Living in cities changes the equation. My insurance (younger driver, no history) was about $250/mo ($3k/year), car payments (again, young with no capital & no

Living in cities changes the equation. My insurance (younger driver, no history) was about $250/mo ($3k/year), car payments (again, young with no capital & no credit history) were $300/mo ($3600/year) for a modest Hyundai. Average cost for private NYC parking is $430/mo(!) or probably about half that in rent premium if you rent a (very rare) building with parking, but realistically you're parking on the street - a solid 30-45 minutes of looking for a space every time you drive and remembering to move the car when the alternate side parking rules are in effect. If you drive to work, you'll either need to work somewhere with parking, or pay for a space at the destination too - doubling parking costs. So that's up to $13k/yr to have a car in NYC, or $35/day. I could ride Uber/Lyft to work and back every day for the equivalent cost. However, most of the time I take the subway which is $116/mo (can pay out of my pre-tax payroll too so real cost is about $80) - my car would be dormant for all but a couple of trips a week & it'd just be a pain to have to move it around for parking. I have a car2go membership that I use once or twice a month (costs about $50, or $0 if I don't use it) and I use Lyft maybe a half-dozen times a week. Once or twice a year I rent a car for further drives ($150 to rent an SUV to move some furniture, or $400 to rent a Tesla from Turo for a weekend trip upstate) Far cheaper and more convenient to use ride sharing and public transport than to own a car here in NY. I have zero desire to go back to car ownership.