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January 29, 2007

Thinking of selling my car ()

by fluffy at 7:16 PM
I only drive my car once a week. Per year, this costs approximately:
  • $4380: loan payment
  • $1500: insurance
  • $220: registration
  • Total: $6100/year, or $117/week or $17/day
FlexCar costs $10/hour. It's very rare that I need a car 12 hours/week; I usually go out for drinks on Thursday (3 hours) and karaoke on Saturday (3 hours). On average I am clearly wasting quite a lot of money.

KBB value for my car is about $15,000. I have about $13,000 left on the loan. So I'd immediately have another $2K in the bank, and an empty parking spot which I could use for my bicycle instead, which will make it much more convenient to bicycle to work (when the weather gets warm again of course). Then I'll have another $500 of disposable income per month.

So I suppose I should take an ad out on Craigslist.

Comments

#8239 01/29/2007 07:57 pm
You could always buy a $2000 used car.
#8240 01/29/2007 08:22 pm
$2000 used car would still have spendy insurance and registration. FlexCar seems like a pretty good setup, and if I ever needed a car more often I could consider buying something used but in the meantime I really have no need to own one, especially since there's a FlexCar SUV about a block from my place which more than handles my needs.
#8242 01/30/2007 12:24 am
'Course, you didn't add in gasoline and oil changes and so forth to your back-of-the-envelope figures there. Also, there's probably a good number of times where a car is pretty handy to have immediate access to. But, y'know, follow your heart. And also calculation. Or maybe you have a cold, calculating heart. I suppose I don't know.
#8243 01/30/2007 12:33 am
There's nothing but awesome things about this plan. It saves the consumer money, and encourages people to drive less (which is good for the environment and personal health.)

I wonder how many people could benefit overall economically from a plan like this. Probably the majority of people who live in a city, especially given additional options for public transportation.

Fantastic idea.
#8244 01/30/2007 12:36 am
I didn't add gas because I drive so little that I almost never buy it. Same for oil changes. My car is nearly 2 years old and only has 3500 miles on it, and most of that was from the first 9 months before my office moved downtown.

Also, the nearest FlexCar is, as I said, a block from my place (it's actually at the bank just around the corner), so availability permitting it's really not that much further than the car I own ANYWAY. (The second-closest car is a lot further but really, how often do I need a car at the drop of a hat? Though I suppose the nights that I do normally use one are the nights that other people are likely to use one but it's not really that big a deal to take the bus to the places that I normally drive, and then maybe I'd loosen up a bit and drink more.)