Well, the short answer to this question is a resounding yes.
Your family will save money if you switch from two cars to one. It’s extremely obvious why this is the case: one family car is much cheaper to run than two family cars. You spend half as much on fuel, half as much on maintenance, and so on. In total, you’re looking at saving hundreds of dollars per year by making this change.
Unfortunately, there’s a massive thing to consider. Having two cars is extremely practical for you and your family – can you handle having one? Here are a few things to keep in mind before you make any rash decisions:
The practical costs of only having one family car
With one family car, only one person can drive at any given time. If you take the car to work, your partner has no way of getting around during the day. It’ll mean there’s no practical way of taking the kids to school or doing daily errands.
They’ll have to walk – which might not be feasible – or get public transport. If you’re constantly buying bus or train tickets every single day, are you really saving that much extra money each year? It depends on where you live, but the cost of train tickets can be extortionate these days.
However, the main issue is the stress this puts on your life. You’re constantly needing to organize things around one car. It can create unnecessary friction that dampens your quality of life.
You have to ask yourself: is it worth saving money if it completely messes up your daily routine?
Could you downgrade to a more affordable vehicle?
Now, this is very interesting!
Instead of switching from two cars to one – and having no secondary vehicle – what if you simply downgraded one car? You’ve sold your car, but in its place, you have a motorbike or scooter. Places like TX Toy Sales sell affordable used motorcycles all the time – and they are generally much cheaper to run than cars.
There’s a really useful article here, complete with a table that shows the average total cost of owning a car and motorcycle. Overall, the two-wheeled vehicle comes out at over half the total cost of the four-wheeled one.
So, this is something to keep in mind as you get the best of both worlds. You save money by not having two cars, yet retain an element of practicality. One person can use a motorcycle to go to work or do their daily errands. The other person has the car if they need to drive the kids somewhere or pick up loads of shopping. It eliminates any reliance on expensive public transport while also keeping your annual vehicle costs as low as possible.
In conclusion, your family can save money by switching from two family cars to one. If you live close to everything, you won’t need a second vehicle as you can walk everywhere. But, if you still need two vehicles to live a comfortable life, consider getting something smaller and more cost-effective – like a scooter or motorcycle.
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