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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You can probably use a cab every time you'd usually use a car and still save money.

I don't remember the exact figure but when I was a teenager my father explained to me that owning a car costs something like 7k per year.  And I don't mean on car payments or the original car cost. I mean on things like insurance, gas, maintenance, parking, storage, etc. [/quote]

That seems really high.  I drive from DC to Baltimore 4 days a week for work, plus errands on the weekend and pay $150/month on gas (high estimate) so $1800/year; our insurance is $700/year; maintenance was $1000 (4 oil changes, new brakes and rotors, and some other maintenance).   That's $3500/year and I put 25,000 miles a year on my car. [/quote]

At 25K miles per year you are replacing your car every 6-8 eats at the most. So in addition to ththe above you also have to divide the cost of buying a new car.  A $25 car would therefore cost $3k-$4k per year. And that  presumes that your maintenance remains at $1K per year which is insane. I also don’t buy that you have insurance for $700 per year that has adequate collision and liability coverage.  At best under your math a car costs $6k per year. And that somehow assumes that you never pay for parking, car washes and never pay the deductible after an accident (ever).   It also presume no financing cost. Even 1% interest on a $25k car costs $250 the first year. On a less expensive used car the amount borrowed is smaller but interest rate is higher.

If you don’t need one for work or live in the middle of literally nowhere it is very unlikely that owning a Car makes financial sense for anyone. [/quote]

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