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The average household has two cars? That seems ridiculous! Do you know anyone with three cars? The two car average implies quite a few!
by duaneb 10y ago
The average household has two cars? That seems ridiculous! Do you know anyone with three cars? The two car average implies quite a few!
- ceejayoz 10y agoThere are plenty of 3+ car garages in affluent suburbs.
- Baeocystin 10y agoI'd wager there are even more 3+ car less-affluent families. Having multiple, older vehicles that are 1. fully paid off, 2. dirt cheap to insure, and 3. old enough that you can actually work on them yourself is a good way to make sure you have something usable at any one time, even if the general maintenance needs are higher than average.
- Retric 10y agoPlenty, it's often a work vehicle or for teenage children, sometimes it's a commuter car. RV's are also fairly common as are motorcycles which might not count. Other times, it's just a car waiting to be sold / repaired. PS: Don't forget all those Verizon van's are part of that 2 average.
- bratsche 10y agoMy wife and I each have a car. Most married people I know each have a car, so to me that's not ridiculous at all. My new neighbors, though, are ridiculous in their car ownership (in my opinion). They are a married couple with only a new baby, but for some reason they have three cars. I've never seen them drive the third car, it's just in their garage and they park the two cars they do drive in the driveway.
- secabeen 10y agoI own three cars. One is my dad's old Vanagon. I haven't had the heart to sell it, and it is useful a few times a year for camping, scuba diving, or hauling. I probably should replace it with a trailer for those needs, but I haven't yet. It cost me $0, registration for it is about $120/yr, and it doesn't bump up my insurance all that much. Could I save money by just renting a van when I needed one, sure, but not all that much, and it has sentimental value.
- Baeocystin 10y agoPretty much the same case here. I've a 1979 Honda CVCC ( https://www.reddit.com/r/Honda/comments/1q9tww/just_finished_rebuilding_my_1979_honda_cvcc_pics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Honda/comments/1q9tww/just_finished... ) that I don't really need, but it's practically free to register and insure, and it has sentimental value, so why not? Besides, there have been a couple of times where simply due to bad luck both of our newer cars were in the shop at once. Having the backup of the CVCC for a few days was genuinely useful.
- resolaibohp 10y agoDepends on where you live I suppose, but two of my neighbors on my street have 5 cars each.
- bhandziuk 10y agoCurious: of those 5 cars how many would you say were made in the last 15 years?
- brownbat 10y agoWell, for an extreme outlier, Jay Leno has something like 200 cars. Many suburban empty-nesters I know have three. I don't know why that's popular or makes any sense. On the other hand most urban twenty-something's I know don't have any, so I'd agree the 2 car average seems possibly high.
- duaneb 10y ago> Well, for an extreme outlier, Jay Leno has something like 200 cars. Ye gods. :|
- closeparen 10y ago>I don't know why that's popular or makes any sense Mom and dad's daily drivers + dad's baby and/or project.
- brownbat 10y agoFor the people I know, it seems more of an overabundance of caution vibe. A bit more like "Let's have a third SUV, in case one breaks down and we suddenly both need to drive multiple people to different hospitals across snow covered rocky terrain."
- closeparen 10y agoAlso fairly common for teenager's car to be stored dormant in the driveway while she's in college and then put to use again after graduation.
- ianferrel 10y agoI know lots of people with 3 or more cars in the household. If you get outside of urban areas, car ownership is much higher, since you can't get anywhere without them.
- bitbckt 10y agoI have three.
- ams6110 10y agoI have 5 cars.
- duderific 10y agoWhat is the average household exactly? One of my neighbors are baby boomers whose 30-year-old daughter still lives with them. They have four cars (two for the dad, one for the mom, one for the daughter). Across the street is some kind of flophouse -- a 2-bed 1-bath house, whose occupants have no less than 7 cars. It causes no end of consternation for my wife and I who have merely one car each, and we often can't park in front of our own house because the neighbors are taking up all the spots.
- closeparen 10y agoIn rural and low-density suburban areas, it's expected (and basically required) that everyone in the house who has a job also has a car. Take a look at the size of high school and commuter college student parking lots on Google Earth, and then consider that every single one of those cars probably belongs to a household with 3+ cars (mom, dad, teenager). Very common for parents to upgrade and pass their old car down to their 16-year-old instead of trading in.
- HeyLaughingBoy 10y agoWe have four, one of my neighbors has at least six (family of three), another about four or five. The guy across the street probably has at least four. Pretty much all the families I've known have at least two cars.
- tn13 10y agoMe and my wife have 1 car each and plan to buy third.
- tn13 10y agoMe and my wife have 1 car each and plan to buy third.
- mikestew 10y agoI have three cars (and two motorcycles), and there's just my wife and I; no kids, but two dogs that have to be planned for. Why three cars? Well, the Scion xB (DogMobile) was purchased new 12 years ago, it's paid off, and it can carry dogs and bicycles. The Nissan Leaf was pre-ordered the day we were able, someone has to kick start that electric car thing. And since a nylon tent isn't going to contain an 80lb. pit bull terrier when it hears a raccoon at 3 a. m., we bought an '81 VW camper van. Now, we could get rid of the Scion and use the VW as the new DogMobile. But the Scion is long paid off, reliable as a hammer, and we don't put miles on a temperamental old VW that wasn't that reliable to begin with (in comparison to a Toyota-made Scion). The resale value on Leafs is horrible, and we like the car. Long since paid off, too, and since it's our "nice car": no dogs allowed. Oh, and my Dad just texted me this weekend asking if I wanted his 1963 Austin-Healey 3000. As much as it pains me, I'm probably going to turn him down and let him sell it. Too many vehicles the way it is, and nowhere to put the Healey except a storage unit. But until I give a definitive "no", there's the possibility that we could be a four car family. Ridiculous, yes. But for some the vehicles just kind of pile up.
- cafard 10y agoA household across the street from me has five residents: mother, father, employed daughter, twin sons in high school. They have at least three cars now, and I'm pretty sure I've seen four (one, to be pedantic, a pickup truck). A household next to me has within the last five years had three residents: mother, father, son then about twenty. They had three cars. A household down the street: mother, father, employed daughter, employed son (the last there part time). All have their own vehicles:sports ute, truck, sedan, truck. It is possible that a household at the end of the block, mother, father, daughter in high school, has three cars; but I'm not sure whether father and daughter use the same car or a different one. We are in a city, close to public transportation. I suspect that as one gets farther out into the suburbs, one finds more households with three or more cars.
- jackskell 10y ago3 person household with 2 drivers. 3 cars, FMV totalling about $5000. I keep an extra car to get to work when one of the others is broken down. One of the vehicles is a compact pickup with a canopy for diversifying utility, if needed. We're well below median household income; but we must have transportation at all times. I have found the sweet spot for used cars to be about $4000. Won't need too much work for a couple years, and I refuse to take the depreciation on more expensive cars. Cash-and-carry, I will not have a car loan, either - not paying interest. My ego is not in my ride.