Low mileage Give up the car ?

Hetty58 depends on the car I suppose mine is around £180 for insurance car tax cant remember around £190 servicing and Mot around £300 plus fuel I don't do many miles
My husbands is roughly the same although think his car tax is £250
Oh and tyres
Our biggest expense can be with my husbands car if it needs repairs then can be mega bucks due to the make

Ashcombe I’ve just been on your link re. car hire. The trouble is that they don’t give much information about which companies are willing to rent out vehicles to the under99s.
I don’t want to fill out all my details.
Hetty my mum is 240 miles away. Lots of £2.50’s, still I expect I would get a discount for quantity!

We don't have a his and mine car, ours are small and big. Small gets used all the time for short local journeys, is covered in mud and full of dog hair. Big gets used for longer journeys and when we both are out at the same time. We keep our cars for a very long time and tbh they don't cost much and I value my independence. I think once you stop driving regularly it is easy to start losing confidence.

If you’ve got very good public transport and could easily get a taxi if needed, e.g. to a railway station, I don’t see why not.

My mother gave up her car at about 80, having become more nervous in traffic. With what she was saving in insurance, servicing, MOTs, etc., not to mention the sale of the car, she could easily have taken plenty of taxis, but she just wouldn’t - in her head they were still a major extravagance. It was very frustrating!

Witzend, yes, we are creatures of habit - and, generally, more so as we age. I find myself allocating 'categories' to things, so can be extravagant with gifts, yet count the pennies with essentials. Such is old age, for me.

Witzend, my youngest is 100 miles away - that's two and a half hours (London's in the way) by car, about the same by train, with connections. I prefer the train as it's more comfortable. She gets a £10 budget coach to Victoria, rather than drive to us. I'd just be horribly travel sick on a coach, though.

Witzend I work with quite a lot of older ladies ( well I’m getting older too) and when they give up their car and do the sums they are determined to take taxis.
They do it once, discover that the taxi is more expensive than their shopping and never do it again.

We are 4 miles from the nearest shop, bus stop and small supermarket, no footpaths and no public transport until we get there.
The last time I asked the price of a Taxi to the Train Station it was £35 each way and that was some years ago, I dread to think what the cost would be now.
We managed with 1 car when DH retired and was looking for a replacement, I found that he was always out in mine when I wanted to use it, so I’m keeping mine, with it’s very low mileage and we use his (newer) car for long trips.
I’m sure if I worked it all out on a spreadsheet I would find that I should get rid of mine, but I like the flexibility of being able to jump into it as and when I want too.
I think though that if I lived closer to all amenities I would have to think long and hard about justifying keeping it.

There is also the time factor if you do not have good public transport links. I am going to a meeting today in a nearby city takes me around 20mins in the car by public transport you could probably add a hour to that each way at least Miss one bus and there is a thirty min wait at good times and an hour at other times

Do you have accessible public transport?
Will you pay for a taxi if you need one?
Would the considerable savings enhance your life?

The next time you are going somewhere and ready to jump in the car - don't. Leave it at home and find other ways of getting there. Did you enjoy that experience? Could you do that every day? Make sure you do it in the wind and the rain as well !

I gave up my car and never regretted it.

I have always regretted giving up my car, true DH has a car, but he regards it as HIS and not the family car. We have a reasonable bus service, but obviously it has it's off days.
It's not good to compare with what you have driven in the past year - it has included Lockdown, so you haven't possibly been out as 'normal'?

I would do what wildswan suggested.

Lock the car up for a month and us public transport, taxis etc. add up how much it has all cost you and ease of use, especially important in the Winter. Plus of course whether people are wearing masks.

But you must always go out when the thought occurs to you and not think to yourself that as you haven’t got a car you won’t bother, if you stay indoors then you run the risk of not going anywhere, whereas if you had a car you might be out and about most days.
That made more sense in my head than it looks written down!

If you don't have the car, is there someone with a car you can rely on if you need to go somewhere in a hurry/rush?
Will you be able to rely on public transport for getting about?
Will you have shopping delivered, or hire a taxi to get you back with bulky/weekly shopping?
Will it be money best spent elsewhere if you sell it?
Will you sell it or give it to family?
Are family close by?
You have to think of the pro's and cons, before deciding what to do!!

I don’t do much mileage on my 3 year old car , just pop out here and there , but no way would I be without it ,what with winter coming,, imagine having to stand at cold bus stops to go hospital app, dentist , shopping ect ect Also, what if your health fails and end up with limited mobility ? I think having a car is worth it’s weight in gold .

Thank you for all your comments. I realise that the car is more than transport for me,it represents a freedom to get out of the house and explore. I can be a home hermit at times and think I would become worse if I didn't have the car. So although low mileage I have decided to keep it.

My mum and mother in law couldn’t drive. In MILs. Are she was dependent on FIL to take/fetch her. My mum was a widow and was reliant on buses when we were not able to take her anywhere. Being asthmatic she found it difficult and she went out less and less. I learned to drive as soon as I could as I never wanted to be isolated, dependant on public transport and reliant on others for lifts and goodwill. I still feel the same all these years later and will keep driving for as long as I can.

Sorry that should have read in MIL’s case

I’m low mileage and still working but on,y work five minutes down the road but I’d miss my car I really would. Use it for work shopping and seeing the kids enough for me.

Calendargirl

^I only seem to drive a few thousand miles a year^

We’ve had our (secondhand) car for 8 years now, the mileage is only 29000.

We don’t go out much, but public transport is poor round us.

I’ve had mine since 2012 and done 45000!

If there’s one other car in the household you can do without yours. On my own I would not like to be without mine, for appointments, shopping, don’t want to carry it on buses, don’t want some one else choosing my food and delivering it, I like doing that. So for me it a big no. I Aksu visit places not on my local bus route, don’t want taxis and public transport.

I find my husband's car (Range Rover) is just too big and intimidating for me and mine (Porsche 911) wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as his for longer trips. And there's nothing we both like. Stalemate.