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Not to sound like John Quinones, but looking for some thoughts as we go “full time”….
We outright own two newer cars, a Honda Civic (2015) and Accord (2014). Both have about 70,000km (30,000 miles). The carrying cost of two cars is about $75 a month extra in insurance, and usual maintenance a few times a year (say $200 for oil, filters). Should we continue to carry both cars, or sell one as we don’t really need two cars? We’re on the fence. We will be a in rural area away from cities, friends, family – just curious what other scavenging couples think…One car would be easy for us to get by with, but we own them and they are fairly new (I usually keep a car 10-15 years). To run two cars for now would be $1000+ a year, and if anything goes wrong we can ditch one of the cars…Do we keep 2, or go down to 1 while we can sell it for some decent money?
We see pros and cons with both decisions…
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If you went down to one car and it died and needed to be in the shop for a week, what is your backup plan for transportation? It’s easier to put together temporary transportation in the suburbs or city, but harder in rural areas, especially away from family and friends who can pick you up or loan you a car for a few days. That would be my only hesitation in getting rid of the second car.
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We own two vehicles outright. We’re going to drive them into the ground. One car is a 1996 with almost 300k miles so we assume we’ll be a one vehicle home soonish.
We’re hoping to last another five years when I think it’ll be feasible to buy a used all-electric vehicle with a 250 mile range.
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IF they are both paid off you could keep both and just park one/remove the insurance until you need it. It takes minutes to put insurance back on the parked car. Just make sure to take it for a drive around the block every once in a while. Cars don’t like sitting long term.
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We have both paid vehicles. Like Jay, we will drive them into the ground. They will probably last us for whats left of our life, but at that time will rethink going to just one.
But recently both cars did have to have some expensive repairs but comes with the territory. Over $2,000 between both of them but need at least car to haul inventory. Both are parked side by side, we use the bigger one mostly because of the trunk and back seat space. Can haul about as much as a small truck.
Our vote.. Keep both.
Mike at MDC galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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Keep them both.
You’ve already taken the major portion of depreciation due to the age.
Also it sounds like you’ve had them for a while and you know the history and maintenance. This adds value that only you can realize.
Not having a backup car leave you very vulnerable in the event that one of them goes down.
Two Hondas.. if you do decide to sell one, it will go quick, but I think you’d regret it.
Good Luck.
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Don’t forget – going full time means you’ll use both cars less. You won’t have your daily commute any more. That will help bring down your costs.
We live on a ranch with a minimum of an 8-mile drive to anything, and we have a truck, a car, and a tractor. All paid for, and we wouldn’t give one up for anything! We have been considering getting a new truck to replace the old one, it’s a 1997 skedonk-kadonk that is on its last wheels but still wheezing along cheerfully, but we won’t give up the old one even if we do. We’ll just keep it as a ranch truck and lose the insurance on it.
What happens if you’re out delivering parcels to the post office and your spouse cuts a finger and needs to rush to the emergency room or something (crossed fingers it won’t!)? If you give up a paid car, you’ll regret it within a year. Prophesy for free!
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Amatino… I just had a mental picture pop into my head and made me laugh out loud. Even scared the cats.
I visioned you pulling up to an estate sale or auction on the tractor with a 12 ft. utility trailer behind it and yelling out to your partner, keep bidding, we’ve got plenty of room to go and I’ll keep the tractor running!! LMAO 🙂 The picture of you on a rig with a trailer loading up stuff from a sale and driving 8 miles back down the road to your storage just cracked me up for some reason. Sort of like when Jay shared his picture of all the wood flooring he loaded onto his small truck and hauled that back a long distance. Other drivers behind him must have backed way up or shot around him fast.
Just poking some fun, no offense or stereo typing intended.
Mike at MDCGFA
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Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and feedback – we think it makes sense to keep both to give us both freedom and security. Retro has a good point about the insurance – once we start our new lifestyle, if we feel we just need one car going, we can garage the second car until we need it.
Also, doing some quick investigating, our insurance will be going down significantly as we won’t be commuting daily, and the area we are moving to is a little bit safer (less thefts/accidents).
We also know everything about these cars since we’ve had them since they were practically new – so we know there is no major issues. We’ll be driving them into the ground 🙂 Parts are cheap for Hondas around here (the Civic is always the top selling car in Canada – so parts and donor cars are very easy to find).
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@Mike LOVE that visual! Now add in a bunch of tiny elves in little green outfits with the words TRASH ELF emblazoned on the back who pile out of the trailer and start throwing things into the trailer in a long elf-line and it’s PERFECT! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Oh gosh, this group is awesome!
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