Why own a car ?

[#1]

Unless you really need one for work, or travel to work, or have a special need for an adapted car....

Why own a car ?

Is it not financially better to use Taxis, or hire one if needed for a day or two, no servicing costs, insurance usually included, etc

No parking fees with Taxis, no vandal worries.

On line deliveries, no car needed.

Yes.... to avoid Public Transport

I'm sure there are reasons to own/not own a car.

But really ?

Status ?

[#2]

I think recent events have shown it to be vital, for most, to have their own form of transport.

And for family and shopping the only choice is a car.

A reliable banger is not that expensive and a small diesel doing sixty plus to the gallon probably works out a lot cheaper than a taxi/bus. Especially if there is more than one of you.

And a taxi/bus is not a good choice for a day trip out.

[#3]

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@Lægen wrote: Why own a car ?

But really ?

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You must be a townite 🙂 We have 2 cars. Nearest public transport stop is 3 miles away. Nice country walk in the summer, come hell when it is wet and windy or you're not 100% well. And the bus doesn't run on a Sunday.

Grab a taxi? You must be rich. Last one I took to the hospital cost over £30 (about 12 miles or so) one way. Getting one in Central London I have never forgotten the speed that the taxi meter went up. Instant stress time! I try to avoid them at all costs.

And yes, I do need a car to get to work, 1. Public transport doesn't run very well at 6am. 2. What takes me 40 minutes from leaving home to being parked up in the factory grounds, would take me well over 2 hours even if they did run the service to the nearest town. And then I'd have a good 2 miles walk at the end. And then there would be the return journey. The car is a far more sensible way of getting from A to B for sure.

But having lived in a town once (lived in Richmond, many moons ago). The car was parked up most of the time, simply because the tube and buses were far more convenient i.e I could be in Central London within 30 mins. But the car still had its uses even then. It really does depend on where one lives and where you want to get to.

[#4]

Young men buy cars because girls won't go out with anyone who doesn't pick them up by car! 😀  And once you are used to having a car it's hard to give it up.

On a more serious note, as @idonno says, in London it's perfectly possible to use public transport; night buses run every half hour, and about half the underground lines run a night tube service every 10 minutes on Friday and Saturday night.  I think families with small children would find it difficult to manage without a car, although many undoubtedly do, since their weekly shop is huge (have you seen the size of packs of disposable nappies?).

[#5]

Use a taxi everyday for going to work, coming home from work, going to the supermarket and doing everything else you need. You'll soon realise just how expensive it is. The fact is that people who don't live the millionaire lifestyle cannot afford it.

I do know someone who did the taxi thing everywhere. He also liked hiring limousines frequently. He ended up selling his £250k home.
You sound just as frivolous as he did Laegen.
Now, at the lower end of the ladder those who cannot afford a car are stuck with the use of a taxi quite frequently. Ask yourself why they might be in such an unfavorable financial pickle..

[#6]

Found this on Youtube which I found quite interesting. We have something slightly similar up in Lincolnshire but you have to be registered, prebook well before time of travel and there is no app as they seem to have in Sevenoaks.

But where I live it is easily doable to get a bus more conveniently, IF only they would just change the bus route slightly. Currently the bus comes out of the nearest town and takes the first turning left. There is no bus stop until it hits the next village, which, funny enough, is where I have to walk to if I want a bus. If, instead of turning left, it went straight on and then took the next turning left (1½ miles) it would go through a couple of villages (mine included) before it got back on to its original route. Time added to the journey, 10 minutes at most.

But no, it seems it has to get into Lincoln as direct as possible. Passengers, who needs them! Transporting fresh air is the name of the game.

[#7]

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@7up wrote:
Use a taxi everyday for going to work, coming home from work, going to the supermarket and doing everything else you need. You'll soon realise just how expensive it is. 

I do know someone who did the taxi thing everywhere. He also liked hiring limousines frequently. He ended up selling his £250k home.

You sound just as frivolous as he did Laegen.

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Not really. I infrequently need a Taxi these days, twice a month perhaps.

(and in the winter, I get into a nice warm car...)

Occasional quarterly longer journeys, I hire a car.

Weekly Online deliveries "take away" most of my need for transport.

In the last month, I have spent £nothing on transport. 

Saving £££'s on 'no car' expenses.

Free local bus service.

Free travel to Medical appointments

Though I may resume Car ownership in the future.

[#8]

So what happened to your Ford Kuga's @Lægen?

[#9]

Things would need to return to the old days.

Where the Butcher, Baker, and Fish Monger were not much further away from the end of your street.

Where trips out were courtesy of your friends and families clubs or works outings.

[#10]

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@7up wrote:
... people who don't live the millionaire lifestyle cannot afford it.

I do know someone who did the taxi thing everywhere. He also liked hiring limousines frequently. He ended up selling his £250k home.

Down here a £250k home is a studio flat, hardly a millionaire lifestyle.

[#11]

Just getting to & from my place of work is enough reason to own a car.

I can leave at 5am & be at work which is 10 miles away in 15 minutes - the same journey to work by bus would need me to leave home at 4.15am then take a 25 minute walk to the bus stop thats actually got a bus route running early enough then spend an hour on 2 different buses.

The return journey at night doesn't require the 25 minute walk but its still an hour on 2 different buses.

Its £15 for a 7 day bus ticket - its £1.20 average in V Power unleaded fuel cost each way by car.

[#12]

I got in early...

New petrol and diesel cars could be banned from 2030 under Government plans to accelerate the switch to electric cars

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8675935/New-petrol-diesel-cars-banned-2030-Government-elect...

Hope fully the price will come down, a lot, subsidised ?

[#13]

The EV charging infrastructure just isn't ready yet.

The 1970s council estate I live on was never designed for having EV charging points installed.

There are 6 charging points at the work car park BUT there only there as its a new build so they had to be installed - the company has actually turned the power off to them to stop anyone using them.

Until someone can produce an affordable EV that will do 450 miles on one charge & can be fully recharged again in under 10 minutes then I have no interest of a backward step to motoring.

The hydrogen fuel cell is the true replacement for the ICE

[#14]

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@PowerLee wrote:

The EV charging infrastructure just isn't ready yet.

The hydrogen fuel cell is the true replacement for the ICE

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I think you might have a point there when it comes to infrastructure.

But hydrogen as a fuel does bring a few problems. You have to burn fuel to obtain it. It also extremely flammable. Still, it'll be one way of lowering sea levels although living in an oxygen rich atmosphere in the future might bring other problems - the separated oxygen has to go somewhere. 

[#15]

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@PowerLee wrote:

The EV charging infrastructure just isn't ready yet.

Until someone can produce an affordable EV that will do 450 miles on one charge & can be fully recharged again in under 10 minutes then I have no interest of a backward step to motoring.

Have to agree....