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Awesome. I just bought a new car. Used it to go to the mountains and went hiking/camping. On the way back I visited family and brought over some furniture. In

by throwaway22032 3y ago

Awesome. I just bought a new car. Used it to go to the mountains and went hiking/camping. On the way back I visited family and brought over some furniture. In a couple of weeks I'll probably take it to a remote bit of the coast and enjoy the sunshine. Tomorrow I get the tube to go to Oxford Street and do some shopping, the car is worse for those sorts of things, just as public transport is pretty bad for some things.

hahamrfunnyguy 3y ago
I've got a car for the same reason. My car broke down last July and I wasn't able to get a replacement until December. I rode my bike around, used ride share, got rides from friends and rented a car for one longer trip. I only drive it a few hundred miles a month, so owning it is really expensive given that it's a $1000+ payment each month. I don't NEED it, but doing some of the outdoor activities I enjoy is difficult without a car. For example, I enjoy paragliding. The closest site is about a 20 mile drive from here. Decisions on whether or not to fly are often last minute, so I wouldn't want to rent a car the day before because chance to fly is often 50-50. It's not feasible to rent a car a couple hours before I want to leave that day.
globular-toast 3y ago
The problem is you very quickly adjust your lifestyle around the car and before you know it's no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. At a certain point it becomes a liability as you need to pay for repairs or pay to scrap it when it's time. It happens to people all the time and it will happen to you too if you are not careful.
- throwaway22032 3y ago
  Could you explain what you mean here? I'm pretty reliant on my kettle for making coffee in the morning, it's not really a big deal to become adjusted to having a certain standard of living. Do you mean that I might move home to somewhere where the car is more of a necessity and then feel it a burden that I can't walk to places? At this stage of my life I probably wouldn't move to a place that didn't have public transport, unless car use is heavily restricted in London (I'd rather have both, but if I had to choose, the car is far superior to public transport in my everyday life).
  - globular-toast 3y ago
    A wise man once said "if you can't buy it twice, you can't afford it". Nobody allocates more than half their wealth to a kettle. Nor a toaster, oven, microwave or dishwasher. If any of them break down, you can afford to buy another one, if you still need it. There's really only one good thing to break the rule for and that's a house. But people regularly break the rule for cars. This is part of the car trap. It's one thing to build a lifestyle around a kettle, it's quite another to build it around a car. The dependence can start with moving somewhere. Or you could start building commitments and habits that require it, such as taking a job that is far away. That and you rapidly lose fitness and regress into a blob-like form that is no longer capable of locomotion. It's remarkable how differently people react to "walking a mile". To those who walk it's nothing. It can even be done with 20kg of baggage if necessary. To those who drive it's a long way. Cars are nice. But you can have too much of a good thing. It's important to stay aware of it, that's all.
    - throwaway22032 3y ago
      Ah, fair enough. I don't really have issues with that stuff, if anything the car helps me keep fit. A recent example would be that I went to visit family and the gym where they live would have taken 3 hours round trip via public transport for me to get to, so the car allowed me to get a workout in. I also cycle a ton to get places. I just also use the car for like, all of the things that can't reasonably be done via bike/train, which are a lot. Just because I live in London doesn't mean I want to spend all of my time here. I pay maybe £2-3K a year on all car costs (excepting fuel) so it's not really a big deal. I don't get fancy new cars, to me it's a tool, it's gonna get dirty and scratched up. But then I totally see that for most people, the path of least resistance is always there.

hahamrfunnyguy 3y ago

I've got a car for the same reason. My car broke down last July and I wasn't able to get a replacement until December. I rode my bike around, used ride share, got rides from friends and rented a car for one longer trip. I only drive it a few hundred miles a month, so owning it is really expensive given that it's a $1000+ payment each month. I don't NEED it, but doing some of the outdoor activities I enjoy is difficult without a car. For example, I enjoy paragliding. The closest site is about a 20 mile drive from here. Decisions on whether or not to fly are often last minute, so I wouldn't want to rent a car the day before because chance to fly is often 50-50. It's not feasible to rent a car a couple hours before I want to leave that day.

globular-toast 3y ago

The problem is you very quickly adjust your lifestyle around the car and before you know it's no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. At a certain point it becomes a liability as you need to pay for repairs or pay to scrap it when it's time. It happens to people all the time and it will happen to you too if you are not careful.

throwaway22032 3y ago
Could you explain what you mean here? I'm pretty reliant on my kettle for making coffee in the morning, it's not really a big deal to become adjusted to having a certain standard of living. Do you mean that I might move home to somewhere where the car is more of a necessity and then feel it a burden that I can't walk to places? At this stage of my life I probably wouldn't move to a place that didn't have public transport, unless car use is heavily restricted in London (I'd rather have both, but if I had to choose, the car is far superior to public transport in my everyday life).
- globular-toast 3y ago
  A wise man once said "if you can't buy it twice, you can't afford it". Nobody allocates more than half their wealth to a kettle. Nor a toaster, oven, microwave or dishwasher. If any of them break down, you can afford to buy another one, if you still need it. There's really only one good thing to break the rule for and that's a house. But people regularly break the rule for cars. This is part of the car trap. It's one thing to build a lifestyle around a kettle, it's quite another to build it around a car. The dependence can start with moving somewhere. Or you could start building commitments and habits that require it, such as taking a job that is far away. That and you rapidly lose fitness and regress into a blob-like form that is no longer capable of locomotion. It's remarkable how differently people react to "walking a mile". To those who walk it's nothing. It can even be done with 20kg of baggage if necessary. To those who drive it's a long way. Cars are nice. But you can have too much of a good thing. It's important to stay aware of it, that's all.
  - throwaway22032 3y ago
    Ah, fair enough. I don't really have issues with that stuff, if anything the car helps me keep fit. A recent example would be that I went to visit family and the gym where they live would have taken 3 hours round trip via public transport for me to get to, so the car allowed me to get a workout in. I also cycle a ton to get places. I just also use the car for like, all of the things that can't reasonably be done via bike/train, which are a lot. Just because I live in London doesn't mean I want to spend all of my time here. I pay maybe £2-3K a year on all car costs (excepting fuel) so it's not really a big deal. I don't get fancy new cars, to me it's a tool, it's gonna get dirty and scratched up. But then I totally see that for most people, the path of least resistance is always there.