Who went from 2+ cars to one and did it save $?

[UberMama]

DH and I are really debating on going from 2 vehicles to one. DH HAS to use the one vehicle to get to and from work, as there is no other form of transportation available between here and his work (walking and/or bicycling is not an option either).

Some days though, I'd love to take the kids to the zoo, library, etc.. I'm not about to make myself go mental while taking three young children on a bus (it'd take 2 hours to get to the zoo, vs. 30 min in a car). (Parks and such are within walking or reasonable bus distance though)

So I thought I could drive DH to work on those days with the kids, then to the zoo, then back home, then pick him up later that night. Of course this uses more gas..

But we don't use our second vehicle enough to make it worth it to keep. We have it financed and still owe 3k on it. If we sold it, we could profit $2500 after paying off the loan approximately.

If you did something similar, was it worth it? I guess I am just afraid of selling the second vehicle, only to find we should have kept it for the rare times we want/need it. But it'd be nice to pay off the loan as well..

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

We never had a second car so I don't really know what the diferance would be. I do think we would end up paying more if we did get one though. Car payments and insurance for one thing. Plus I do walk where I can because it is a hassle to drive dh to work so I can have the car. So less gas (and more exersize for me) I'm also less likely to shop on impulse. Before we moved, dh would take the bus a lot and I had the car more often. When I had the car all the time I was always stopping into the thrift store because I could or going through the Starbucks drive through or whatever. It adds up.

So it is hard ot make do with one car but it is doable and it is certanly cheeper.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

We were in your shoes and sold our second car in September...so it has been nine months now.

It needed some major repairs so we decided rather than spend the money on the repairs, we would see if we could get along without the second car.

We kept the car for a month after deciding this and just parked it, to give our "carlessness" a test run.

DH takes our primary car to work and we walk/bus everywhere. We do, however, live in a metropolitan area and can walk to playgroups, many parks, our DDs schools, the library, shopping, restaurants...that makes all the difference in the world.

When we do need to take the car (which is not all that often) then I do what you are proposing -- we drive DH in to work and then go pick him up in the evening.

For us it has worked out great -- even better than we had anticipated -- and not having a car payment, insurance payments, registration fees, oil changes, and gas for that second car has been ~~wonderful~~.

If I were you, I would just park your second car for a month and make sure you would be happy with that decision...it is only one month's payment...and if that month goes smoothly, then I would sell that car and pocket the money.

Good luck to you!


ETA: Yes, it saved a ton of money. Our insurance went down, our gas bills went down...you pay for a lot of little things that you just don't notice on your car like metered parking and oil changes.

[UberMama]

Well, the second vehicle has been parked for 3 weeks now. The brakes are going out, and I don't feel comfortable driving it myself much less with my babies in it. DH is going to repair the brakes, even if we end up selling it, of course.

I forgot all about the insurance we pay on it. That one bill is taken out of our checking every month automatically, so I just never think about it. So if we sold the vehicle, we'd save $320 a month between the payment and insurance.

Now, how does one sell a vehicle that is financed? We don't have the title obviously, so I don't know how that works? Guess I should call the finance co on Monday? I really want to see it private party, to get the most out of it ($).

[lisalulu]

Originally Posted by ttcanother

Well, the second vehicle has been parked for 3 weeks now. The brakes are going out, and I don't feel comfortable driving it myself much less with my babies in it. DH is going to repair the brakes, even if we end up selling it, of course.

I forgot all about the insurance we pay on it. That one bill is taken out of our checking every month automatically, so I just never think about it. So if we sold the vehicle, we'd save $320 a month between the payment and insurance.

Now, how does one sell a vehicle that is financed? We don't have the title obviously, so I don't know how that works? Guess I should call the finance co on Monday? I really want to see it private party, to get the most out of it ($).

We just sold our second car that was financed because it never got driven. DH started walking to work and it just sat there. We made almost 6K on it (after paying off the loan) and save about 70/month on insurance. Our gas bill didn't really change because it wasn't being driven.

Its only been a couple weeks but we definitely don't miss during the week. I will occasionally pick dh up from work to save him the walk home but its so close it quick and easy. This last weekend was the first time that one of us was really carless. I went to a friends house and took the car and dh stayed home with ds. It wasn't really a big deal but it was a situation we hadn't thougt of-what happens when one of goes out w/o the other but we both need to go somewhere. I don't regret selling our other car but I think in the future it is something that we might need to plan around a little better.

As for paying off the loan-this is how it worked for us. Because we sold it for a bit of money, the woman buying it had to get financing herself. Her bank drew up all the papers that we had to sign. We had to get a "release of interest" signed and notarized so that our bank would allow them to pay off the car and then start the title transfer to her bank. I think there were a couple other papers we had to sign for them. DH went with the buyer to the bank where he got a certified check for the remainder. About a week later, the check from her bank had cleared and our loan was paid off. Other than the papers, the banks pretty much did everything.

If they are paying cash, I think its similar but you get a check from the buyer and then you turn around and pay your loan-unless you can do it all in person at one time. I think you still sign the release of interest and then when you get the title from the bank, you have to sign it over to the buyer.

Of course this is all for WA state so it might be different where you are? Between our bank and the DOL we got all the answers we needed.

ETA: I just reread your first post and wanted to say again that I have the car during the day. I don't think I could have done one car if my dh had it all day and I was unable to make the bus work. BUT I probably drive an average of once a day and only have one kiddo to bring along with. I do all my errand running during the week, etc. Not sure if you were looking for that kind of opinion though ??

[oneKnight]

When DH's car broke down we parked it for about a year. It worked out fine, and we saved quite a bit on insurance! Both the cars are paid off so that wasn't an issue, but DH is under 25 male so he is expensive on the insurance!

[mommyddeville]

My husband and I got rid of our second car right after we got married. We haven't missed it. We lived in Seattle for a year with 1 car and now we've lived in a smaller city for 2 years with one car. I'd recommend it wholeheartedly!

[Malva]

Not only you'd be saving $320 in car payment and insurance each month, you'd also be saving money on gas, oil change/maintenance every 3 months, tire changes if you live a northern region.

Do a google search for the true cost of owning a car and read up on the different articles that come up.

[1babysmom]

We went from 2 to 1 this past summer. We live way out in the boonies so of course there's no walking anywhere for EITHER of us. We managed with 1 car for a while (I'd drive DH to work so I'd still have a car) and even that saved us money simply because his truck was a deisel and that was draining us (it's expensive up here!). But he bought a motorcycle a few months ago and that's been awesome, because it means I don't have to drive him anywhere, so we drive the car less, and he's only spending about $6-7 at a time to fill up his motorcycle!

[fiesta'smom]

We manage with just one car, but I don't have little ones at home, and hubby takes the bus to work. It's a pain for him in some ways but in other ways he likes it...no traffic headaches, no parking headaches, no worrying the car will get broken into.

One thing that bummed us out when we switched to one car was that we no longer got the multiple car discount through our insurance. Be sure to ask how much it will be to insure the one car before you take the plunge. It may go up quite a bit in comparison to what you pay now.

There is also the issue of what to do if the one car breaks down! Well, we put away money each month for car repairs, and try to keep a bit extra set aside to rent a car if need be. We figure that it's cheaper than owning that second car. We've even rented a car when family came into town before. It feels like a big deal when we are doing it, but in the long run it's way cheaper than owning the second car.

[Thalia]

Does your city have a shared vehicle program like iGo, Flexcar, Zipcar, or Communauto?

I was just talking about this at breakfast with DH. We currently only have one car, but I was thinking when it's time to retire that car that maybe we could even make do without any car at all. DH takes the train to work, and I walk to work. We mainly drive the car to church and the grocery store. I was just thinking about how much we would save on insurance, maintenance, parking, and gas.

[friendly fire]

ideally, in your situation, which is similar to mine.....your second car would be something economical as well as paid for....cheaper insurance too if it's paid for....but we went with one car for most of the winter and it was fine. if you don't mind being homebound. you seem to get used to it for the most part.

maybe you should sell the car and buy something for 2k and pay for it outright.

[kijip]

We just got rid of the car we inherited. (we have never been a 2 car family before). For us it was a no brainer since the second car was a Toyota 4Runner and we are not SUV loving people. We live in the city and it is just ridiculous for us to drive around in the city in that big of a car with 1 child and no cargo. The 4Runner was paid for and we never drove it so gas was a non-issue. But even with our low insurance rates, because SUVs are not the safest cars to drive, getting rid of it saves us about $600 a year in insurance. We had kicked around the idea of saving it for camping. But the most we will go camping for long enough to need an SUV is 1-2 a year. And $600 will rent a darn SUV for a couple weeks a year if we want to.

My husband often drives me someplace and drops me off when he needs the car and vice versa. I think that if you can drop him off on zoo days it is totally worth it.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Come back and give us an update. Let us know what you decide

[UberMama]

We thought about buying something for 2k.. it'd be cheaper insurance wise anyway, and we'd lose that monthly payment, of course. We're entertaining that idea. But whatever we decide to do will wait until we find a place to rent (hopefully soon!). Then once we're moved in, we're going to decide if we truly need a 2nd vehicle or not.

So either way, we're selling the second vehicle. Just not sure if we'll buy another one or if we'll sock the 2k away to the savings and stick with one vehicle.

[Sharlla]

We saved $25 a month on ins BUT we spent just as much on gas because I had to take DH to and from work everyday so I could have the car. It was a hassle for the kids as well having to get up earlier that they like.

DH has since bought a motorcycle and that has saved on gas. But the bike was an 07 off the lot so after taxes and fees cost us $4000.

[Shantimama]

We had a second car for about 18 months around heh time we moved - it was needed for commuting, etc. We sold it last summer and we are okay. There are times when it is a huge gassle, but so far we have always made it work. We save lots of money on insurance, not so much on gas becasue we sold the small, more fuel efficient car and kept the one our whole family fits in. We put the money we got for selling it towards debt. When dp or I needs to travel for school or work, we usually take a bus to the city (we live in a riural area). It cists a bit, but still cheaper than owning another vehicle.

dh can sometimes ride his bike to work and we work out a car schedule every couple of weeks so whoever needs it most has it - but I know that isn't workable for any situation.

It has definetely saved us money - maintaining 2 vehicles was expensive compared to just one.