JoeyBike

For 30 years, if I needed a car, I rented a car. Enterprise used to run weekend specials for $10/Day. Normally $19 t $39 a day. The good-ol' days.

A little over a year ago I bought my wife's old car, a 2003 Toyota Camry XLE. It was starting to give her too much trouble.

AAA estimates owning a car now costs roughly $10,000/Year. I though some here might like to know how much it's costing me just in case you ever need or just want one.

I'm old with a perfect driving record so not going to talk about insurance costs too much because it's cheap and well under 1K a year. Actually my wife picks up that bill along with her car as a "thank you" to me for providing her with a second car for whenever hers needs service, or has a flat in the driveway on a workday morning, etc. I bike or walk to work (1.5 miles)

I use the car as a recreational vehicle basically. Barely put 2000 miles on it first year. I can go 2 months without seeing a gas station. When the weather is nice here I might fill the tank once each month. Fuel prices vary but right now it's about $50 a tank full. So max I spend on fuel is $600/year. The car needed some mechanical TLC which cost me just shy of $5,000 over 12 months including regular maintenance. Hopefully the big things are done (Struts, suspension, tires) and will last several years.

I know many here are car "haters". Not me. I actually LOVE cars. I love having a car ready to go instantly in front of my house. However, for those 30 years I just didn't want the extra expense and my health insurance was costing me a small fortune, even tho I don't have any health issues (thankfully). I'm just too cheap to throw money into a car I barely use and can do without.

Why did I finally get one? My current job has great (cheap) health insurance and my wife's car just kinda fell into my lap suddenly when she got fed up with it leaving her on the side of the road twice in a couple months. So I figured I would give it a shot. I love going to a Rails to Trails about 30 miles away and the bridge to get there does not allow bikes on it. The bridge is 24 miles long anyway. Rental cars are ridiculously expensive and hard to come by these days. And due to safety concerns I decided to stop cycling on highways and byways. The Rail-Trail is 30 miles in length one way, shaded, and perfect. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is a nice place to bike and skate, so that 60 mile drive is possible at a moment's notice as well. Those are really the only two places I go in the car other than some yearly medical checkups.

For now, I'm keeping the car. I'm not getting rid of any bikes tho. One major mechanical issue or collision will put me back back in the saddle full time again. I doubt I would replace the car immediately.

Cheers All!