One or Two Vehicle Household?

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MooCowSteph

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My husband and I were having a discussion (bordering on an argument :rolleyes: ) about whether we need to have two cars in the family. He actually has three cars, but they are all collector cars, at least to an extent, so he tries not to drive them very often. I have one car that I plan to sell relatively soon in order to buy something larger and more family friendly. I think this one vehicle would serve quite well for the both of us since I’m soon to become a SAHM and my hubby works from home. He says we each need to have a vehicle. I was hoping to get some insights from other one-car households. Should we consider it? Did you have one car and hate it? I just think it would be an easy way to save some money and would cause very little inconvenience. Thoughts?

(my hubby is on these boards everyday, so hopefully he’ll stop in and give us his side.)
 
As you know, we are a reversed family, dad stays home. I work 60 miles away from the house, and there is no public transportation where we live – so, two cars are required for us.

Since you both are at home, that would make one car do-able (especially when you are not dealing with kid “activities” yet).

One thing to mull over, all cars break down – when the one car is in the shop for a week, will you have access to public transportation or a rental vehicle? Be sure to carry a comprehensive roadside assistance plan– where if you run out of gas or you have a flat or lock the keys in the car or the car breaks down beside the highway – they will dispatch someone to help you.

When the kids are older, and you have to run this one to a youth group activity and that one to soccer practice, while still getting groceries and taking the dog to the vet – well, two cars come in very handy then.

My real opinion, what ever your side of the discussion is. Yeah, I’m with you 👍
 
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MooCowSteph:
My husband and I were having a discussion (bordering on an argument :rolleyes: ) about whether we need to have two cars in the family. He actually has three cars, but they are all collector cars, at least to an extent, so he tries not to drive them very often. I have one car that I plan to sell relatively soon in order to buy something larger and more family friendly. I think this one vehicle would serve quite well for the both of us since I’m soon to become a SAHM and my hubby works from home. He says we each need to have a vehicle. I was hoping to get some insights from other one-car households. Should we consider it? Did you have one car and hate it? I just think it would be an easy way to save some money and would cause very little inconvenience. Thoughts?

(my hubby is on these boards everyday, so hopefully he’ll stop in and give us his side.)
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Freedom comes when you have 2 vehicles, for sure. If both parents work or even if one has to chauffer kids to activities, it’s really helpful to know you have a car available. When our kids were in school, we found we needed 2 vehicles for that reason, even before I was working.

Now, 2 of my older kids have their own vehicles and that’s really helpful, since they often pick up their little sister and drive her to her activities when I am out on a call.
 
My husband and I used to live in Houston, where we owned two cars…an absolute necessity, both in that city and because of our jobs. We recently moved to metro DC, and after not using a car for a month, and paying exhorbitant parking fees, we sold both cars. We are happily car-free, and able to walk everywhere here or take the metro.

Eventually, we’ll be moving back to Houston, where we plan to raise our family…I assume two cars will be necessary, since my husband won’t be working from home.
 
since there is not public transportation here, except for seniors and the disabled, cars are a necessity as we live several miles outside the city. I have pick-up which I bought primarily to serve ministry needs, it is used at least once a week to transport commodities and other supplies, and parish no longer allows us to use their truck to cross the border. I also got it to replace a small car after our pastor was killed on our permanently-under-construction freeway driving a small car. I make the trip back and forth twice a day and a small car is simply not safe.

DD has a suburban because he transports his work equipment and needs it, also carries 5-6 passengers several times a week to locations without good roads. both cars had mileage on when we bought them, but we take care of them and hope they last a long time. Suburban has over 300M miles and is going strong, but it shakes and rattles in odd places. Dodge P/U is approaching 70M miles just got brakes and tires and front end work done.
 
We have one big SUV and that is all we need (for now). I personally pref. to only have one car at this point. We can use all the money we save for house improvements, investments, trips, children, etc. I mean, sure you could buy another car if you have the extra money, but if you don’t really need it, then there are so many other neat things to do with the extra money. I guess it really depends on what your family needs are. In our situation we do very well with one car although we do have family near by and my husband’s job (which is away from home) does allow for me to usually keep the car all day while he is at work. In the weekends if we go out, we go out together anyways, plus its nice to always have to drive together. There are compromises here and there, but I find the benefits waaay outweigh the drawbacks for us. I must add though that if they keep advertising the new Magnum so much, my husband may turn us into a 2 car household. But even if he does, there will be on car sitting in the driveway most of the time. (BTW, thats another benefit, we have a 2 car garage with only space for one car cause my husband has his little lawn mower tractor in there and we are also storing a few boxes in the garage, so if we had a second car we would have to leave it outside).
 
It seems to me that if there is genuine concern over finances, then the problem isn’t about the 2 cars you drive - it’s the 3 cars you don’t drive.
That said, 1 car is just fine for us. If I want the van, all I have to do is drive dh to/from work on those days. It actually keeps me from over-scheduling me and the kids (a huge problem in many households these days!) and does save us a good deal of money and road time. We have a reliable van that we keep maintained and since we don’t have so many pmts and gas expenses - the occassional fix (brakes or new tires) isn’t as hard to do.
The hardest thing you will have to adjust to is a schedule to get things done when you do have the car. I set up 2 days during the work week to have the van for kids activities and errands. We do household shopping on the weekends or after work hours.
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MooCowSteph:
My husband and I were having a discussion (bordering on an argument :rolleyes: ) about whether we need to have two cars in the family. He actually has three cars, but they are all collector cars, at least to an extent, so he tries not to drive them very often. I have one car that I plan to sell relatively soon in order to buy something larger and more family friendly. I think this one vehicle would serve quite well for the both of us since I’m soon to become a SAHM and my hubby works from home. He says we each need to have a vehicle. I was hoping to get some insights from other one-car households. Should we consider it? Did you have one car and hate it? I just think it would be an easy way to save some money and would cause very little inconvenience. Thoughts?

(my hubby is on these boards everyday, so hopefully he’ll stop in and give us his side.)
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Rob’s Wife said:
It seems to me that if there is genuine concern over finances, then the problem isn’t about the 2 cars you drive - it’s the 3 cars you don’t drive.
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My desire to be a one car household does stem partly from his already having three cars, but it really isn’t so much a concern that we can’t afford two cars but that the money could be better spent on other things like our retirement accouts, college funds or a new kitchen. Hubby’s cars are here to stay. I just look at them as life insurance policies, but I’ll probably just have a son who will refuse to let me sell them. :rolleyes:
Rob's Wife:
That said, 1 car is just fine for us. If I want the van, all I have to do is drive dh to/from work on those days. It actually keeps me from over-scheduling me and the kids (a huge problem in many households these days!) and does save us a good deal of money and road time. We have a reliable van that we keep maintained and since we don’t have so many pmts and gas expenses - the occassional fix (brakes or new tires) isn’t as hard to do.

The hardest thing you will have to adjust to is a schedule to get things done when you do have the car. I set up 2 days during the work week to have the van for kids activities and errands. We do household shopping on the weekends or after work hours.

I think it could easily work for us, but I’m just not sure I can win over DH. He’s also concerned about the car breaking down, a flat tire, etc., and not being able to help me, but that’s what AAA is for. Neither of us would ever be without a car for very long since we’ll both be home most of the time. Public transportion isn’t too good in our area, so that’s not really an alternative for us. It’s OK, but not great.
 
We have one car because that’s what we can afford and all we need. I take 2 children to school, dh to work and then have the car if needed for me and the other 3 children. We’re going to have to upgrade to an “evil” 😛 SUV, because 7 passenger vans don’t really hold 7 passengers very well, esp those in car/booster seats! We are cramped to say the least. Who would have thought an automobile would limit our family size? LOL
Jennifer
 
Steph,

We have one car. Money is very tight for us, and we make it a point not to drive unless it is necessary. We live in the country, though, so to go anywhere it is necessary to drive.

I get the car one day every two weeks to go grocery shopping and run errands. If I have to take our son to the doctors or go to a midwife’s appointment, I can have the car those days, too. When I need the car I just drive my DH to and from work and try to run my errands around those times to save myself from a third trip into town. The costs of having a second car would be way too much for us. Between insurance, gas, and car payments it would be impossible. Not to mention it would mostly just sit in the driveway because I would not just drive it into town on a whim.

I think most families could get along just fine on one car, especially if one of the parents is a stay at home.
 
Of course, you do not have to have car payments on a second car. We bought our second car, a Jeep Cherokee, for $2000 cash. In this part of the country, you can find good used cars at good prices.

We have never purchased a new car, and the longest pay off for a used car was 18 months.
 
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kristacecilia:
Steph,

We have one car. Money is very tight for us, and we make it a point not to drive unless it is necessary. We live in the country, though, so to go anywhere it is necessary to drive.

I get the car one day every two weeks to go grocery shopping and run errands. If I have to take our son to the doctors or go to a midwife’s appointment, I can have the car those days, too. When I need the car I just drive my DH to and from work and try to run my errands around those times to save myself from a third trip into town. The costs of having a second car would be way too much for us. Between insurance, gas, and car payments it would be impossible. Not to mention it would mostly just sit in the driveway because I would not just drive it into town on a whim.

I think most families could get along just fine on one car, especially if one of the parents is a stay at home.
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Well I am a parent that stays at home our family does have two cars…one car would not work.
My husband works in the food service business…hence his hours are very erratic not the typical 9-5 monday to friday type of job.
It is not feasible for me to drive him to work as that would mean the kids would be left home alone or I would have to wake the kids up to go pick up my husband (an example leaving the house at 2 or 3 AM to pick him upso he can come home)…it is also not feasible for him to take mass transportation…not frequent enough or reliable enough.
But I am glad to hear that there are families that can make this work. I would be interested to know if the families that have one car does your husband work a typical 9-5 monday to friday job?
 
I work 75 miles away … and I sure wish there was decent mass transit for me to use because I hate driving in commuter traffic.

BUT since there is not I drive my little PT Cruiser every day and Mom has her old Caddy to use to do shopping and shuttle kids around to needed appointments, practices etc.

I really look forward to retirement from this job and looking for a job close to home…I dream of being able to take a bus to work.
Less gas bills, less insurance bills…awwww:)
 
We have two vehicles right now, a smaller car which my husband drives to work and our 7 passenger minivan.

It takes my husband an average of 60 minutes to get to and from work (35 if no traffic) which is actually pretty good for Southern California. He’s lucky that he is only about 1/2 mile from the metrolink station so he can take the train some days. In those cases he either drives the 3 miles to the station near us or I drop him off before 7:00am. He likes to have his car at work though, because he often runs personal or business errands at lunch time.

I drop my oldest daughter off at the carpool pickup spot every morning at 7:15 (about 2 miles from home) unless it’s my day to drive. The high school is about a 20 minute drive plus the 10 or so minutes it takes to get through the parking lot to the drop off spot. Then I take daughter number 2 to school about 8:15. My son will be starting community college in the spring. That’s about a 30 minute drive and he doesn’t have his own car yet…

I work part time from home so I don’t need my van for that, thank goodness. In the afternoon/early evening I shuffle daughter number 1 to swim practice (about 3 miles away from home) and daughter number 2 to whatever sport she is currently involved with.

While there technically is public transportation where we live it either only opperates between the hours of 9:00pm to 4:00pm (which is of no value to my children) or it requires making connections with 30-40 minute waits in between.

When my son was in 1st grade there was a time when we only had one car for a while. I can remember trying to take my son to school. It was only about 3/4 of a mile away but my then 4 year old daughter didn’t like to walk and my 2 year old daughter was wanting to get in and out of the stroller every 3 minutes or so. That 3/4 of a mile seemed like it took hours. I was VERY happy when an associate of my husband offered to sell us his old minivan. It looked absolutely horrible on the outside but it got us around town.
 
Two vehicle household here. With DH and I working in different directions and where we live the bus service is every half hour. Makes it essential.
 
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kage_ar:
Of course, you do not have to have car payments on a second car. We bought our second car, a Jeep Cherokee, for $2000 cash. In this part of the country, you can find good used cars at good prices.

We have never purchased a new car, and the longest pay off for a used car was 18 months.
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HHhmmmm, I just don’t know if we’d find something reliable for that price. If we could, I sure would go for it. I was thinking we’d spend closer to $8,000 on an additional vehicle. Maybe I’ll have to look and see what’s out there. We’re going to get something newish when I buy mine (I want a Durango with less than 40,000 miles) but I’ll drive it till it dies. My husband would be happy with a variety of second vehicles, but he was thinking about just keeping my Neon, which I bought new (I know…waste of money. I just had to have one new vehicle that I picked out all on my own.)
 
We are a three vehicle household, but my wife and I use only one. Our divorced daughter and mother of two drives one of the other two vehicles which we own, but she is making the payments. Her husband left her with a ton of debts and she had to declare bankruptcy. Our single son also lives with us. He drives some distance from home to work and attends law school at night. He has his own vehicle. It would be nice to have another, but we don’t have the money or the space.
 
For the daily drivers, my wife has the nice, well kept smallish SUV and I have a total piece of junk. Hers stays inside, is used ever so lightly and mine is the workhorse and gets most of the miles and all of the hard, hard abuse.

I can’t complain about my car being a real pile, because I (wehttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon12.gif) also have an antique airplane and convertible. She has never complained or asked me to sell either one and really appreciate that. I had them before I was married and if my kids want them, they can have 'em, but I’ll have to die first.

MooCowSteph, you’re a real trooper for being cool about the old cars. I don’t know why us guys get so attached to a hunk of metal, but for some reason we like to have 'em around. Just look at them as a retirement account that you have to house, buy insurance, tags, parts and batteries for. Oh, lets not forget the spare parts we have to accumulate and store to go with them. Yep, antique cars and airplanes sure are a good investment.:rolleyes:
 
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cargopilot:
MooCowSteph, you’re a real trooper for being cool about the old cars. I don’t know why us guys get so attached to a hunk of metal, but for some reason we like to have 'em around. Just look at them as a retirement account that you have to house, buy insurance, tags, parts and batteries for. Oh, lets not forget the spare parts we have to accumulate and store to go with them. Yep, antique cars and airplanes sure are a good investment.:rolleyes:
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:rotfl: That’s pretty much the view I’ve taken. I knew when I met my husband it was a “love me, love my cars” senario. 😉 The spare parts thing can get out of hand, especially according to my FIL. They all get stored at his house since we don’t have a garage or shed. But on the upside, when something goes wrong he almost always has a part handy.
 
But I am glad to hear that there are families that can make this work. I would be interested to know if the families that have one car does your husband work a typical 9-5 monday to friday job?
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**Nope. No public transport either. My schedule is pretty well made, which makes it easier for dh to plan around it as best he can - if he can. I don’t bother with trying to get the car more than 2 or 3 times a week. If that means a late night trip to get dh, then I load up the kids and that’s what we do. If it means getting up at the crack of dawn, then I do that too. We’ve done this for many years and once you’re used to it, it’s really not that big a deal. **
**Steph - **
**Hmmm, I’ve got nothing against your dh’s cars, assuming the family can afford them. From a finance perspective, it doesn’t make since for you both to make this sacrifice when those cars (or at least 1 or 2 or them) are there to sacrifice instead. You’re a better wife than many if you didn’t get a bit resentfull about that I think. **
Some men have a natural desire to retain some … oh private ownership?.. issues with regards to having their own car. Something about being able throw their trash about and have the auto-dial on their own stations that makes them feel a bit more manly I think.😉 Whereas, it seems us ladies just view it as an extension of the house.
Maybe your dh would be okay with only driving his special cars on the days when you need the “family” car to make things a bit easier for everyone.
 
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