If you look down your Driveway to see a ramshackle pile of junk on four wheels, you might think that it’s time to trade up. Heading to the car showrooms to choose a new car can be joyous for some, whereas for others it can be torture. Not everyone is a natural born petrol head so it can take some effort to find the will power to find a new set of wheels. This is why you need to consider whether you actually need a car. If you’ve done without one for a few weeks anyway because your current motor isn’t roadworthy, what’s to say that you can’t make do without one full time? Take a look at whether you actually need a new car in your life or whether you can do without.
Commuting
If the main reason why you have a car is to commute, you might like to think of other ways to Travel to suit your lifestyle. A car isn’t the be all and end all of travel in the Western world. Living in a civilized society means that public transport has evolved to become an excellent and reliable means of travel. You could check out the local train station timetable and work out whether this offers a feasible route to get to work. With any luck you can buy yourself a season ticket and utilize a more sustainable way of traveling to work. Being greener, you can exude your eco-friendly credentials by using public transport.
Sharing A Car
If you don’t fancy owning a car,why not share one. There are lots of schemes now where people can club together to purchase a car, and share the running costs equally. If your pal lives close by, but you both don’t have the need for a car full time, you can halve the costs and ownership of one. Buying together can be trickier than buying alone as you need to fulfil two different sets of requirements. However, you should be able to locate a reliable, safe and economical used car that suits you both. When deciding how to divide ownership, you could split it evenly at three and a half days a week each to keep things simple. Or perhaps a week at a time so weekends are included.
Hire When Needed
Rather than having to make do with an older motor on the driveway, you could considercar hire deals in your locality. If you only drive once in a blue moon to visit family, hiring a car instead can be a much more economical way of traveling. Another perk is that you are paying for insurance every time you hire so you never have to pay out for this separately. There are no running costsapart from fuel and you won’t have to worry about maintenance. Once your journey is done, you simply hand over the keys to the car.
Society drills into us that we need a car. However, if you live in the city, don’t travel long distances, and have no inclination to go anywhere remote, you could save money by using public transport, car sharing or hiring your vehicle of choice.
