Long-time lurker on this sub. I recently pulled the trigger and decided to become car free. I've lived in a very bike friendly city for the past 5+ years, but always had some excuse why I should keep the car even though work provides a free bus pass. Recently I've been going through the yearly cost of the car though and realized just how much more I could save per year, and decided to sell it. I see a lot of posts here about the amount of money people spend on and maintaining vehicles, so maybe this will be interesting to some.
I bought the car brand new in 2012 for $24,000 (yea, not my smartest decision) and recently sold it for $11,000 with 49,000 miles on it. Here's the cost breakdown over those 5 years.
Depreciation: $13,000ouch
Insurance: ~$83/month X 63 months = ~$5,250
Maintenance: $1,075 (Car included 2 years free maintenance, but had to buy new tires 2 years ago)
Fuel: 49,000 miles X ~$3/gallon / (48 miles/gallon) = ~$3,000
License/Registration: ~$1,100
Total cost: $23,425
Cents/mile: $23,425/49,000miles = ~48 cents/mile (this is surprisingly close to the government estimate of 50 cents/mile, even for a hybrid)
Cost/year: $23,425/5 = $4,685
By no longer owning a car, I am saving roughly $3,000-$4,000/year assuming I rent a car for trips or take Uber/Lyft occasionally. In hindsight, I should have originally purchased a much cheaper used vehicle. Overall, selling the car has removed a burden from my finances and should help me stay in shape by biking everywhere.
Submitted September 03, 2017 at 12:51PM by NineQuarts http://ift.tt/2xHM57N
