Transportation Expenses
Save Money by Reducing to One Vehicle
Transportation.
The
second
biggest expense you probably have, after
housing,
is transportation.
Between your
car
payment(s), auto
insurance, maintenance
and
repair, and
gasoline, this
category probably takes a
huge chunk out of your
monthly income.
Downsize to One Vehicle
The obvious
solution is to eliminate a second
vehicle. I
know what you are
thinking, in this day and age, I must be nuts!
Well,
it's not easy, that's for sure. I have spent about
half
of the last
seven years with only one vehicle in
our family.
It can be done.
Actually, once you get used to it, it's
not that big of a deal.
Benefits:- You
only have one car payment (or none if you have paid off your car)
- Your
auto insurance rates are less
- You only have
maintenance and repairs on one vehicle
- Plus, with
less access to a vehicle, its harder to go out shopping, or
out to lunch, which means you will save money that you don't need to
spend.
- You'll even save gas money!
Plan Your Trips
The
big key is planning. Let me say that again.
The big key is planning.
Make sure you plan all your doctor's appointments and shopping trips,
essentially all of your errands, for one specific day, if
possible.
This will save you time, effort,
energy, and gasoline.
How
do you get by?
There are several ways
that one car families adjust.
- Mom
may chauffer dad to work in the morning, and pick him up in the
evening. This can be every day, once a week, or just occasionally for
errand days.
- Dad can carpool with a co-worker who
lives near him. In this case, it would be a good idea to pitch in for
gasoline.
- Dad
can take advantage of the public bus or train system and use public
transportation to get to work. Alternately, mom can use public
transportation for errand days.
- Dad, can bicycle
or even use a fuel-friendly motorcycle to get to work.
There
are, of course, disadvantages to having just one
vehicle.
Disadvantages
- It
is less convenient
- Can be difficult in an emergency
- It
is hard to make repairs to the vehicle when there is not a second
vehicle to drive around.
But,
it is very possible to live with just one car per household.
Some families even manage with NO vehicles.
Now that's a way to reduce transportation expenses!
There
is one family, in New York City, who lives without using any motorized
transportation whatsoever. They conducted a year-long experiment, not
just with transportation, but with what they felt was their impact on
the environment, and wrote about their experiences in their blog No
Impact Man.
Now, if you choose to check out the site, please
note that
while I personally find their walking and bicycling around town to be
of value, this site does not endorse any political views from the No
Impact Man site.
But an interesting
read nonetheless!
Car Share
Another way to get along with no vehicles is to use a
car
share network for transportation.
What
is Car
Sharing?
Car Sharing, or
Auto Sharing,
which operates in larger cities across the US and other parts of the
world, is similar to renting a car.
Members
decide when they need a car and for how long. They can borrow a vehicle
for an hour, or a week, whatever they need.
They
pay by the trip.
It is
less expensive
and
more convenient than a typical rental agency.
The
cars are picked up at drop off locations in parking lots throughout
town. Companies like FlexCar and ZipCar are leading the industry across
the USA, but several local co-operatives have also been formed.
Rural Areas
What
happens if you live in a rural area? Well,
living with just one vehicle is possible in a rural area too. My
cousins live in Montana.
They
live in a small, sparsely populated town. They both work in a small
city (around 50,000 people) 25 miles away.
They
use one vehicle for
transportation every day.
My cousin's wife drives,
and drops
my cousin off at his job.
Then she drops their son
off at daycare. She
goes to work herself, and when she is done working, she picks my cousin
up, they then pick up their son, and go home.
Errands such as grocery trips are done either during lunch, or after
everyone is in the car.
So it is
possible to reduce your transportation expenses,
if you plan
in advance.
Car Fund
I've told you that we have spent half of the last seven years with one
vehicle. To be honest, we do have two vehicles right now. One is a
five-year-old Volkswagen, and the other, a 20-year-old pickup.
We do
not have any car payments whatsoever. Instead,
we put $300 per month
aside in an ING Account for our next vehicle purchase.
Next
summer, we will sell both our vehicles, and use that money, plus
the money in our vehicle savings account to buy a new pick-up truck. We
plan to condense down to one vehicle again.
Why?
Sometimes simple is better. Less things to
worry about.
Plus, we are planning to travel in
our RV for a few years, and two vehicles would make absolutely no
sense.
Go No Payments
If you can't drop down to one vehicle, you should consider at least
dropping down to one, or no, car payments.
See if you can sell one of your current vehicles
and buy a lesser expensive, older model. If
you can manage to reduce or eliminate your car payments, put the amount
you would have been spending each month, into a
Vehicle
Savings Account.
That
way,
when it is time to purchase a newer vehicle, you will have most, if not
all, of the money already saved. You
will be able to pay cash for a vehicle, which will save you money on
the sticker price, plus you will not be forced to take out financing,
which will save you thousands of dollars in interest.
See the section on
Savings
for more information about financing, vehicle loans, and vehicle
savings accounts.
Car Wraps
Another option for saving
money on transportation is to join a
Car
Wrap
company and get a vehicle for free. Alternately, you
can be paid to drive your vehicle.
This works
especially well for husbands who tend to drive long distances or in
heavy traffic.
Leave
Transportation Page and Return to
Reduce Expenses Page
