Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on January 21, 2013 at 11:51am

Of course you don't need one. I'd hazard a guess that there are millions of families throughout the world without one.

A car is a tool of convenience. Nobody can deny that. But, you gotta pay to play. 

Peenworm Grubologist said:

I do think it's a bit amusing that there's this notion that if you have a family, you will need a car, mainly because I've got one and I don't. 

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Permalink Reply by S on January 21, 2013 at 11:58am

yai danche said:

i've never owned a car, but not by choice.  i never got my driver's license.  i foolishly never took advantage of driving range in high school and private driving lessons are $150-$300.  although to be fair, fear is really what is keeping me from learning to drive.  if i ever got my driver's license, i could stop cycling.  not owning a car has stopped me from doing things i want such as visiting sick friends and going stag to people's weddings (suburban weddings are cheaper i guess).  i will say that i would have to make a lot more money than i do now to justify paying $900 in parking by work and $2000 for car insurance.  judging from most of the posters on this thread, driving a car 3x a year, insurance costs alone is $666/ride.  

It's not an either/or situation.  Having a drivers license and being able to have a car is not going to stop you from biking places.  If you can afford it, I'd suggest getting a license since there are quite a few places that are impractical to see with just bikes (e.g. quite a few national parks, foreign locations, a lot of remote or even suburban places).  Also, I think your costs are a bit inflated.  Insurance is almost certainly not going to run 2k a year and you don't need to drive to work, just keep using your current means of getting to work.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Allison on January 21, 2013 at 12:01pm

i hope you didn't get that from my post. i'm about to embark on a family-making journey (should we be so blessed) and i see a future where our family will have a car because my wife-to-be is just way too tied to the idea of always having one at the ready. if it were up to me alone, i'd like to take a stab at doing the car-free family thing, but it's not up to me alone. i have to accept the woman i'm about to marry as she is, not as how i want her to be, and owning a car is just the way she is. she accepts my full-blown bicycle obsession for what it is and i accept her car ownership for what it is, and together we'll make it work.

so i'll have to turn in my car-free bonafides and proudly accept my new permanent membership in the car-light club.

there are worse things in the world.

Peenworm Grubologist said:

I do think it's a bit amusing that there's this notion that if you have a family, you will need a car, mainly because I've got one and I don't. 

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Permalink Reply by yai danche on January 21, 2013 at 12:20pm

S, like I said, I have never owned my car.  So I've never paid attention to the costs of gas and whether restaurants have plentiful parking spots or not.  I got that $2000 figure from a 2007 Chicago magazine article for the average cost of car insurance, which I'm sure is not accurate anymore.  I do still want a driver's license for the same reasons you stated above.  as for the either/or situation, a friend who used to bike commute now only drives.  i can see myself doing the same thing.  it would take a lot of discipline on my part to say i'm not going to be lazy and choose the bike over the car.

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on January 21, 2013 at 12:59pm

This is the kind of decision making I was prodding at in my first post. Sometimes, despite the best intentions, you end up making decisions differently than planned. Nothing to be ashamed about.

Congrats Dan, on embarking what promises to be a great life.



Dan Allison 14.5 mi said:

i hope you didn't get that from my post. i'm about to embark on a family-making journey (should we be so blessed) and i see a future where our family will have a car because my wife-to-be is just way too tied to the idea of always having one at the ready. if it were up to me alone, i'd like to take a stab at doing the car-free family thing, but it's not up to me alone. i have to accept the woman i'm about to marry as she is, not as how i want her to be, and owning a car is just the way she is. she accepts my full-blown bicycle obsession for what it is and i accept her car ownership for what it is, and together we'll make it work.

so i'll have to turn in my car-free bonafides and proudly accept my new permanent membership in the car-light club.

there are worse things in the world.

Peenworm Grubologist said:

I do think it's a bit amusing that there's this notion that if you have a family, you will need a car, mainly because I've got one and I don't. 

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Permalink Reply by Bryan McClaran on January 21, 2013 at 10:44pm

I haven't had a car or license for six years, my wife hasn't had a car in 4.5, but she doesn't bike (I'm working on it.) Other than moving, there hasn't been a "need a car" situation yet, and even a good portion of our last move was done via bike.

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Permalink Reply by El Dorado on January 22, 2013 at 3:03am

I did not have a car or license for 10+ years because of "a few" DUI's. I have a car now & tend to use it only when necessary. Owning a car is not as expensive as some people make it out to be. My 12 year bike was beginning to cost me a lot money. Always in the shop & the bike mechanics seem to want to charge me extra.

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Permalink Reply by JeffB on January 22, 2013 at 4:47am

I just passed 20 years in Chicago and have never owned a car here.  I used public transport up until about 8 years ago and have been getting around almost solely by bike since then.  I do rent a few times a year to visit family and such (in MI and WI).  But living in the city does make it much easier to be car-free.  Not sure what would happen if I lived in the suburbs.

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