Car or no car in Arlington? (Reston, Merrifield: insurance, home, wedding)

[bfrank2]

We currently have 2 cars and live in Florida. We will be relocating to the DC area in the next few months. We are looking into the Arlington area. We wouldn't move with both cars, only one. I have heard many say you don't need a car in the DC metro area. I have never used public transportation and couldn't imagine not having a car, but I realize it is a completely different environment up there. Do you have a car? When do you use the car? I have heard that registering a car in Arlington can be a hassle. I am trying to figure out if a car payment, insurance, and parking are going to be worth it or if I should just sell both.

[bmwguydc]

Even if you live right on top of a Metro station and work at the other end, it's very difficult to be car-free in Arlington when you're used to being a two-car family. I would say to bring one car with you, though, admittedly, I am not a person who could easily be car-free. Some may do it, but there are huge hassles when you want to go to a particular store that's not immediately on the Metro (and I mean rail, not bus, as the bus could take two hours to make a 20 minute drive).

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by bmwguydc

Even if you live right on top of a Metro station and work at the other end, it's very difficult to be car-free in Arlington when you're used to being a two-car family. I would say to bring one car with you, though, admittedly, I am not a person who could easily be car-free. Some may do it, but there are huge hassles when you want to go to a particular store that's not immediately on the Metro (and I mean rail, not bus, as the bus could take two hours to make a 20 minute drive).

I agree. There are parts of Arlington that are nowhere near Metro, and nowhere within walking distance of stores. You also never know where your job may take you - my office went from Merrifield to Reston to Merrifield to Ashburn within four years with one company. Even most of my friends living in the District have a car; the one who doesn't uses Zipcar to run errands in the suburbs.

[normie]

FWIW, I did the same thing years ago. Having just one car in a household is tricky, but doable (even way out in Loudoun County, where I live). Of course, you'll want to find a place as close to a bus line/train station as possible, and have a grocery store and other shops within walking distance.

Having said that, it's doable but it's soooooo much better to have both cars, especially if you're accustomed to living in a 2-car family. I'll never forget the horrible day my cat got hurt and I had to carry her in a cardboard box to the vet, about a half mile away. If only I'd had the car that day. It's so much easier and better to have a car, if it's possible.

[weezycom]

I agree that if, as a couple, you both work near a Metro stop and live close by, then selling one car makes sense. You can also get a Zipcar subscription for those times when you may need two cars but don't want/need the hassle of keeping a second vehicle fulltime. If work/home for both of you is inconvenient to Metro, then you'll probably want to keep both cars.

However, if taking Metro is a reasonable choice, and if one of the cars you currently own is something you were considering selling/trading in the next 12-18 months, go ahead and get rid of that one and bank the money in case you reconsider and want to go back to being a 2-car family.

[slim04]

The biggest hassle from living without a car beside commuting is grocery shopping. If you don't live within a couple of blocks of one, it's just a real pain without a car (you can forget Costco).

Otherwise, you have to eat out a lot or get used to going to the grocery store frequently with just a couple of small bags.

[normie]

Originally Posted by cdmurphy

You also never know where your job may take you - my office went from Merrifield to Reston to Merrifield to Ashburn within four years with one company.

A very good point. This seems to happen to a lot of people these days.

[crashEHC]

It would depend where in Arlington you end up living and working, but I'd suggest keeping 1 car at a minimum. My wife and I had two cars before we moved up here. We had to sell one in order to pay for our wedding and haven't really missed the second car since. You would want one car for grocery shopping and any out-of-town trips you two would want to take.

I don't know you if you have kids, but keeping two cars might be worth it if you do.

Registering your car is a hassle. Apart from the DMV, you'll need to get an appropriate parking permit AND city sticker. When we moved we knew about the parking permit, but not about the city sticker. It didn't mention we needed a city sticker on the parking permit section of the city website. Had to get a $50 ticket to find that out. The wife was not pleased.

[claremarie]

The metro DC area is not like New York, where many people find that having a car is far more trouble than it's worth. Metro doesn't go everywhere, even in Arlington. Most of northern Virginia is built around cars rather than pedestrians.

Unless both your home and workplaces will always be within easy reach of a Metro station (and you don't mind waiting around for buses in bad weather if it's not walking distance), at least one of you will need a car for commuting. Ditto if you may have to work non-standard hours, travel to visit clients or other worksites, or need to schlepp lots of stuff to and from the office.

And unless you can arrange your evening and weekend activities so that only one of you needs the car at any given moment, you may need the second car then, although zipcar is an option if you live in the more urban parts of Arlington. If you have kids, forget about ditching the second car unless you really cannot afford it.

[Alicia Bradley]

Ya know, some of us don't even drive - so, yeah, it's entirely possible to live car-free in NoVA (especially as a single). Not particularly pleasant, the way it might be in, say, NYC, Chicago, or one of our nation's many wonderful mid-sized college towns, but possible. If you are going to take the plunge (and central Arlington would possibly be the best place in NoVA to do it), you must become one with your bicycle. Oh, and (grocery!!!, plus the normal kind) panniers are your bestest, bestest friends:

(commuter bike avec grocery panniers, from chicagobikeblog.com)

(And I just had to include these grocery panniers because the model is called "the Omaha." Big 'O' FTW. Ok, now I'm officially an intarnetz d00d(ette). )



Oh, and I'd also like to nominate "schlep(p)" as the official word of the City-Data Northern Virginia sub-forum.