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This analysis looks amazing. We’re currently a two car household with one of the vehicles being a little older and slowly starting to lose some reliability. Bef

This analysis looks amazing. We’re currently a two car household with one of the vehicles being a little older and slowly starting to lose some reliability. Before rideshares it would be pretty important to go out and find a newer, more reliable vehicle so I could ensure I make it to work. This winter after the car sat for a few weeks it wouldn’t start. Rather than spend 30 min messing with it and being late for work I simply hopped in an Uber. When this vehicle does meet its eventual demise I will likely advocate for becoming a single car household. The biggest hurdle ridesharing has in replacing vehicle ownership though is the one off scenarios where having a vehicle is just so valuable in terms of time and cost. We’re in the middle of remodeling our bathroom. We did plenty of planning and sorted out all of the materials and tools we would need and made a giant list. I went to Home Depot and bought just about everything in one trip and loaded it in a truck and drove it home. As the project has progressed though, there are constantly times where I find I need a tool, or need a different fitting for the plumbing, etc. I just hop in the car and head over to Home Depot quick and grab it. Uber would cost me about $15 round trip for each one of those visits. I haven’t gathered the receipts yet to track how many visits I’ve made but I imagine it would add up pretty considerably. This is just one example. As an expecting father I can only imagine how much of a nightmare loading a car seat in an Uber would be. I love having the option of a ride share, and I think its fantastic for the opportunity it provides those who many not have access to a car for various reasons. However, I’m not sure ridesharing will ever reach the point of being able to completely replace car ownership for the average American household. I’m confident we’ll hang on to at least one vehicle for the forseable future.

sureaboutthis 8y ago
This is exactly the question and situation I am in as our 2004 Jeep probably won't pass inspection come this December and we are thinking about which car to buy and if we should buy another car.
dgacmu 8y ago
Why wait? :) I did this a while ago (2car -> 1car, with a child), and have zero regrets. We now have two kids, and are still 1-car'ing it, with the occasional rideshare. It's fantastic not having to deal with the crap a less-used car comes with. I wrote up my analysis, with a spreadsheet you can plug your own numbers into: https://da-data.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-my-car-cost-more-than-taking-uber.html https://da-data.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-my-car-cost-more-th... We chose not to go zero car for many of the reasons you mention (and, in fact, ended up replacing our 2007 ford focus this year). But going from two to one is very freeing. Loading a car seat into a rideshare isn't bad, btw - the LATCH anchors make it almost routine once you're used to it. Our travel carseat is a little more twitchy, but none of it is very bad.

sureaboutthis 8y ago

This is exactly the question and situation I am in as our 2004 Jeep probably won't pass inspection come this December and we are thinking about which car to buy and if we should buy another car.

dgacmu 8y ago

Why wait? :) I did this a while ago (2car -> 1car, with a child), and have zero regrets. We now have two kids, and are still 1-car'ing it, with the occasional rideshare. It's fantastic not having to deal with the crap a less-used car comes with. I wrote up my analysis, with a spreadsheet you can plug your own numbers into: https://da-data.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-my-car-cost-more-than-taking-uber.html https://da-data.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-my-car-cost-more-th... We chose not to go zero car for many of the reasons you mention (and, in fact, ended up replacing our 2007 ford focus this year). But going from two to one is very freeing. Loading a car seat into a rideshare isn't bad, btw - the LATCH anchors make it almost routine once you're used to it. Our travel carseat is a little more twitchy, but none of it is very bad.