I feel so old and SO naive

[JiveTurkey]

Where do you live where it's questionable whether or not you will ever be near a gas station, but you still have internet access?

We don't own a car, so I rarely go to a gas station. I won't be making a special trip for this lighter.

[Eville]

My mind has just been blown.

[Paddy]

We don't own a car, so I rarely go to a gas station. I won't be making a special trip for this lighter.

Do you travel by donkey?

[JiveTurkey]

Do you travel by donkey?

Rarely if ever. It's usually by a bike--powered by me.

[ashauler]

Rarely if ever. It's usually by a bike--powered by me.

Just curious....for health reasons...philosophical reasons...$$$ reasons....why no car? Honestly, I'd love to live where public transportation was good enough that I didn't need to drive, or have the physical ability to ride a bike the 20 miles one way to work every day. Sadly, I'm blessed with neither.

[JiveTurkey]

Just curious....for health reasons...philosophical reasons...$$$ reasons....why no car? Honestly, I'd love to live where public transportation was good enough that I didn't need to drive, or have the physical ability to ride a bike the 20 miles one way to work every day. Sadly, I'm blessed with neither.

All of the above plus environmental (I guess that falls under philosophical). It's actually very nice not having something that requires so much expense and maintenance. We've found there are more appropriate ways to travel. While a car is very convenient and fits most needs, it's also super expensive, even if the car is paid off: insurance, gas, oil, other maintenance, repairs, etc. We've been car ownership-free for almost a year now. We do all our shopping by bike and trailer, travel by bike and occasionally bus, and have rented a car once. We carpool when needed and chip in for gas.

[kevin7]

Thats cool man

[ashauler]

Thats cool man

I agree.

[CoventryCat86]

All of the above plus environmental (I guess that falls under philosophical). It's actually very nice not having something that requires so much expense and maintenance. We've found there are more appropriate ways to travel. While a car is very convenient and fits most needs, it's also super expensive, even if the car is paid off: insurance, gas, oil, other maintenance, repairs, etc. We've been car ownership-free for almost a year now. We do all our shopping by bike and trailer, travel by bike and occasionally bus, and have rented a car once. We carpool when needed and chip in for gas.

Well, living in a college town (where Oregon State University is located) you can probably get away with that but the other 99.999% of America, it's pretty much impossible to survive without a car.

I've never financed a car in my life, I do all of my own repairs, I don't waste money on collision & comprehensive insurance. I drive fancy cars like Jaguars and top of the line Olds 98s but I buy them when they're ten to fifteen years old for pennies on the dollar from their original selling price. My car expenses are negligible compared to all of life's other expenses like housing, electricity, taxes, health care, oil, propane, food, cable, internet, phones, etc., oh yeah I forgot CIGARS!

Taking all of the rest of life's expenses into consideration (even for a poor, starving college student) I'd hardly call a car "super expensive." If you do it correctly, it's dirt cheap.

Just admit it, you're choice to not own a car is pretty much an "environmental" statement (which is fine) and not really driven by the imagined "costs" you described.

[heftysmokes]

Wait, what?


Cheap car: $1000-3000
Killer Bike: $1000-3000 (of course you can go as low as 50 bucks for a fixer upper on craigslist, dump ~100 into it and you're in for under $200)

Gas:
Cheap car: $75/month (that's low. At $3.55/gallon and 25 mpg, you're looking at driving ~500 miles/month, which is half of what's considered average)
Bike: $0

Oil change:
Cheap car: Do it yourself, ~$15/3 months...or, if you're only driving 500 miles/month, and want to change it every 3k miles, $15/6 months
Bike: $0

Insurance:
Cheap car: 30/month. I'm using what we pay for only liability on our sweet-ass 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager mini-van. Side note, it's actually more expensive for full coverage on our old cheap bomber of a van than it is for full coverage on our 2011 Cruze or our 2005 Tahoe. Reason being, newer vehicles have way higher safety ratings, so medical costs in an accident are way lower.
Bike:$0

CAR:
Gas (900) + Oil (60) + Insurance (360) comes to ~$1320/year operating cost. That doesn't include tires, air filters, belts, beaded seat covers, as well as parking meters/garages, toll booths, etc.


Bike:
Tubes, tires, lube ~75 year. Throw in another 50 for the occasional bus pass and your still looking at 10% of the cost of car ownership.


So while it may very well be his " choice to not own a car is pretty much an "environmental" statement," the costs are definitely not "imagined."