Do you REALLY need a car in Boston? (apartment complex, rental)

[miu]

You definitely don't need a car in Boston. Sell yours and use Zipcar. Or rent a space for your Versa outside the city for cheaper parking. Plan your grocery shopping excursions well.

[G-fused]

You don't need one but it's nice to have when you want one. There are plenty of things to do outside of the public transportation area - day trips outside of the metro areas and other States - Maine, NH, etc. Grocery shopping, and many other things.

Sure, you can get Zipcar or competing services but if you already have a car it might be worth keeping it. If you can swing it, I would say to at least keep it for a few months after you arrive and see how much use it's getting and if it's worth keeping. It owuld suck to sell it and then realize you would really like to have your own car.

And if you don't use it often (which you probably won't) there is a website called relayrides.com where you can rent the car out and make some $ to cover insurance and other costs.

Best of luck and welcome

[xS☺B☺s]

The other thing to mention is driving in Boston is hell. It's renowned as one of the worst places to drive. It's even worse to park as you've already found. The street grid is spaghetti. Signage is awful. Stunt driving is applauded. Meter maids are relentless. Parking is bad to impossible and/or expensive. Insurance is 2K. You'll probably be towed twice before you can decipher the parking rules. Courtesy is for pansies.

I'd say ditch the car at first till you get an idea what goes on in the streets of the Hub. Once you see the spectacle, you'll prolly understand why so many Bostonians are car free.

[sharencare]

Look, even if you got residential sticker parking, you can't always keep it in the same spot forever because of street cleaning. I had a friend who was a web contractor and he used his car rarely because he worked from his city apartment. He forgot to move the car for street cleaning, and he didn't even noticed it was towed for three days (the impound cost was $90 tow +$15 per day x 3!) You also have to remember that if you use residential street parking on a major road, you have to move it to a different location during snow emergencies. During the winter, you also have to dig out your car, and you are not allowed to leave a placeholder (e.g. cone or chair) for more than 48 hours.

You also have to remember in the baseball season, mobs of fans will descend upon your Fenway neighborhood. Besides not wanting to hit them (they will spill into the streets before and after a game), these fans will compete with you for parking.

If you really don't want to carry around your groceries, just get Peapod or some grocery delivery service. We just go to the local farmer's market for produce, the local convenience store for milk, and then make one big grocery order every 2-3 months for toiletries and canned/dried goods. We rarely go to the grocery store in the city unless it's the Trader Joe's on Bolyston.

[Bob Lanata]

Miu, thank you for mentioning Zipcar as I have never heard of that. Sounds like a good alternative

[matryoshka4811]

Thanks so much AbrasaxEos! Those are all great points. We certainly don't get the type of weather here in KY as Boston so I hadn't thought about what it would be like to drive there. I'd love to take the extra money from not having a car and use it on other things. Plus, I can drag DH to the grocery with me so I don't carry everything.

[matryoshka4811]

Originally Posted by xS☺Be

The other thing to mention is driving in Boston is hell. It's renowned as one of the worst places to drive. It's even worse to park as you've already found. The street grid is spaghetti. Signage is awful. Stunt driving is applauded. Meter maids are relentless. Parking is bad to impossible and/or expensive. Insurance is 2K. You'll probably be towed twice before you can decipher the parking rules. Courtesy is for pansies.

I'd say ditch the car at first till you get an idea what goes on in the streets of the Hub. Once you see the spectacle, you'll prolly understand why so many Bostonians are car free.

I was wondering how bad driving would be. We got caught in probably the worst bottleneck ever on our way to the airport and I couldn't believe the way people were cutting our cab driver off! He said it was normal but it scared the crap out of me. I've never been in such aggressive driving before. It's a good idea to get rid of the car at first.

[matryoshka4811]

Originally Posted by sharencare

Look, even if you got residential sticker parking, you can't always keep it in the same spot forever because of street cleaning. I had a friend who was a web contractor and he used his car rarely because he worked from his city apartment. He forgot to move the car for street cleaning, and he didn't even noticed it was towed for three days (the impound cost was $90 tow +$15 per day x 3!) You also have to remember that if you use residential street parking on a major road, you have to move it to a different location during snow emergencies. During the winter, you also have to dig out your car, and you are not allowed to leave a placeholder (e.g. cone or chair) for more than 48 hours.

You also have to remember in the baseball season, mobs of fans will descend upon your Fenway neighborhood. Besides not wanting to hit them (they will spill into the streets before and after a game), these fans will compete with you for parking.

If you really don't want to carry around your groceries, just get Peapod or some grocery delivery service. We just go to the local farmer's market for produce, the local convenience store for milk, and then make one big grocery order every 2-3 months for toiletries and canned/dried goods. We rarely go to the grocery store in the city unless it's the Trader Joe's on Bolyston.

Thanks sharencare! I park on the street now but Louisville doesn't care if you don't move your car for months at a time. My battery was dead for six months before I moved it off the street and no one noticed. There are only 2-3 city events when I have to move my car and they happen every year at the same time so it's just routine now. I've never even lived in through a snow emergency! And I've also never been around so many sports fans, minus college but I don't live in a walkable city. I've heard about Peapod (I asked about it on my other Boston post) and I'm really considering using it for the big items that I can't carry home. Where is your farmer's market located? I use a farmer's market here and plus my family, who are farmers that give me stuff for free I'd love to keep doing that there. Thanks again!

[jambo101]

I guess it depends on how much you use the car, if you are living on the green line and use the car just for occasional trips i'd get rid of the car,get a transit pass and once in a while rent a car for whatever you need it for, Owning a car is expensive with gas,repairs,maintenance,insurance,depreciation,if you can get by without one in the long run you'll be miles ahead financially.

[sharencare]

Originally Posted by matryoshka4811

Thanks sharencare! I park on the street now but Louisville doesn't care if you don't move your car for months at a time. My battery was dead for six months before I moved it off the street and no one noticed. There are only 2-3 city events when I have to move my car and they happen every year at the same time so it's just routine now. I've never even lived in through a snow emergency! And I've also never been around so many sports fans, minus college but I don't live in a walkable city. I've heard about Peapod (I asked about it on my other Boston post) and I'm really considering using it for the big items that I can't carry home. Where is your farmer's market located? I use a farmer's market here and plus my family, who are farmers that give me stuff for free I'd love to keep doing that there. Thanks again!

Yeah, Boston is tow-happy. My father-in-law's rental car got towed the day before my wedding (which was located in the suburbs).

Snow emergencies actually are just when we get enough snow accumulation to warrant plowing, which happen maybe a dozen times a year. People who park on big roads have to move their cars so snow plows and emergency vehicles can get through easily.

There's a big farmer's market that happens in Copley (closer to Fenway) and another near South Station in downtown. They sell meat, fish, cheese, pasta, nuts, and vegetables. It can get expensive, so it's better to get a CSA (~$20 for a crate of vegetables). There's also several outdoor markets on different days of the week in various neighborhoods. I would say they run from late May to early November. There's some winter produce markets that move indoors, but I haven't tried those. We basically freeze our vegetables or get winter veggies, and we sometimes go into February without having to go to the supermarket. We save a lot of money this way because we aren't tempted to get the junk food in boxes. But there's only two of us, and we do eat out a few times a week.