Does not owning a car save you money?
Short answer: Yes, about $17,500 over 5 years.
In the summer of 2015, I sold my car — a Subaru Outback, to be specific. My hypothesis was that I wasn’t using it enough to defray its costs and that I’d therefore, save money in the long run by selling it. Now, approximately 18 months later, I wanted to revisit that hypothesis and see the results.
I analyzed my transportation-related expenses in calendar year 2016 and found that I spent about $3,500 on Uber, Lyft, ZipCar, MetroTransit, and NiceRide (Minneapolis’ version of Citi Bike or Divvy). I then calculated Edmonds’ “True Cost of Ownership” for my Subaru:
To summarize, over five years I’d pay about $35,000 in expenses related to my car. By selling it and crowdsourcing my transportation needs to the sharing economy, I’d spend about $17,500. While a consider portion of that is related to depreciation in Year 1 of ownership, that’s still a considerable savings.
Of course going car-less might not work for those not living in urban areas or for those that have a lengthy commute to work, but for me it was the right financial choice. I sometimes miss the convenience of owning a car, but I know my bank account never does.
