Economics of going car-less in Calgary?

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Super_Geo
Going car-less:
- $15/d weekend rentals from Budget (there's one 2 blocks away from my work)
- credit card covers insurance
- no wear/tear
- conservative estimate on what my parking spot could be rented for: $125/m
= $1560/yr renting for 2 days every single weekend
= $60/yr if I rent my parking spot out as well

Are you sure you can get $15/day every weekend from Budget? I have rented cars in Calgary and sometimes can't get anything cheaper than $30-40/day.

If you are going to rent out your parking spot, where are you going to park your rental car?

[botox]

Bottom line is try it out and if it works for YOU, then go for it. Everyone is different and can say "what if..." till the sun burns out. IMO, I would say getting a cheap beater with PLPD would be best.

[KrisYYC]

I go the beater route even though I need to drive to work everyday. Because I'm too frugal to even consider making monthly payments on something that loses value over time. I bought a little '98 Neon with 108,000km for $1000 over 3 years ago and it's been fine. Everything works on it, insurance is cheap as hell (around $50/month) and it's still under $40 to fill up from empty.


I know there's a much greater chance it could break down on me compared to a newer car, but having to pay a $300/month car payment is still by far the greater evil.

[bspot]

My car is a total garage ornament.

The only times I drive is for playing hockey and going up to the far NW to visit my parents, and of course the obligatory weekend hardware/grocery store runs.

If I figure out what I pay per kilometer it's depressing, at least maintenance gets cheap when you're kilometers drop off. I was due for 2 sets of tires this year, and now It'll be 2 oil changes a year and that's hopefully it for the next 4 years.

[AndyL]

http://calgarycarshare.ca/Prospectiv...0/Default.aspx

I couldn't live without a car, never have been able to... But might be a good alternative for those who live/work/play in the core...

[Feruk]

Calgary's not the city to go carless. I used to live in Kensington, walk to work and most other places, and drive maybe twice a week. Without the car though, it would've been such a pain in the ass to get around to places I actually wanted to go that were not a few blocks away. Also, your assumption of adding in depreciation is incorrect as you already own the car and it's not physical money going out. Also, $150/month on maintainance is obsurdly high. I spent ~$1K this year, which is $83/month, and even that was a high year.

Plus driving is pretty awesome.

Carless = gonna hate your life.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by sputnik


Are you sure you can get $15/day every weekend from Budget? I have rented cars in Calgary and sometimes can't get anything cheaper than $30-40/day.

If you are going to rent out your parking spot, where are you going to park your rental car?

Yeah, it's possible you might be able to find a crazy sale every weekend at a different rental place but I highly doubt it. $30 a day is more in line with what I've experienced. Of course if you did manage to find crazy deals every weekend you'd likely have to travel across the city just to pick up your car. That kinda screws up the fact that he doesn't seem to think he'll have to take the train anywhere, which I'm assuming because he hasn't included a transit pass in his budget.

If we take out the ridiculous $200/mon for depreciation on one side and add $100/month for a bus pass (actual cost $94/mon) on the other side we're left with $3000/yr for car vs $2950/yr for carless. This is ignoring the, IMO, high maintenance and low rental budgets.

I know which one I'd choose.

[Maybelater]

I agree with Calgary not being an ideal city to be without a vehicle. If you're taking the taxi and the bus you'll see the cost add up quickly.

Maybe in a few years places like the East Village will provide good environment to live without a car through. I lived in downtown Vancouver without a car but everything I needed to live was right out the door and I think I managed to never leave downtown for weeks at a time, me and my friends would always just meet up there to eat, to see movies, to shop, to drink and all the other stuff you can do in your spare time.

I like the cheap car idea. I had a Toyota Tercel and with insurance at about $100/m and about $40-50 per 500km, hardly spent money on the thing and it ran just fine.

In all I spent about $200/m at most on owning a vehicle. When you think of the cost of a bus-pass $100 and the odd taxi around it doesn't save much money.

I'll admit though, you're going to look more stylish riding a bike and taking taxis because you want too, then driving around in a car that has seen better days.

[jdmXSI]

This thread has kinda got me thinking too. Currently I have a 11' STi and I am paying $558/mth on lease plus $130 for insurance and about $3-350/mth for gas... That's almost $12k a year to drive a car which I could be using to pay down my mortgage significantly. I am thinking about getting a car where my payment is about $300/mth but I would get a car allowance of $350 and my gas bill would be half of that of the STi. (Sorry to de-rail this too much but I don't see the need for a new thread) I would be saving $7-800/mth but id loose AWD and 180hp... Damit, why did you make this thread lol

[max_boost]

^^^

I've been tossing around the idea of a BMW 328X drive sedan haha It's been over 5 years and it's about time I get back into a BMW again. Maybe some of the local hoes will appreciate for the fact it's a BMW!!

[GorG]

Ever since I've lived inner-city i ditched the car about a year and half ago and I haven't had any complaints; groceries is about a 10 minute walk, work 15, school 25. It does take some time to get used to but i think it was a smart move with all the costs associated with owning a car. When I do need to drive all I do is rent a car and that only usually happens during the summer when I want to get outside of the city.
Pro's:
-more physically active since you have to walk or bike to get anywhere
-save money on gas, insurance, maintenance, decrease the chance of having an accident.
-More connected with the surrounding community since your on the street level and interacting with neighbors rather then being segregated from them within a vehicle
Con's:
-Usually when i have want to meet up with friends this forces them to drive (which they don't mind though I don't like making someone have to pick me up all the time) - Thats pretty much the only con that i could think of for myself.

Though realistically it only really makes sense to ditch a car if your within the inner-city; if your stuck in one of the sprawled out communities everything is far away even with respect to transit and at that point it becomes a giant waste of time. Typically it becomes a pain if you have to travel (by foot, bike, transit, car) for longer than 30 min as a general rule. I never understood how people could live in a community such as Evanston and travel to work in DT, commuting 45min to 1.5 hrs one way during the work week.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Get a girlfriend who has a car, kill two birds with one stone. I knew a guy in university who only dated girls with cars, worked well for him.

[Anomaly]

Originally posted by sputnik


Are you sure you can get $15/day every weekend from Budget? I have rented cars in Calgary and sometimes can't get anything cheaper than $30-40/day.

If you are going to rent out your parking spot, where are you going to park your rental car?

Not to mention the time it takes at those places. Car's never ready, always waiting around. Think of how much time you'll waste waiting for buses, rental cars, taxis.....

[Xtrema]

I know people who get by without cars and rental/taxi on the weekend.

It's a lifestyle you have to adjust to. You do save mad $.

The only downside is the insurance gap means you pay like a newb when you get back to car ownership.

[03ozwhip]

another downside is finding a girlfriend that doesnt have matted hair and a vest, that has a car and is willing to drive you everywhere. and if you already have a girlfriend and she doesnt live with you, its gonna get old fast for her to have to do that.

[Scat E46]

So much time will be wasted walking and trying to get to places. Everything not within a 10 minute walk of a station is the biggest pain in the ass.

I did it for a year. Never happening again. ever.

[ekguy]

Again depends on where you live. And it's all a matter of perspective as well.

To some people walking a couple hours a day is good time to just wake up, unwind, listen to music etc.

Also now that I walk, taxi everywhere, I find I've been using my bike alot more which let's face it is fun if you like to ride.

It also frees up a lot of cash that can be useful in other aspects rather than waste away with high gas prices and insurance etc.

[5.9 R/T]

On my 05 TDI it costs me .41 cents per km to operate it. Which factors in insurance, fuel, maintenance, depreciation, etc. etc.
I drive roughly 18 000kms per year.
Total cost = 7380.
There have been no major repairs, I do all the maintenance myself, buy parts at wholesale, get a good insurance rate through my association, and get better fuel economy and generally pay less for fuel then an equivalent gas powered car. And it still works out to over 600 dollars a month to own and operate it.

If I could live close enough to my work to walk or have transit get me there in a reasonable amount of time and there were enough amenities close by I would have a tough time justifying the cost of car ownership.

[Rat Fink]

.

[chris]

I did it for just over a year. The winter is definitely the suck for doing it, but I was taking transit to and from school. I bike a lot, so I did that when the weather got warmer out and that sort of eliminated my reliance on transit. You have a big location advantage to me as I was in Bridgeland commuting to Chinook mall (basically) for one summer and then the University for the rest of the time.

I'm living in Holland right now (main reason I went car less in Calgary for o long was that my lease was up and didn't see the point of getting something else for such a short time) and it's definitely quite the contrast to Calgary for commute. I don't know why you'd bother with a car here, but that's a whole other story.

The main advantage (or maybe disadvantage) of Calgary, all of your friends always have cars. Disadvantage being that nobody in Calgary car pools, it's like a foreign entity there.

In summary, don't be a pussy and it's not problem. There's always cabs to take you around that will pick you up at your beck and call.