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I want too and I'm sick of the money a car can cost. I was in Japan in the service and loved not having a car. If I could live in a area like San Diego that has a very good trolley system I would just have one car.
I think much of this just depends on where you live. For example, here in San Diego it's so spread out and the public transportation system isn't good (if you live in the city) but for those of us that live in the suburbs, I can't imagine not having 2 cars.
I can't see my wife and I ever sharing 1 car here. There are many other places around the country where I could share a car but in those places the public transportation system is much better and things aren't so spread out.
Are you (as a couple) planning on downsizing to a single vehicle when you retire?
Why or why not?
No way. I will continue to maintain a fleet of cheap old drivers, and a couple of collector cars.
I pity people who have to pay someone else for every little thing on a car. If you DIY the holding costs of 2 or 3 fully depreciated cars is very small.
Need to have at least 2 cars so I can drive one while working on the other - not that I spend every weekend in the garage (at least not against my will...I may be in there upgrading something but I generally don't have a car "demanding" maintenance or repair more than a couple times per year)
I'd love to downsize to one car. We drive the other one (an elderly 1987 Accord) so seldom that we have to keep a battery charger on hand for those few times we do need to use it. However, living on a very steep hill, it wouldn't be practical to walk the one mile to and from the gas station whenever the one car needed service. I could manage, but my 72-year-old husband couldn't.
That said, I would gladly trade two cars for two bathrooms!
Actually I would heartily recommend a Battery Tender, the "Plain Jane" model, either put the pigtail on the battery (best for most Japanese where the cig lighter is switched) or get the cig lighter plug for European and Detroit cars. I keep one on every car, the ones I drive most every day and the ones that I seldom drive. It's an automatic trickle charger that keeps the battery full, makes them last a lot longer on cars that don't get driven much.
Does downsizing and cars also mean downsizing the size of the car? Does one shift from a SUV to a sedan?
...................Or....................does one keep the big car with lots of room so when visiting the kids, they can bring lots of stuff with them to push off on them? (ducks)
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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On the contrary, I'll be adding a 3rd. We need my truck for hauling, and towing our travel trailer. We need my wife's Outback for more economical trips around the area, for visiting, appointments, restaurants. Also, she doesn't like to drive the truck. Both are newer, 30,000 and 2,000 miles so we don't need to replace any time soon. Then I want to get another classic muscle car to putter around with, and do some finish restoration work. I have done two before but sold the first before it was done, the second in the recession when I needed cash. I expect to have a lot more time for that and my other hobbies when retired.
After a year of retirement in a new state yes, we sold my car. It didn’t make sense to keep it as my husband and I pretty much do everything together. I just wasn’t driving my car enough to justify the maintenance and insurance. It’s worked out very well for us for now.
We keep the second car, which is 20 years old, because it doesn’t cost that much. DH was driving it 5 miles a day to work before he retired for good. If it ever needs an expensive repair, we’ll let it go. There aren’t many times when we head in different directions at the same time, but once in awhile, we do.
I'd recommend doing a trial period of a few months just driving one car before getting rid of the other to see what the level of inconvenience is. Also, if the second/backup car is an older model (10 years or more older) your insurance will be much less since you can drop your comprehensive insurance and because the value of the car is so much less - might still be worth it in that case, particularly if you're driving fewer miles that can also decrease the cost.
We had two cars for the simple reason my wife could go anywhere she wanted to as long as I did not have to go with her.
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