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You can certainly save a lot of money (depending on your location / usage pattern) by going carshare-only; but one thing I've found is that it can result in a s

by defen 9y ago

You can certainly save a lot of money (depending on your location / usage pattern) by going carshare-only; but one thing I've found is that it can result in a sort of cognitive fallacy (not really a fallacy per se; rather a thought pattern that can be tricky to avoid) where every trip you make becomes subject to economic considerations, far more than it would have if you'd owned a car. For example if you have a friend who lives 15 miles away - it becomes "do I want to spend $50 to visit my friend?". If you drive your own car, the economic calculation is invisible - it's about $2 of gas, a bit of depreciation that you don't even think about, and [huge already-paid upfront cost for vehicle/financing/insurance that you don't even think about] - "of course I'll pay $2 to visit my friend!" One thing that helped was making a spreadsheet that showed how my total cost of transportation went from $8k/year to about $1200/year when I switched to Lyft/ZipCar and ditched my own vehicle. So even if I were to add in a weekly $50 friend-visit, I'm still paying less than half for my transportation than I previously was.

ghaff 9y ago
Based on the standard IRS deduction, a 30 mile round trip would be about $15. (And the marginal cost is less than that--your insurance at least doesn't generally go up by mileage except to the degree it slightly increases the probability of an accident.) But I agree with your basic point. If people had a clicking meter whenever they got into their car, they'd think a lot more before they turned the key. Some might say this was a good thing. Personally, I think mobility is generally positive.
- toast0 9y ago
  My insurance has always wanted to know annual mileage to determine the insurance tier to put me in. The tiers are pretty wide though, so I never put any thought into visiting a friend. Just sometimes which of the family vehicles to drive across the state.
cakedoggie 9y ago
> where every trip you make becomes subject to economic considerations, far more than it would have if you'd owned a car. As it should, as well as an environmental consideration.

by defen 9y ago

ghaff 9y ago

Based on the standard IRS deduction, a 30 mile round trip would be about $15. (And the marginal cost is less than that--your insurance at least doesn't generally go up by mileage except to the degree it slightly increases the probability of an accident.) But I agree with your basic point. If people had a clicking meter whenever they got into their car, they'd think a lot more before they turned the key. Some might say this was a good thing. Personally, I think mobility is generally positive.

toast0 9y ago
My insurance has always wanted to know annual mileage to determine the insurance tier to put me in. The tiers are pretty wide though, so I never put any thought into visiting a friend. Just sometimes which of the family vehicles to drive across the state.

cakedoggie 9y ago

> where every trip you make becomes subject to economic considerations, far more than it would have if you'd owned a car. As it should, as well as an environmental consideration.