Do you Need A Car? If you look down your driveway to see a ramshackle pile of junk on four wheels, you might think that it’s time to trade up. Going to car dealerships to select a new vehicle can be a pleasurable experience for some, while it can be excruciating for others.
Because not everyone is a natural-born petrolhead, finding a new set of wheels may take some willpower.
This is why you need to consider whether you actually need a car. If you’ve done without one for a few weeks anyway because your current motor isn’t roadworthy, what’s to say that you can’t make do without one full time?
Take a look at whether you actually need a new car in your life or whether you can do without.
Commuting
If the main reason why you have a car is to commute, you might like to think of other ways to travel to suit your lifestyle. A car isn’t the be-all and end-all of the travel in the Western world. When you live in a civilized society, public transportation has become a great and reliable way to get around.
You could check out the local train station timetable and determine whether this offers a feasible route to get to work. With luck, you’ll be able to purchase a season ticket and use a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation to work.
Being greener, you can exude your eco-friendly credentials by using public transport.
Sharing A Car
If you don’t fancy owning a car, why not share one. There are lots of schemes now where people can club together to purchase a car, and share the running costs equally.
If your pal lives close by, but you both don’t need a car full-time, you can halve the costs and ownership of one. Buying together can be trickier than buying alone as you must fulfil two different requirements.
However, you should be able to locate a reliable, safe and economical used car that suits you both. When deciding how to divide ownership, you could split it evenly at three and a half days a week each to keep things simple. Or perhaps a week at a time so weekends are included.
Hire When Needed
Rather than having to make do with an older motor on the driveway, you could consider car hire deals in your locality.
If you only drive once in a blue moon to visit family, hiring a car instead can be a much more economical way of travelling.
Another perk is that you are paying for insurance every time you hire so you never have to pay out for this separately. There are no running costs apart from fuel and you won’t have to worry about maintenance. Once your journey is done, you simply hand over the keys to the car.
Society drills into us that we need a car. However, if you live in the city, don’t travel long distances, and have no inclination to go anywhere remote, you could save money by using public transport, car-sharing or hiring your own vehicle.
