Close to 3 years ago I sold my car. I work out of town 15 days a month and my wife stays at home as a "domestic engineer" with our kid.

I decided to sell my car because I was tried of a car payment, paying to park my car at the airport 1/2 the month and all the other costs associated with owning a car, especially one I hardly drove.

We vowed to wait to buy a new until we could pay cash for a car and we needed one. Although we didn't necessarily need another one it sure would be nice and we can pay cash for it.

So all that said, I'm starting to wonder if it makes financial sense to simply stay a 1 car family and NOT buy a 2nd car?

My wife often drives / picks me up from the airport but I do spend around $80 / month for Uber when she can't. But our car insurance is significantly less with one car. I'm not paying for parking at the airport ($50/month). And then all the normal costs associated with owning / maintaining a car.

So how much does one really save by not owning a 2nd car? I wouldn't buy a new car (probably 3-4 yr old used) so eventually maintenance issues would pop up. But all I figure I'm saving right now is at best $100/ month - no airport parking, gas and car insurance (minus Uber).

TLDR: 1 car family. Debating buying 2nd car. How much a month should you budget for a 2nd car - gas / insurance / maintenance/ everything sans car payment. Or how much do you save being a 1 car family?

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TLDR: 1 car family. Debating buying 2nd car. How much a month should you budget for a 2nd car - gas / insurance / maintenance/ everything sans car payment. Or how much do you save being a 1 car family?

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This is an easy answer. If you are already proving that you don't need a second car then don't buy one until you actually do. You are automatically saving money by not having a second car.

$0 spent is better than $1 spent.

Your only other variable here is hassle factor of owning only 1 car. Is the cost of that higher than the out of pocket money you would spend on owning a second car? It doesn't seem to be based on what you posted.

Interesting question.

Last few times I used Uber/lyft to go to DFW or Love Field, I always ask if they have regulars that gave up owning a car. They always have a few regulars that have given up a second car. MY wife and I are considering going to one car as well.

Car Payment
Gas
Insurance
Tolls
Parking
MAINTANANCE

Think of the overall cost each month vs a ride.... if the ride is less than the above, you're winning in the end.

Depends entirely on the car and how many miles you drive.

Driving about 14,000 miles a year, 2018 model year, Actual MPG about 25-30, rated MPG is around 28-32 I think.

My approximate costs:
$100 gas
$130 insurance
$10 maintenance ($60/6 month interval oil change and tire rotation)

So about $240/month.
Car payment $329.
Total $579/month.

Car is only about 32,000 miles on it, so no large maintenance expenses beyond oil and tire rotations. I suspect I'll need new tires around 40-50k.

Also, depreciation over my 2.5 years of ownership has been about 5-6k. It's was only 22k new so in line with the roughly 30% in 3 years.

I did see a lot of decent vehicles in the 15-20k price range with less than 30k miles that should reduce the depreciation hit a little bit. None had the color/options I was after so I went new, but if I had found a low miles car with the options I wanted I wouldn't have had any issue with used.

There's money involved, but it sounds like the deciding factor is your gut. Is having a second car worth the extra cost and reduced hassle for you and your family?

A lot of wealth is lost due to depreciation of cars. If you are comparing a new car which can easily lose $5k in value a year for the first few years vs Ubering everywhere you would probably come out ahead just using Uber. If you are buying a used car that doesn't require a lot of maintenance and gets good gas mileage the value proposition might flip.

If you have a second car that you don't drive very much it will be a lot cheaper than one you drive a lot.

Lower gas cost, lower insurance, less frequent maintenance. And you can get one with higher miles used since you won't be putting a lot on.

I'd say you can cut all of my costs I posted above in half if you got a used car for 10-12k, and drove it 5k miles a year.... probably cost you near $300/month or less.

Thanks all. I am looking at buying a moderately priced used car - $20-$25k. I figured the depreciation on that would run several thousand a year, at least initially. The gas / insurance / maintenance/ registration/ tolls / parking would run at least another $150 / month, probably more as time went on.

So rough napkin math - probably save $300/month or $3600 year vs taking Uber. Won't make me rich but that is real money. The only thing is, as others have mentioned, is the hassle factor. We've made it 3 years. Can easily make due for a while longer. But eventually will need one. In the mean time it's sure nice saving the $.

Sure, skip the car if you can make it work. As others mentioned, autos are a drain on wealth from day 1. They are the 2nd most expensive thing most people ever buy, and they depreciate heavily.

My only $0.02 is to wait to car shop until COVID is over. Both the new and used auto market has been ridiculous since last April

Buy a $10K Japanese beater. 1 car is great until the one care has an issue.

I was def going to wait until prices calm down. My guess is we are at least 6-9 months away from that. Thinking about all this my goal now is to make it thru this year and re-evaluate next January. Hopefully the prices have stabilized by then.

$30,000 Millionaire said:

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Buy a $10K Japanese beater. 1 car is great until the one care has an issue.

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Slight sidebar (not targeted at $30k) for general purposes:

Korea is the new Japan.

Hyundai and Kia are making pretty much the highest quality and best styled vehicles in the mass market today, while still offering industry-leading value and performance. Look at the JD Power and other quality rankings. The other day, Jim Cramer was scoffing at Apple choosing Hyundai as a auto production partner. First of all, he pronounced their name wrong, and then referred to them as a cheap, low-quality partner. This may have been true 15-20 years ago, but they've been among the very best for at least 5 years. His interview subject pointed this out, as well, but Cramer was unconvinced. He felt Apple should have partnered with someone like Mercedes, I think.

Old ingrained perceptions die hard, but consult dedicated car magazines and other industry resources, and drive them for yourselves if you get a chance. It may change your mind, like mine has been changed. I don't own one, but I actually seek out Kias as rental cars, as they're a clear notch above their competitors.

That's a dumb ass take by Cramer.

My wife and I have been a 1 car household for nearly 4 years. She works from home and only occasionally needs to travel for work, so most days I take the car to work. If she needed it for something, she could drop me at work, or I could take a Lyft, or (when we lived in Santa Monica) I would take a Bird/Lime scooter to work. I could technically bike to work or take a bus, but I probably would never do that.

When either or both of us need to fly somewhere, we always take a Lyft to the airport anyway, as that just makes everything easier than dealing with airport parking.

Only having one car payment and not having to worry about a second parking spot where you live is great.

When we moved across the country a few years ago, it wasn't feasible to drive or ship our car to the new location, so we sold it to Carmax and then bought a new one here. We wanted very specific options, so I ordered it instead of buying off the lot, so we ended up going about 3 months with zero cars. I took Lyft to work every day and in the end it was slightly cheaper than a car payment. That wouldn't have been sustainable much longer though, as I need to get out to farther away job sites a few times a week. Also, it is a bit of a hassle to get on the app, then wait for the driver to show up every single day.

I can't really say how much we save by only having one car, though the second car we used to have was a German coupe, so the payment alone is a hefty savings. I do know that it is not a hassle or annoyance to only have one car. I think a lot of people would do well to reconsider the default understanding that you need two cars for two adults. Maybe it doesn't work for everyone, but it works really well for some people.

YouBet said:

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That's a dumb ass take by Cramer.

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Agree... Cramer must not be familiar with their top of the line models or the genesis brand

We're in a similar position. I stay at home full time now for work and my wife and a is a stay at home mom. We recently moved and decided to sell one of the vehicles to make the move easier. Fast forward 6 months and we have no intention of buying a second car. My main worry would be potential maintenance and time in the shop, but if worst comes to worst I can spend money on a rental for a few days. I can get pretty cheap rates through my employer. The reality is that a second car would literally just sit in the garage costing me fees, insurance and depreciation. Until I have a really good reason for one, we'll stay a one car family. The bonus is that I'll be able to use half the garage for a gym and anything else I need.

hypeiv said:

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A lot of wealth is lost due to depreciation of cars. If you are comparing a new car which can easily lose $5k in value a year for the first few years vs Ubering everywhere you would probably come out ahead just using Uber. If you are buying a used car that doesn't require a lot of maintenance and gets good gas mileage the value proposition might flip.

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It also depends on length of ownership though. If you view a vehicle as 100% depreciated at 150k miles, you have a different cost/mile for ownership than at 200k or 250k. Maintenance and repairs can become a large cost one you hit the 100k-150k mile range, so buying new and having minimal maintenance during the first 6-10 years can be advantageous of you continue to own the car long after that. It turns into, "What's cheaper, a brand new vehicle you keep for 250k miles or 2-3 used vehicles you keep for a total of 250k miles?" You may get a used vehicle for 1/2 of two thirds the price of new, but if you have to buy two do get the same total mileage, are you really coming out ahead? Probably not since both are likely in their, "Needs frequent repairs," range, whereas your new vehicle gives you a lot of, "Under warranty," or, "Still reliable," time.

I bought a new Tacoma 7 years ago. Some may say it's a bad idea because of depreciation, but I'm not buying it with the intent to trade it in. Depreciation means nothing. I'm driving it into the ground and will hold it until 250k-300k miles. If I spend 2/3 the price for 1/2 the mileage to what I consider time to replace, I'm not coming out ahead over the long run.

Agree that what I said doesn't apply to high resale vehicles like Tacoma's, 4 runners, etc. There will always be a buyer for a running tacoma no matter how many miles it has.

I'd buy a 10 year old Kia hatchback for about $4K and drive it into the ground. If I wanted to upgrade to the $6K range, I might do a Kia Sportage or Honda CRV.

This thread has opened my eyes to the features you can get at ridiculous prices in the Kias and Hyundais. If we ever move and need a sedan I know exactly where I'm looking.

if you are saving money, as per your calculations, and it is not too much of a hassle, then it sounds like your decision is made


in our situation, it would be quite difficult to go with 1 car

Had a coworker once... very successful and high up in the company... his wife drove a Mercedes. He said she came home one night and said "Honey... I was at a stop light behind a beautiful car today. It was a Palisade?" He said... "well... looks like I'm trading in for Kia now"

RockOn said:

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Had a coworker once... very successful and high up in the company... his wife drove a Mercedes. He said she came home one night and said "Honey... I was at a stop light behind a beautiful car today. It was a Palisade?" He said... "well... looks like I'm trading in for Kia now"

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Ha.

I owned a 2008 Sonata. Great car but bland. This was on the very front edge of their design renaissance.

I've been threatening to get a Genesis for several years and my wife has frowned upon it. Now she's sending me links to the new Genesis SUV that is absolutely stunning.

No dice though. She's going to drive her Cadillac hoopty for years to come since it's paid for now.

Just googled the palisade... It has a freaking in car intercom so you don't have to yell to talk to people in the back seats

For once, the government is your friend here. Reimbursement rate is 57.5 cents/mi for the average car driven an average number of miles. 13,500 mi/yr is the current average (pre Covid). So that annual operating costs including fuel, maintenance, insurance, financing, taxes, fees and depreciation is $7,763/yr = $647/mo. Use that as a baseline and adjust for type of vehicle, miles driven, etc.

I bleed maroon said:

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$30,000 Millionaire said:

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Buy a $10K Japanese beater. 1 car is great until the one care has an issue.

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Slight sidebar (not targeted at $30k) for general purposes:

Korea is the new Japan.

Hyundai and Kia are making pretty much the highest quality and best styled vehicles in the mass market today, while still offering industry-leading value and performance. Look at the JD Power and other quality rankings. The other day, Jim Cramer was scoffing at Apple choosing Hyundai as a auto production partner. First of all, he pronounced their name wrong, and then referred to them as a cheap, low-quality partner. This may have been true 15-20 years ago, but they've been among the very best for at least 5 years. His interview subject pointed this out, as well, but Cramer was unconvinced. He felt Apple should have partnered with someone like Mercedes, I think.

Old ingrained perceptions die hard, but consult dedicated car magazines and other industry resources, and drive them for yourselves if you get a chance. It may change your mind, like mine has been changed. I don't own one, but I actually seek out Kias as rental cars, as they're a clear notch above their competitors.

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Just sayin'...

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More Hyundais Recalled for Fire Risk; Automaker Fined

Engine replacements may be necessary. The recall follows investigations and a $140 million civil penalty related to fires.

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Today's announcement follows several other recalls of Hyundai and Kia vehicles due to fire risk (both manufacturers are owned by the same corporate parent and share parts and designs), and is part of a larger investigation that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened into these fires in March 2019. The Center for Auto Safety (CAS), an independent watchdog group, petitioned NHTSA to investigate after multiple reports of fires not related to collisions.

According to a statement from the CAS, Hyundai and Kia have issued 33 recalls for vehicle fires that involve at least 20 models and more than 5 million vehicles from the model years 2006 through 2021. Prior recalls focused on vehicles with an engine design that the automakers called Theta II, although this recall includes vehicles with different engine designs.

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CAS executive director Jason Levine said he expects to see more vehicles recalled for the same or similar issues. "Based on this history and the fact that the current recall only covers those vehicles which have experienced above average rates of hole-in-block engine fires, despite other Hyundai vehicles having the exact same engines, we think that this recall is not the end of this story," he said in a written statement.

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https://www.consumerreports.org/car-recalls-defects/more-hyundais-recalled-for-fire-risk-automaker-fined/

i value my sanity a lot. i need a car myself. not good at sharing.and we do a lot of stuff independently of each other. would love to save money, but one car isn't an option

Following up to say...perfect excuse for a motorcycle

Since I have been working from home full time we went down to one car for our family. Its a rare occasion that we both need to be out at the same time and the few times one of us has needed to go out of town we have just rented a vehicle for the weekend.

Until I am back commuting for work I doubt I will buy another one, and when I do it will be something high mileage that won't set me back much.

Guppy said:

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Thanks all. I am looking at buying a moderately priced used car - $20-$25k. I figured the depreciation on that would run several thousand a year, at least initially. The gas / insurance / maintenance/ registration/ tolls / parking would run at least another $150 / month, probably more as time went on.

So rough napkin math - probably save $300/month or $3600 year vs taking Uber. Won't make me rich but that is real money. The only thing is, as others have mentioned, is the hassle factor. We've made it 3 years. Can easily make due for a while longer. But eventually will need one. In the mean time it's sure nice saving the $.

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if you're self employed and/or you're company is not reimbursing you for those costs to/from the Airport then you can deduct that on your taxes. That's worth something if you can itemize.