I see people pulling numbers like this, and I'm not saying I don't believe you, but in my experience, owning a car has been far cheaper than what most estimate.

I see people pulling numbers like this, and I'm not saying I don't believe you, but in my experience, owning a car has been far cheaper than what most estimate. I bought a 3 year old used car in '09 for $14500 for cash. Since then I've spent a grand total of about $3000 on repair and maintenance. My insurance is about $700 / yr. I spend about another ~ $650 / yr on gas. My total costs have been less than $2500 / yr all in. You're also not accounting for the value of your time. My 30 minute commute to the office would turn into at least 90m on public transit. That's just one example. It's death by a thousand cuts. At even 1/3rd of hourly rate that most of us make, the cost in lost time is tens of thousands a year.