On Not Owning a Car
After 13 years of not owning a car, I’ve found there are many resulting personal and environmental benefits that have made my life better.
If you’re living somewhere for which it’s conceivable to not own a car, here’s my experience should it help you decide if that’s a good option for you. If you’re not living somewhere that easily accommodates a carless approach, it’s still helpful to know that many are choosing that option and that it’s viable in many places.
12 Years Ago
In February 2012, I posted the following on my now inactive personal blog site.
This week marks the one-year anniversary of me living without a car. Well, not quite. The men I live with have cars and I am able to borrow them on the rare occasion I need one, but I have essentially lived without a car for a year now. It’s been an interesting experience.
The decision to live without a car was not entirely mine. I took my old 2001 Ford Escort in for an oil change about 12 months ago where they convinced me to also do a radiator flush. Unfortunately, they neglected to put any fluid back in the radiator after they flushed it. Oops! I made it home, but the next day when I tried to start the car the engine froze shortly thereafter and the car was trashed.
I was in mild shock. It marked the first time since 1981 I had been without a working car. I decided to work past my shock and dismay and see if this might become an opportunity.
Rather than pursue legal action with the oil change venue and all the angst that might cause, I decided instead to just let it go and donate the car to a nonprofit organization, get the tax write-off, and experiment with living without a car for a while. Needless to say, the experiment paid off. One year later I do not regret my decision to live without a car. And I will be the first to admit living in San Francisco, a dense urban area with lots of transportation options, makes not owning a car a lot easier.
The benefits from not owning a car have far outweighed the downsides. I’ve crunched the numbers and I’ve saved a lot of money. A lot. Even using more public transit, taxis, car services, and the occasional car rental has not amounted to anywhere near what maintaining an automobile does. And my car was an old, cheap 2001 model. The differential if I owned a more expensive, current model would be significantly greater. I have also noticed less stress without having to wash, gas up, maintain and park a car. Overall, the reduction in cost and stress has been dramatic for me.
If you live in an area that allows you to not own a car, consider it as an option. Maybe do an experiment with not using your car for a while to see if it might work for you. It might help you save money, reduce stress, and take one more vehicle off the roads. It worked for me.
Today — An Update
It’s September 2023 and I’m still living without a car. It’s been a wonderful experience. My partner has also given up his car and he’s quite happy with the decision. The two of us live without cars and function quite well. Here are some of my thoughts 13 years into my carless experiment.
San Francisco, where I still spend much of my time, is an incredibly easy city to live in without a car, certainly when compared to some other cites. The ease of living carless continues to be far better in dense urban landscapes like San Francisco than in suburban or rural areas.
Per the 2020 census, about 20% of our country’s population lives in one of the 100 biggest American cities. Even at just 20%, that’s a lot of people who might consider living without a car.
Sure, one can live without a car in less dense areas, but it’s definitely more of a challenge to do so. I’m fully aware my carless experience isn’t immediately transferrable to everyone living elsewhere.
That said, I’m still an advocate for going carless when possible. The big elephant in the room now is climate change. Thankfully we’re making a shift to all-electric (EV) cars, but they aren’t the entire solution. We’d still all be better off if there were fewer cars on the road. EV car production takes a toll on the environment. Currently, charging EVs takes a toll on the environment because the sources of the electricity are often fossil fuel power plants. Fewer cars is still better than more.
I’ve always been a walker, but I do it more now than ever since I haven’t owned a car. There are a multitude of health and others benefits to walking (or bicycling) to move around town.
In “Benefits of Walking and Bicycling” I mention carbon emission levels for walking, bicycling, e-bikes, buses, EV cars, and gas-powered cars. Despite the analysis referenced that determined e-bikes are ultimately the least carbon emission intensive of transit options, walking, bicycling, and e-bikes are all far better for the environment than using a car. Buses and other mass transit are superior to using a car. EVs are better than gas-powered cars, but the lifecycle of EVs also has a significant impact on the environment.
For those able to walk, walking has so many benefits. Check out some of my thoughts about walking in “The Wonder of Walking” and “Get Up and Move.”
Also, here are some of my thoughts about “Why I Love Living in a City.”
Not owning a car is viable even when not in a dense urban city, at least some of the time. I spend a lot of time elsewhere, especially Palm Springs. My part-time living in Palm Springs has led me to realize I can function just fine without a car even in places like that.
A while back while in Palm Springs at the same time during the big annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, a time when the entire area is inundated with thousands of Festival attendees, I undertook a carless experiment. Instead of renting a car, I decided to try and utilize only on-demand car services, my feet, and the occasional friend who gave me a ride somewhere.
Once back in San Francisco I crunched the numbers to determine if I spent more or saved more money by not renting a car. I determined the cost of renting a car would have been double what I spent getting around by other means. Remember too, Coachella is an extremely busy time for on-demand car services and their increased surge pricing was in effect. Still, not renting a car during that visit was dramatically less expensive than if I had done so.
Having left corporate life in 2022, I admittedly have fewer time constraints. That’s allowed me to use public transit a lot more than I did previously. During those rare instances when I need to get somewhere quickly or I’m just too tired to travel otherwise, I still use on-demand car services.
But overall, I have leveraged public transit quite a bit. Since I always travel with my Kindle e-reader, I’m able to read anywhere and have gotten a lot of reading done on public transit. My partner goes to his office for work every day by bus and it’s been a seamless and easy experience for him. We’re a transit-first household and it’s worked out well.
For a while, I was investigating buying an EV. I had already chosen my ideal EV, the Chevrolet Bol EV (thankfully staying in production), or the Nissan LEAF. But, again, I crunched numbers and buying an EV is an expense that doesn’t seem wise in my situation.
Living in San Francisco, and I’m sure the case in other similar city environments, parking is a major pain in the ass. Assuming you can find parking at all, when you do, it can be incredibly expensive whether on the street or in a parking lot. Avoiding parking hassles is one reason I continue to live carless.
Adding up the cost of purchasing a car, plus insurance, plus charging (I’d only buy an all-electric EV at this point), plus maintenance and other add-on costs, it just doesn’t make sense for me. In June of this year I wrote about my detailed cost savings by not owning a car and you can read about that in “How much I save not owning a car.”
The bottom line is 13 years after separating myself from car ownership I’m still quite satisfied with that decision. I have no plans to buy a car currently. Even when I’m in other cities, my plan is to leverage walking, public transport, and on-demand car services for my transit needs. I maintain an account with a car rental company should I need one, but I haven’t rented a car in well over a year and have no near future plans to do so. It’s always available if I need it, but it seems my reliance on a car has dwindled over time. Only time will tell if that situation remains as is.
I can envision a time when I might choose to live somewhere that essentially requires owning a car to get around, but I’m going to resist that situation as long as I can because I have come to love not owning a car.
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