Tell me how much we will hate having 1 car, in a two person household?

We've been kicking this around for awhile. I work from home 2 days per week and my girlfriend is trying to get a work from home job while she finishes up school. The 135i has only done about 2600 miles since I brought it home almost 7 months ago. And roughly 700 of that is a few trips to Tulsa and back recently. 

Obviously the point of this would be to reduce expenses to help speed up paying off my leftover Credit Card debt from my divorce/layoffs/moves the last few years (of which I just took out a personal loan to consolidate it all at a much lower interest than I was paying on the cards). She doesn't want me to get rid of the 135i because she loves it and I occasionally tell her to take it work now that she's comfortable driving it. But the reality is, if we were going to keep one car, it makes no sense to keep the one that can't the fit dogs and is horrifically more expensive to maintain.

So in my mind we have two options:

1. I sell the 135i privately, we keep her 2015 Honda Fit she's had for almost a year, and then take all the money I was using for paying on the BMW/Insurance/etc, plow that into her car and pay off ASAP. 

2. We take both cars and trade them in on either a lightly used CUV like a Mazda CX-3 or Subaru Crosstrek.

So from a purely financial POV, #1 is the clear winner.

#2 would end up costing more, but we would both like to share a car that is a bit nicer than her base model, no options Honda Fit. One thing in particular is the car having a nice stereo. 

Any ideas on other options we aren't considering?

We did it for quite a while. When we lived close to public transit (meaning 1/4 mile from the rapid-transit rail, 1/2 block to the bus stop, uber in 3 minutes, and a 10 minute walk to the normal commuter rail) it was no problem whatsoever. Then we did it for 2 months in the suburbs--I was walking or riding my bike to the commuter train. It was fine 70% of the time. Now I have to drive to work, so does she. I'm struggling with the thought of going down to two vehicles. 

Personally, if I have the space, I want at least 1 vehicle per driver. In your situation I'd probably sell both cars, get a CX3/5/RAV4/Whatever, and get an E30/Miata/E36/Camarostang/whatever your particular brand of fun is. 

YMMV, and I certainly don't think you can make a bad decision here, but I'd not want to be down to 1 car again if I didn't live walking distance from a grocery store. 

Seems like a PHEV would probably be ideal for the limited range that you typically drive, while still giving you the option to take longer trips without range anxiety. Thanks to the wonders of depreciation, low mile Ford Energi PHEVs (Fusion/CMAX) are probably around the same cost as her Fit (mid teens) and come nicely appointed.

You might be able to work out an even trade with the Fit, and then sell the BMW to plow the proceeds into whatever remaining debt has the highest interest rate.

I get antsy when we get down to three running cars in a two person household. I don't want to think about the stress of only having one car with two people. That being said, my wife and I both have to drive to work in opposite directions.

I like mtn's suggestion of a practical car and a fun car. 

STM317 said:

Seems like a PHEV would probably be ideal for the limited range that you typically drive, while still giving you the option to take longer trips without range anxiety. Thanks to the wonders of depreciation, low mile Ford Energi PHEVs (Fusion/CMAX) are probably around the same cost as her Fit (mid teens) and come nicely appointed.

You might be able to work out an even trade with the Fit, and then sell the BMW to plow the proceeds into whatever remaining debt has the highest interest rate.

 

Driving that little, the PHEV loses basically all of its appeal. Hell, I'd say you have every excuse to go the other direction and get a Bronco or something horribly inefficient when it comes to gas.

In reply to mtn :

If he had said that he wanted the cheapest vehicle possible, then spending a premium for a PHEV over a gas guzzler might not make sense. But all else being equal (and the PHEV Fords seem to be priced pretty equally to their gas powered stablemates) I see no reason to not choose the more efficient option. I know you can do math, but just to illustrate:

Z31 is on pace for about 4400 miles/year. If LadyZ31 begins driving it as well, that might double. Say 9000/year.

If a Bronco averages 15mpg (Pretty optimistic), that's 600 gallons of fuel/year. If fuel is $3/gal that's $1800 annually.

If the Fit gets 30mpg average (mostly city driving) that's 300 gallons and $900 annually.

If a PHEV gets 60mpg (easily achievable) because it spends most of it's time in full electric, that's 150 gallons and $450 annually. If most trips are under 25 miles, he could be doing them in full electric, and that average mpg number goes WAY up.

I spent 3 years when the family car (2 adults and 2 kids) was a Kawasaki 250 dirt bike. Yes, all 4 of us would ride it at the same time. I miss those days. 

We also spent a few years with no car at all- just a bicycle. 

Its a lifestyle question- definitely not a financial one. On my case, it promoted patience, and life was very stress free. 

It would be hard in Suburbia.

I say try it. The worst case scenario is you can buy another car. 

In reply to z31maniac :

Try parking 1 car for a month and see what you think. 

STM317 said:

In reply to mtn :

If he had said that he wanted the cheapest vehicle possible, then spending a premium for a PHEV over a gas guzzler might not make sense. But all else being equal (and the PHEV Fords seem to be priced pretty equally to their gas powered stablemates) I see no reason to not choose the more efficient option.

Most of the lightly-used Ford hybrids are very competitively priced for what you get.  DD#1 bought a 2013 C-Max SEL, a loaded creampuff with around 60k on it, for $13,000.

we have been a 2-driver / 2-car family for about 9 months.   i friggin' hate it.  wife's van got crashed 10 days ago (still driveable), so we've been a 1-car family for 6 days.   i hate this even more.   MURRICA dictates minimum 1.5 cars per licensed driver.   I will do my best to be sure we're never in this position again.

AngryCorvair said:

we have been a 2-driver / 2-car family for about 9 months.   i friggin' hate it.  wife's van got crashed 10 days ago (still driveable), so we've been a 1-car family for 6 days.   i hate this even more.   MURRICA dictates minimum 1.5 cars per licensed driver.   I will do my best to be sure we're never in this position again.

But how big is the family? 1 car per driver is much easier without kids. 

Z31, you'll probably be fine with 1 car. In an emergency you can always uber/taxi/rent. I think that the one thing that may really drive you nuts is not having a fun car.

mtn said:

 

Z31, you'll probably be fine with 1 car. In an emergency you can always uber/taxi/rent. I think that the one thing that may really drive you nuts is not having a fun car.

I lived this way for about 7 years and biked to work.  There are going to be situations where you are just going to need two cars, but renting every once in a while isn't terrible.  It took some planning, and willingness to suck it up and ride through inclement weather that most recreational cyclists would not do, but we made it work. In the end, what made us get the second car was the fact that I work much closer to my daughter's school than my wife, and it just made sense for me to be able to get her if something happened at school.  I still ride to work as often as I can, so sometimes my car sits for a week or two at a time.

Not having the fun car did drive me kind of nuts, so when we did finally get a second car I made sure to get myself something fun with 4 seats.

Before we had kids we did the single car for about 5 months while I was selling off a bunch of projects in various states of running. It worked for us because we live in a small town I can get pretty much anywere with a bicycle and enjoy riding. So without kids it's worth attempting as long as you don't have mechanical issues often. Right now we own 3 vehicles but only 2 are true daily drivers and it makes me nervous.

I think how much you'll hate it depends largely on how picky you are about cars and how territorial you each are.  I hate it when my wife drives my truck.  Stuff is never put back where I want it and she's always leaving stuff in it.  She hates driving my truck because it's hard to park and she needs to worry about putting things back where I like them and making sure she gets all of her stuff out of it.  I hate driving her car because her stuff is cluttering it up.  I used to really hate driving her car because 2nd gen. Ford Tauruses are soul suckingly boring vehicles.  I like the S60 better because it actually drive nicely.

Having said (or typed) all of that if we had to in order to keep our finances in line we could come up with compromises and share a vehicle.

Why not sell the 135, keep the fit, and get something cheap and efficient to drive?  I don't see how your only option is to go down to one car only.  there is a lot of room between payments, insurance, and maintenance on the 135, and nothing. 

Do #1 for a year or so to make sure its a valid option before you do #2.  I think a lot depends on how car-centric your lifestyle & location is.

I barely see mention of motorcycle. That's not a car, and smaller ones get stupid gas mileage. 

But I'm biased.

We’re currently at 6 (4 drivers and two projects) for 2 adult and two kid drivers.  

I like having spares and when you have a CHEAP car fleet some of them might not be the most reliable, but there is a spare if something has an issue.  Although the oldest and crappiest of the fleet (‘98 Altima with over 208K on the clock) runs like an absolute top and is our go-to loaner and back up car.  Vague acquaintance or close family member need a car for whatever reason?  Here’s the keys, bring it back full of gas and with a bottle of bourbon on the passenger seat.  A day or a month, it doesn’t matter and the beast only cost me $1,000 over two years ago.  Hard to get transportation for much less than that.

If I lived in an urban environment, could ride bicycle to work without breaking a sweat, and could get groceries within walking or bicycle distance, then yes. My Escort sat parked for quite a few weeks when I lived in Erie, during the summer, at least. This was because my wife could either drop me off at work and drive around the corner to her office, or I could ride up to her office and borrow the car during the day if necessary.  During the winter? Efff that. 

Otherwise, no. I'd sooner have an appliance car sitting around for occasional use than be without two vehicles. 

Oh I forgot to mention, this would only be temporary until all debt but the mortgage is gone and savings recovered. 

At such a point, she will keep driving the Fit (or if we trade it in). Then depending on what the current living/work situation is, I'll get something else that agrees with what I want to spend. 

Appleseed said:

I barely see mention of motorcycle. That's not a car, and smaller ones get stupid gas mileage. 

But I'm biased.

I doubt I'll ever own a motorcycle again, the only thing I'd be interested in would be a Ducati, and sportbikes are boring commuters if you have to just do surface streets. 

We did it for 5 years.  Wife had a 50 mile round trip commute and mine was 30 miles.  But we car pooled and only drove one day a week each.  All of the car pool members were local so we met the car pool in front of the house.  

It worked fine because if we needed to go separately I could always ride one of the motorcycles I had.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

We are  4 car 2 driver family.  One is my TR250 and the mrs won't drive it.  So, when her MINI got hit ( Minor hit and run we thought ) and was in the shop for 60 freaking days before they got it right, she was driving my 2003 Jetta and I was driving the 4WD Suburban tow vehicle.  It worked out OK but I can not imagine only having 1 car.  We are both retired and do not HAVE to really go anywhere but we do LIKE to go our separate ways.

I dont like only having two cars in a two person household. That being said, if you're really good at juggling schedules, it's not that hard. You learn to budget car time wisely, and waste less time on frivolous E36 M3 like victory slurpees. 

I would ditch the 135 and keep the fit.. take money from selling the 135 to get a nicely kept E36 or E46. Both would have less maintenance requirements than the newer Bimmer but should give you the same thrills per mile.