulates a retirement strategy. Before you, I have never met or even heard of anyone else who has done this.
Thanks for sharing Michael! Wow, 3x food price increases. Can you share any examples?
Have you looked at all into other cell phone options? I was paying $10/month in the US for Airvoice Wirless (ATT) and Republic Wireless has similar low cost plans
I have only been reading your blog for about two weeks now and you guys have really inspired my wife and I.
So much so I have already taken to riding my bike instead of the car. We live in a somewhat remote town in Colorado so we have not yet been able to get rid of our car but we are working on it.
Oh by the way on my ride home from work today (on the way to the library to pick up ‘Your Money or Your Life’) I saw a huge bull moose.
Another benefit to riding a bike over driving a car!
Awesome, Rob! Riding a bike to the library for free books… I love it!
Congrats on taking action. The only thing I really miss about our old life is my bike commute. No moose, but riding along the lakeside is a great way to start the day
In about 3 months I’ll have been car-free for 4 years. 4 years! Crazy, as I spent my entire 32 year career owning and driving a car to work and everywhere else, and lived 25 years out of town. Now, I live in a small, walkable, year round snow free community. I ride my bike all year everywhere and only sometimes take the bus and occasionally rent a car. I walk to the grocery store, library, and ride my bike to professional offices like the optometrist, physician or dentist. Not sure I’ll ever go back to owning a car, but one never knows; maybe a used Porsche that I pay cash for when I’m 70.
Nice. I had an used Porsche for awhile… it was fun to drive from Seattle to LA along the coast, but I ended up selling it again due to little use. I like my bicycle more.