Comments on: Annoying Nathan about cars

By: Will

Will — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:18:06 +0000

karen: I only went to grad school in Bloomington; I went to undergrad at NCSU. Unfortunately, I don’t know either of them.

JD of Get Rich Slowly recently suggested a stuff replacement fund, where you get rid of the stuff you’re keeping around just in case and then put aside some money every month. If you ever need something you got rid of (like a car for road trip to Montana), you use the stuff replacement fun to pay for it (a rental in this case). That might be something to think about if that’s the only reason you’re keeping your car.

Lindsey: Some people have tried to interest Zipcar (or one of the other similar services) into moving to Bloomington and had no luck. It’d be a great way to reduce the parking problem on campus if you could get the students to go along with it. There used to be a Greyhound bus to Indianapolis, which got canceled, so it seems like there’s been less interest in that sort of thing in the past.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:45:46 +0000

I wish Bloomington had Zipcar. Ohio State has a Zipcar program — it seems like IU is ripe for that sort of thing, too, if we can drum up enough interest.

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:41:54 +0000

i didn’t realize you went to college in bloomington. did you know either a marybeth or a jason flickner? just curious…but i know it’s a small world, but i figured i’d ask. they both went to IU up there i believe.

i’ve dithered with selling my car, too … but I just know the second I did it I’d want a road trip to Montana or something to get away. Hm. It’s definitely not an easy decision to make. But it would sure help me to pay some of my bills.

By: Mishlor

Mishlor — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:31:30 +0000

I did some checking today and I figured I could also take a train from Indianapolis to South Bend for 50-odd. As long as I can get TO indy and FROM South Bend… that’d be about as much as I’d spend on gas. A little more, maybe.

Howeverrrr… the other consideration is that I am often the dude that goes on business trips, and I’m not sure that taking public transport is the best way to go on that, so one of us should probably have a vehicle around.

A week of bus and bike hasn’t been that bad, especially since I have other friends with cars. It just takes longer to get anywhere.

By: Will

Will — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:45:42 +0000

Good point, Andy. I don’t want to imply that financial reasons are the only reasons to give up a car.

I wrote this post to show that even if you’re extremely frugal with your car (my costs are less than $700 a year including gas), it can be cheaper to bike, bus, and rent occasionally than to own. My guess is that a scooter would provide similar, although smaller, cost benefits (with other benefits and drawbacks, of course).

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:16:42 +0000

Although cost is a great way to convince someone, there’s many benefits that I don’t need equations for. My 40 minutes 5 days a week of biking to work have not only made me in the best shape of my life, but it makes me happier and I eat better when I am active. I don’t own a car, so I save all of the hassle from repairs, maintenance, insurance, brake downs, filling gas, waiting in traffic, and being enclosed in a bubble. I never kept good track of my car expenses, but once I got rid of it I could tell that I was easily saving thousands.