Get Rid of Your Car - OK, ambitious, but...
… well, you never know, getting rid of the car may not be as ridiculous a suggestion as it first appears. After all, maybe you don’t yet have a car – so you’ve already got rid of it. Well done.
Alternately, you might have a neighbour who you could talk into sharing a car with. Or you might want to car-share to and from work. And, of course, you could always look at joining a car club, more and more of which are setting up around the country. Research suggests that each car club car on the road replaces five privately owned vehicles. This helps to relieve parking pressure on our crowded streets and improve our local communities.
A reduction in the number of cars means less pollution and congestion, helping to make places cleaner and safer. That’s got to be a good thing, doncha think?
More on car clubs.
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24 Aug 2005
Impossible task. All in one go. But MORE possible is cutting back on car journeys. For the next few months I’ll deliberately try to use alternative transport on at least one occasion a week where I’d normally drive, see how that goes.
06 Sep 2005
This is the big thing we have tried to do this year and, so far, six months on, we seem to be getting by. We’re lucky – we live in a big city with good transport links, we’ve joined a local city car club and some good neighbours have let us pay to go on their insurance for occassional borrows. It can be awkward (family of five waiting for ever on train platform the other night, wondering how much easier it would be in the car) but as the weeks pass, more and more of the time we don’t even notice we don’t have a car. For now anyway!
GB , 18 Sep 2005
Agree with John – a big one for me where I live in the sticks. However, doing more journeys by train has proved really useful – I get more work done on the train and iarrive at the meetings relaxed and ready to go! I sometimes share a car with a coleague for meetings, too – useful way of catching up and getting to know people better.
29 Sep 2005
Those of us who retain our cars could consider generous car use. Picking up hitch-hikers or offering to transport friends and neighbours.
Its the “going the extra mile kind of thing”
04 Oct 2005
We didn’t have a car and were managing OK. Then I became disabled and the car is a must. Without it I’m basically housebound. I do try to use it as little as possible.
AF , 29 Oct 2005
We have never had a car. I only miss having it occasionally when we need to get to some out of the way place in the country.
I’ve bought houses near work, shops, church and other facilities so don’t need to travel long distances.
Manchester, GB , 16 Dec 2005
This is a really difficult one for me. I know we can’t do without cars in our company so the best solution I could come up with is to convert to LPG. So I have just had our pool car converted to LPG and plan to change the others next year when they come up for renewal. I’m really pleased with the results on the first conversion, will let you know what the staff think!!
Singapore, SG , 19 Dec 2005
Am yet to own my first car (and held my license for some years). Does this count?
Prudhoe, GB , 20 Dec 2005
Try giving up your car when you move to a new area. You will then find moving to a house near local facilites and stating activites that you can get to without a car essential and will not miss the car. If you enjoy driving holidays, you can hire a car for a week or two and do all of us a lot less damage than you would if you drove all the time. We’re a family with a four- year- old child and we’ve not hired or borrowed a car for well over a year( and that was only for two days) although we did all hitch- hike a few miles the other day when we’d walked to a pub for the afternoon. The train we wanted to return on has stopped running for the winter!
London, GB , 24 Jan 2006
I sold my car in 2003 after the guilt got too much for me, and I haven’t looked back since. In 2004 I thought I’d try something a bit different, and in November 2004 I took delivery of a Reva G-Wiz (electric vehicle). I no longer have it, but it was a great little car and I had no guilt at all over petrol, and nor did I have to feel guilty about the emmissions from the electricity source, as I switched to Ecotricity in 2003, and more recently to NPower Juice, both of which supply only wind power into the National Grid.
08 Mar 2006
Four years ago we moved to the country, and as a city girl I felt I could not manage without a car. Then I realised that the car sat outside the door most days and I used it about twice a week. So when it recently came up for it’s MOT etc we decided to do without it. This was our second car, so we do still have a car. So perhaps I am cheating on this one, but Jerry works 40 miles away and could not reasonably get there on public transport (bus, two trains, bus, three hours each way).
GB , 22 Mar 2006
I applaude anyone that can do this practically..it also makes me slightly ashamed as I can’t do it because of my work. It will only ever be fully practical when we have a proper and full intergrated public transport system. I once turned up a Peterborough Station to go and do some work in Newcastle….to be told I could not board the train with all that equipment!!!! OK so it was three large cases and an overnight bag. I had to drive up instead. ask yourself does this journey really need a car? or can I get there another way. I’ve cut back on car use as much as possible, but sorry it will have to stay.
31 Mar 2006
We decided to get rid of our car last October. I can honestly say that its been really easy. We live in Portobello, Edinburgh where there are lots of buses. We cycle to work. And we joined the city car club, which we hardly use (maybe 3 times a month). We had our first car free holiday on the Isle of Arran, and used the excellent buses there. And we have a family railcard now, much cheaper to travel by train. So I won’t committ to this action since we already did it – but go on, if you live in a city its easier than you think!!
11 May 2006
We have a camper van, which is hard on petrol, but we only use it for holidays and about once or twice a week around town. The kids walk/cycle/scooter to school, I cycle to work and my husband works from home. We shop online, have a veg box delivered and I cycle to get extras (most of the time)!! We try our best but don’t want to get rid of our holiday home on wheels. Well done those of you who’ve made the leap!!
30 May 2006
I’ve always struggled with the idea of giving up my car as I love the independence. However I’ve recently had to be carless for 7 weeks and found that my lifestyle became much more relaxed and calm. It actually did me a lot of good to not constantly fit 100 things into one trip just because I could. I’ve also found it more sociable chatting to fellow passengers on trains etc!
Secondly, there’s a site called www.liftshare.org which in theory is great. The idea is that you register journeys that you do, either on a regular basis (eg to work), or one-offs, and they send you ‘matches’ – people who are doing a similar journey at a similar time – and you then email them and can share the lift. The only problem I’ve found is that a lot of the people registered are out-of-date and so none of my requests or offers with my matches have actually happened. I’m sure it just needs more people joining regularly and telling others about it so that matches do actually work!
Little Green Fee, GB , 09 Jun 2006
I have thought long and hard about this one as I do use my car a lot. I love the independence it brings me and the fact that I can get out of town to go horse riding (which I love). I changed my car in Sept 05 and opted for a diesel engine. I now run it on biodiesel (which smells fab if you like fried food!). I also now ask myself before I use it “do I really need to” ie. if the journey is within 2 miles I can walk or cycle. I do use it for work but have cut down from 5 days a week to 3 and now walk the other two days, will hopefully be more when after work commitments come to an end. Maybe when I stop cramming so much into my days will I be able to consider signing up to this one. I do admire people who get on with out a car.
GB , 13 Jun 2006
I sold my car at the start of the year. Six months on and I love not having one. But then I have an easy walk to work and a short walk into town for shopping. This is not do-able for everyone, but while I can this is great.
18 Jul 2006
Not for everyone, but as a two car family, we are getting rid of one.
10 Oct 2006
We set up a car share scheme, with Smart Moves (see the link at the top) which sadly closed due to the folks in it not using the car enough!! But that was the start for us of getting rid of the car. Once the car club folded, we just didn’t go back to car ownership. I’m on the insurance of 3 of my friends’ cars, so if I do need a vehicle I can borrow (which is about once a fortnight on average).
I agree with Jo above that I found that life became less stressed once we gave up the car, precisely for the same reason – if I can’t do something I just say ‘no’! I find travelling by train a much more pleasurable experience. It takes longer, but hey, I can read books… and sleep!
New York City, US , 29 Nov 2006
I’ve never owned a car, to the amazement of most of my peers. New York makes it a fairly easy decision since garage rental + insurance + car payments can get costly and public transportation is good.
I use a car share system called zipcar and am generally satisfied although popular weekends must be reserved months in advance.
22 Dec 2006
Until May 2006 both my partner and I had cars, but had discussed selling one and sharing the other for some time, since he started working from home so most of the time his car was just sat in the drive. When his car was written off (not his fault!) we made a conscious decision not to replace it. He now walks to the local shops and post office, therefore getting excercise. We have saved many £££s on car insurance, running costs and road tax. We have reduced our carbon emmissions and have reorganised our lives so we bulk shop once a month, saving further ££s. We may have been partly forced into it, but it’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
Harrow, GB , 24 Jan 2007
I’m cheating a bit, as I can’t drive and have always got around on my bike. My wife drives a small car, but… a) I’m trying to persuade her to buy a motor scooter and join a car club, b) I try never to ask her or anyone else for a lift anywhere and c) I’ve just bought her a MagnoFuel (see http://www.ecozone.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=555), which is supposed to make her car 10-15% more fuel-efficient. We’ll see. By the way, has anyone else used a MagnoFuel? If they work, how come everyone isn’t using them? (Same question as with Ecoballs, I guess…)
Calgary, CA , 06 Feb 2007
We have moved to the inner city and I can walk or ride almost every where. My dearest does in home counselling throughout the city and uses a car for work but we have cut down from 2 vehicles to 1 so we are making progress.
08 Feb 2007
We’ve now gone down from two cars to none although this was more enforced by cost than choice as where we live makes not having at least occasional use of a car rather difficult. It probably won’t last long, but I’m thinking of all the emissions we’re saving.
GB , 12 Feb 2007
OK I cheated with this one, as I cant drive, but I have chosen not to learn partially due to environmental impact, so I use public transport and shanks pony when I need to travel :-)
London N4, GB , 07 Apr 2007
We’ve just given our car away – this could be interesting!
11 May 2007
We gave our old car to a family in the church who are only in this country for a few years and who need to drive from Kingston on Thames to Wood Green (N London) to come to church (there isn’t a big choice of Mennonite churches in the UK – like… er… one).
Then we bought a new car – decided a hybrid was too expensive and we were told a modern diesel is just as good, so we bought the lowest emissions Fiat Punto, which is considerably lower-emissions than other cars. It actually has an ‘eco’ setting (which unfortunately stands for ‘economy’ not ‘ecological’) and I leave it on that all the time.
And I am making more journeys by bus and – horrors! – on foot! This is the best I can do…
Bristol, GB , 13 Jul 2007
If it is possible to give up what one has never had, then I have fulfilled this action. I have never owned a car and, although I took driving lessons at a time when I thought they would be useful, I have never driven since the day I passed my test. We are a family of two adults and two teenage daughters and the reason it has worked for us is that we have never organised our life around car ownership. It has not always been easy but I can honestly say that I have never regreted or been tempted to reconsider our decision.
nottingham, GB , 13 Oct 2007
I recently sold my car as i was hardly using it and couldn’t see the point of all the expense when i live on a really good bus route. Ok it’s only been 6 weeks but i have no regrets, between public transport and my own 2 feet i’m getting around just fine.
Haverfordwest, GB , 14 Oct 2007
Walk The Final Mile. On journeys where driving is the only practical option – park a mile or so short of every destination. If tens of thousands of drivers get into this habit the overall impact would be significant. Not just in pollution reduction, but by reducing the congestion in town centres etc. And it offers a very flexible way of reducing car use.. making it far likelier that drivers will try it; extending the distance walked whenever the weather is fine, but still being free to drive all the way when it’s foul or when carrying heavy stuff.
Nottingham, GB , 05 Dec 2007
To be car-less, one must live near good public transport. Such areas are often great, as many people walk around or take buses. This can lead to better local shops, more community etc. Perhaps less crime. So you get rewarded for being good. ;-)
Its less stress to know with no car you can still get to work, food shops etc. If you lose your job and another comes up in another town, you could catch a train to work if, as a kind of insurance policy, you live near a station.
Insurance + road tax + MOT + breakdown cover costs £600/year before driving a mile. That’s 10 weekend car rentals. But in fact, with cheap advance train tickets, I’ve not rented a car yet!
Many of us go car-less for the sake of other people, but even looking at it from a selfish angle, there can be benefits in a car-free mentality.
Leicester, GB , 14 Feb 2008
This one is a bit of a cheat for me. I have never learned to drive and so never bought a car. We have deliberately moved to a place where there is public transport (in fact it’s so close we can hear the station anouncements inside our flat). One day I would like to live somewhere less urban but I would also like to think the public transport would be as good. For this reason, the transition town movement is really encouraging to see.
05 Sep 2009
We got rid of our 2 cars over 2 years ago. It has been surprisingly easy.My wife walks to work, approx 20 minutes walk,and as I have further to travel I use a scooter.
As there are things to do that you really need a car for, we hire a car on a regular basis which costs approx £36 for the weekend for a small car.
All in all we have cut our costs both environmentally and monetarily quite drastically.
We are quite fortunate that we have a bus station and rail station within 15 minutes walk of home so public transport is not really a problem.