Who here doesn't own a car?

[HannibalX]

Some friend of mine live in Clermont and drive into Maitland to work every day. I feel for them. What a freakin' drive.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

My motto is drive them until they fall apart. I have a 2001 Grand Prix that is our daily driver. It is currently in the shop for repairs and even though those repairs might cost me $1K-$2K, it is still cheaper than car payments. Sure, you might say "but you could invest that money into a new vehicle." I could, but that amount of money over two or three years isn't really going to make much of a dent in the car payment. The car has around 130K miles on it, so it has plenty of life left and the engine is running great (repairs are suspension related).

My goal is to drive it until it hits 200K and THEN maybe I'll consider another vehicle. Once that happens, my wife's Civic will be the daily driver and the "new" car will be used for other things (we're thinking about a truck or smaller SUV to haul things). My wife and I both work in downtown Indy and live about 15 miles away in a suburb, right next to I-70. It takes us about 20 minutes to get to work. Unfortunately, not having a car is not an option for us.

 

[MotionMan]

I live in Los Angeles and am not Hispanic, so I own cars.

Mine was bought all up front. I just made the last payment on my wife's - WOOT!

I drive 45 minutes to work. I have no idea if I can even get from here to there on public transportation and, if I could, it would probably take me 3 hours and a least three buses (east to west, north to south then east to west again).

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

My motto is drive them until they fall apart.

One of the attorneys at my old office drove this beat up, old, literally falling apart Honda and was talking about getting a new car. I was listening to her as part of a conversation where she was weighing the pros and cons. She was wavering when we had the following exchange:

Me: "Here's my thought on this. My father in law drives cars until they fall apart. He drives them to the ground, to the ground, to the ground..."
Her (interrupting, but playing right into my hands): "So he would keep my car a little longer?"
Me: "Oh no!!! He would have gotten rid of that piece of shit a long time ago."

Then I smiled and walked away.


She showed up on Monday with a new car. I like to think I had a small part in that decision

MotionMan

 

[Arcadio]

I live and work in NYC, so owning a car would be a pretty stupid decision.

 

[dguy6789]

My area doesn't have very good access for bikes getting around to important areas so I don't cycle.

 

[meltdown75]

i love how pretty much everyone that replied has a car. good times.

 

[DesiPower]

Never had one, don't drive. Life is good.

You teleport, dont you?

 

[SandEagle]

is an H2 considered a car?

it protects me from all of the 18 speeders out there

 

[IndyColtsFan]

i love how pretty much everyone that replied has a car. good times.

I wish I could get away with not owning one or only owning one. Not going to happen though.

 

[dennilfloss]

I last owned a car in the late 80s. No real need for one.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I'm not going to walk during my 20 mile commute, and I'd save about ... 6K per year by not having payments, gas, and insurance .... but that extra $500 a month is nowhere close to enough for me to move close enough to walk to work (housing prices in the area are around 800K+, and my house was like 200K) It's cheaper for me to own a car and deal with traffic.

 

[Dirigible]

If you don't want to need a car you can move to a place where it's easy to live without. Even in CA. Driving makes me cranky so I bought a house in a place where I don't really need to drive.

My commute by BART (formerly, when I worked in SF) or bicycle (now) is easy. I have multiple grocery stores, restaurants, theaters, libraries, etc. within easy walking distance. I have a Big Dummy cargo bike so I can haul fairly large heavy stuff on my bike, or take my two kids plus their bikes and toys to the playground on it. In February the only time I got in my car was to move it across the street on street sweeping days. I enjoy living this way and don't ever plan on going to the (shudder) suburbs or (horrors!) a rural location.

That said, I do own a car and won't be giving it up any time soon. I use it for family trips (most recently to Tahoe for a week of snowboarding) or when I want to go farther than an easy bike ride/BART ride. The car is paid for, I don't drive it much, so it really doesn't cost much to keep.

 

[Rubycon]

You teleport, dont you?

Haha very funny.

I do find it ironic that in the 21st century that one still needs (or wants) machine that weighs over 2000 pounds to haul around a person that weighs 120! :biggrin:

 

[BoomerD]

Haha very funny.

I do find it ironic that in the 21st century that one still needs (or wants) machine that weighs over 2000 pounds to haul around a person that weighs 120! :biggrin:

Youse mekanikal geenuses haven't come up with any viable options for most of us...Yes, is some major cities, public transportation is an acceptable option, but for the other 95% of the country (area, not population) personal vehicles are the only choice.

Besides, a 2000 lb car? sheesh...I could toss that in the back of the expedition and not notice the load...

 

[KeithTalent]

I own a car mainly because I can't imagine many ladies being ok with taking transit everywhere.

KT

 

[D1gger]

Technically, I don't own a car - my company owns the vehicle I drive.

 

[alevasseur14]

We do not have any decent transportation in Minneapolis, so a car is needed. I would bike, but i'm not crazy enough to do that during the winter.

I haven't had a car in Minneapolis for 3 years in June. I don't like waiting for the bus any more than the next guy but the Hi Frequency routes aren't that bad. I do think the Twin Cities Metro is going in the right direction with all this light rail planning. I use the Hiawatha Line all the time and the recently opened Northstar Commuter line has been a great thing for me and my sister. She lives in Monticello which is 5 miles from the last train station at Big Lake. It's perfect.

I've also been a year 'round biker for a long time. This winter will be my fifth winter riding. There's nothing crazy about it. Dress appropriately, get a good set of studded tires, and have a good time! Well, maybe its a little crazy - but I love this city! You see so much more of it on two wheels!

P.S. The Minneapolis/St Paul metro has the 2nd lowest population density of any metro in the country.

 

[joesmoke]

I do not, though I make use of my gf's on a regular basis. i sold mine so we could get out of debt quicker. its kind of a pain in the ass but im 5-6 miles from my job so its not that big a deal.

 

[daw123]

Fleabag

 

[InflatableBuddha]

I own an old Accord I inherited from my grandmother after she passed away. I keep it well-maintained but I don't drive it a lot (6,000 km a year?).

I'm in a suburb of Vancouver, but I have only a 20 min bus ride to work, and I have both an express bus and Skytrain to get downtown.

I have a bank, drug store and grocery store less than 5 min walk from my place. I bike to the gym and do almost all of my runs from my place.

I usually drive to visit my parents (30 km away). It is possible on transit (did it last winter when there was too much snow to drive) although it takes longer.

I can recall a few day trips for hiking where my friends and I had to drive (no transit access), but apart from that, I imagine I could do pretty well without a car for the most part. Traveling throughout a number of major European cities, I used transit as I didn't have a car there, and I actually found it pretty convenient and relaxing. Traffic congestion pisses me off, and I think my mental health and stress levels are better off by driving less.

If car-sharing were expanded outside of Vancouver proper (I think there are only 2 shared vehicles available in Burnaby), I'd consider getting rid of my car entirely and just getting a membership to supplement transit.

 

[FoBoT]

i own 3 cars, but one is dead (transmission failure)
have 3 drivers in house
we live in BFE
we rely on cars

 

[KentState]

I actually purchased a second vehicle that eats more gas, has more expensive tires, and can only seat two. If we had decent public transportation out to the suburbs, I would easily ditch the daily driver and just keep the second car for the weekends.

 

[DesiPower]

Haha very funny.

I do find it ironic that in the 21st century that one still needs (or wants) machine that weighs over 2000 pounds to haul around a person that weighs 120! :biggrin:

In fact I would say less than 20% of the world's population does that.

 

[Rubycon]

In fact I would say less than 20% of the world's population does that.

Less than 20% drive cars? I don't think so.