If you're solo yes, once you're two people it tends to be on par, 3 or more car is cheaper. Every family I know owns a car. The highways are full of cars and trucks.
Other than a few extremely urban areas like NYC, car ownership is basically the same across most of the US. If you can only have 1 car, then you are saving money already compared to most families that require 2 or more cars; just get a larger car that costs the same or less.
Yes, 2 parents would be needed to take all the kids somewhere if you have 2 cars like most. Again, you can always get an older, bigger car at similar cost to a newer car if absolutely necessary. Recent study, for example, shows Chevy Suburban and Tahoe are getting on average 260k miles of service over their lifetime. Pick one up with 100-150k miles with a good service record and professional inspection and load up the family for those local trips that require the whole family.
Road trips are rare. Rent a large car for thise few occasions; renting makes sense for long road trips many times anyway.
It's a fair comparison and one I make often. Example: My friends and I could take public transport 10 miles. It might cost $5 per person. For four people that's $20. $20 might pay for a cab for all four of us.
Same with planes. I could fly or drive from LA to Vegas. Flying is $240 per person friday to sunday. 4 people = $960. 1 car carrying 4 people will be a lot less even if I rent it.
My family's done this drive a couple times for vacations. Much easier / cheaper than flying and renting with all your gear, etc.
In the United States I routinely am in the car for 8-10 hours each way to visit family, but most of my daily driving is short distances. I don't want to own two cars.
I agree with you completely - buy the car you want. What I am hearing from a lot of folks here though is "I bought the car I wanted (for most of my driving) but I'm also saying it's the same or better on long road trips"
US cars are on average idle 23 hours a day. Sharing a car between two means roughly halving the fixed costs of ownership, and the more sharing the more reduction in fixed costs. Additionally running a fleet is cheaper because of economies of scale such as maintenance, insurance, charging/fueling. AAA has an infographic showing the biggest costs being depreciation and insurance: http://publicaffairsresources.aaa.biz/wp-content/uploads/201...
A pool also allows other things, such as pricing based on demand - ie being cheaper outside commute hours, spontaneous pooling (eg for a $5 discount can the car go 2 minutes out of its way to pick someone else up?) and being able to bring the right vehicle for each situation (eg a small efficient two seater for a commute, something larger for a family trip to Ikea etc).
Sure some people will continue to outright own their cars, but for most the pooled economics will be compelling, and companies will be able to instantly adjust pricing and convenience. Or to put this another way, how many thousands of dollars a year cheaper do you think it will take for the majority of car ownership to change to on demand usage?
> way less than the amortized cost of an actual car, but a $5k used vehicle pays for itself after 20 such trips.
First of all, the days of getting a decent car for $5k in the US ended with the pandemic and the supply chain insanity. But even if you could do that, you also need to factor in:
* Gas
* Insurance
* Registration and taxes
* Maintenance
If you don't use a car as part of your commute or regular errands, it's likely cheaper to rent.
Honestly, the best compromise solution is usually to share a single car for a household. Not helpful if you're single, but if you have a partner, then you can usually get by fairly well with just one car and now your individual costs are cut in half.
Another way to balance the trade-offs is to own a car that's smaller and more cost efficient but doesn't cover all your needs. Then rent on the infrequent times when you're traveling, camping, bringing a bunch of kids to a party, hauling lumber, etc. and you need the extra storage or passenger space.
The obvious question is how would those numbers change with a shared car. It's quite possible it could be cheaper for many even with a higher per mile cost.
Well, most of our driving is stop and go, in-town driving. However, it doesn't make much sense to buy a family car if it doesn't work for road trips as well. Especially since it is cost prohibitive to fly for a family of 6 when we can drive for 8-12 hours for a fraction of the cost.
I don't know if it's radical, but having a single car stops being practical as soon as your two kids have to be at different sports tournaments 100 miles apart. Sure in theory you can rent another car when you need it, but in practice it's such a hassle that unless you're short of parking spaces it's easier to own 2 cars.
The auto industry itself; a family will far more easily be able to get by on a single car: "Take Little Joey and Little Suzie to work, drop dad off at the office, go pick mom up at home, then at 3:30, pick the kids up at school, drop Suzie off at soccer practice, and have dad home in time for dinner at 6."
For that matter, shared, scheduled cars on a neighbourhood scale would be pretty great.
I agree once someone doesn't own the car the numbers change. However if you already have a car the additional marginal cost to drive it on a trip is very low.
That is only true if the costs of the return trip is free: it isn't. When the car for the guy who arrives downtown at 7am goes back to the suburbs to get the guy who wants to arrive at 8am it is burning nearly as much fuel as it did getting in, and putting just as much wear on the car. The effect is shared cars are more expensive than just a car per person. (Note, this does not account for cost of parking which is a significant factor)
You can do a fair amount better that that on price with a major rental company, but it still might make sense to use the train if you are solo. But if you are a duo or trio, the train pricing starts to lose big.
Much of my car's wear and tear is from age, so I can discount some amount of that that. Free parking is plentiful in 95% of both cities.
Driving 1 person is already close to the price of a train ticket. Driving 2 people is ~50% discounted. Driving 2 people, and then not having to rent a car/taxi, is something like a ~75% discount.
With a real carbon tax, these numbers would look a lot closer to eachother.
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