I feel so old and SO naive

[JiveTurkey]

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."

Don't forget to add in the $2 lighter impulse buy at the gas station.

When he said they were "super expensive" that's "imagined" because it is.

$1,320.00 a year for total costs is dirt cheap. My property taxes are over six times that for a year, my electric bill is three times that for a year, my internet/cable bill is exactly that for a year. Even with no job, my federal income tax bill is twice that for a year. Heating oil? How much do you pay? Honestly, this year, I have no idea what my total cost will be for the season but I just paid over three fucking fifty a gallon which means the minimum 200 gallon delivery was over 700.00 and I'll be lucky if that lasts me until the end of December. So if I could heat my house for $1,320.00 (your yearly car cost) I'd throw a party, invite you, pay for your plane fare and still have money left over.

The bottom line is his personal choice to forgo a car isn't because it's "super expensive, even if the car is paid off" because that's bull$hit.

Maybe the word "super" in super expensive is debatable, but it is more expensive to own a car than not. Those expenses go towards other things I care more about. Going green often costs more; this is an example where it costs less. Going car-free is good for MY wallet and the environment--there's nothing bullshit about that. Your values, needs, circumstances differ than mine. I've found something that works well for me.