Life without the car from monday.

[Chris-H]

After a lot of thought and consideration after monday we will be ditching the car and seeing if we can live without it.The road tax is up for renewal so instead of throwing 115 quid in the governments pocket i'll be buying some triple panniers and at some point a cargo trailer.
The biggest challenge is that we live in a village,we are very lucky though to be located very close to a cycle track which leads directly into town,approx 4 1/2 miles each way.
The way we see it is the car is costing over 200 a month after tax,fuel and breakdown cover and not being in work that is a lot of money.So on-line shopping at Asda,free delivery from Iceland and a garden centre round the corner that sells veg etc we really dont actually NEED the car.
Wish us luck,after 25 years of driving i'm finally going to attempt to ditch 4 wheels in favour of 2.
Actually really excited about the prospect of using the bikes as every day transport.

 

[Piemaster]

Wish I could do it! Good luck.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

good luck

 

[ianrauk]

You don't need luck.
You have a great decision, well done.

Soon you will wonder why you had the car in the first place.

 

[Titan yer tummy]

...After a lot of thought and consideration after monday we will be ditching the car and seeing if we can live without it....

A very brave decision. I wish you well?

 

[apollo179]

£200 a month - thats gonna hurt.
Great decision, well done.

Cars are handy for some stuff but you can hire a car for £30 a day in extremis, but otherwise almost everything is manageable with a little adaptation.

 

[Strick]

Hope it works out well for you.

 

[Chris-H]

£200 a month - thats gonna hurt.
Great decision, well done.

Cars are handy for some stuff but you can hire a car for £30 a day in extremis, but otherwise almost everything is manageable with a little adaptation.

We got to Yorkshire 2 or 3 times a year to visit family and that was one factor that was difficult in deciding to ditch the car but as you've pointed out car hire is'nt too expensive for a weekend so thats what we'll be doing.
Cheers for all your wishes though,for me it is a huge step,i'm so used to jumping in the car to pop to Homebase or to just pop into town purely because the car is there and its convenient,thats probably 80% of using the car,convenience and laziness.For us it is anyway

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

After a lot of thought and consideration after monday we will be ditching the car and seeing if we can live without it.The road tax is up for renewal so instead of throwing 115 quid in the governments pocket i'll be buying some triple panniers and at some point a cargo trailer.
The biggest challenge is that we live in a village,we are very lucky though to be located very close to a cycle track which leads directly into town,approx 4 1/2 miles each way.
The way we see it is the car is costing over 200 a month after tax,fuel and breakdown cover and not being in work that is a lot of money.So on-line shopping at Asda,free delivery from Iceland and a garden centre round the corner that sells veg etc we really dont actually NEED the car.
Wish us luck,after 25 years of driving i'm finally going to attempt to ditch 4 wheels in favour of 2.
Actually really excited about the prospect of using the bikes as every day transport.

I did the same thing 2 years ago, and only returned to using a car this month.
What did I find...

I was a lot less stressed.
Taxi Drivers really are crap.
It is possible to do, no matter what everyone says.
You save a fortune on shopping
It can become limiting on socialising.
The biggest cost is on time.
It's a bit like smoking, all the drivers are itching for you to re start so that they can justify them not giving up in the first place.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

We got to Yorkshire 2 or 3 times a year to visit family and that was one factor that was difficult in deciding to ditch the car but as you've pointed out car hire is'nt too expensive for a weekend so thats what we'll be doing.
Cheers for all your wishes though,for me it is a huge step,i'm so used to jumping in the car to pop to Homebase or to just pop into town purely because the car is there and its convenient,thats probably 80% of using the car,convenience and laziness.For us it is anyway

And that's where you save the real money!

 

[Chris-H]

And that's where you save the real money!

Popped to Sainsbury the other evening (14 mile round trip) for milk and bread and ended up spending 28 quid,would'nt have spent that if i did'nt have the car

 

[diapason]

I'm seriously thinking about getting rid of my car. I live in a small town and usually shop locally - the Co-op is about 200 yards. I use the car for trips into the nearest main town, about 22 miles return. I can bike this, so, really the car is a luxury. Tax runs out in January, so I may make the split then

 

[gary in derby]

Wish I could, but need van for work.

 

[cloggsy]

Well done for having the courage to ditch the car! I'd love to as all it does is eat and drink money, but the wife and kids might moan...

Keep us up to date with how its going; maybe do a blog/vlog?

 

[400bhp]

I sold my car 2 weeks ago. It It feels [strangely?] liberating. I'm a big petrolhead and it was my pride and joy.

However, it has been sat on the drive more and more over the last 18 months. IIRC I had driven 2k miles over the last year and certainly in the last 2-3 months of ownership it was only driven to a mechanics for work to be done on it.It was costing upwards of £2k p.a without the accelerator pedal being lifted and ignoring depreciation.

I found that driving was becoming less enjoyable, more crowded, less free. I'd often wish I had taken the bike.

We still have a car in the family, for one my wife needs it for her work.

Cycled 15 miles this morning down the Trans Pennine Trail with my daughter in a bike seat, to have breakfast with my mum. The freedom the bicycle appears to give is very nice.