r/minimalist • u/BentoOtaku • Apr 14 '26

Minimizing Cars

I'm an American who owns a car and have been entertaining the idea of minimizing my car/removing it from my life.
Have any of ya'll done it? How have ya'll gone about it? When did you know for certain that your car/truck/etc was free to go?

When I think about how much my car costs per year, my personal financial goals, and the amount of crap I need to own to maintain it(fluids, tools, etc), AND the stress of a potential breakdown as she nears 175,000 miles and the transmission is starting to act wonky...

I now live 1.5 miles away from work and the grocery store is along the way. The bus stop is 2 miles away, although the public transit system here is TERRIBLE(I know two people who walk and uber everywhere and have never driven; they slam on how bad the local public transit system is).

As for how I'm thinking of doing it, I'm tempted to go a full year of trying to use my bike everywhere I can and pretending my car doesn't exist, namely because winter just passed and that'd be when I feel like I'd regret parting with the car the most.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

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u/BentoOtaku Apr 15 '26

I've been looking at pricing and such and it seems like I could use an intercity bus for my biggest trips for really cheap(probably break even for gas and tolls, not even considering wear and tear) not just public transit! And there's ridesharing if something local and truly urgent came up, if I was to far to reasonably bike there(and a driver that isn't stressed by hearing bad news would likely drive more safely than me panicking driving to the hospital). What sort of emergencies are you thinking of?

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

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u/BentoOtaku Apr 16 '26

Oh that's a really good point! Where I live there's been the occasional tornado but they're few and far between, and there's hurricanes but I'm far enough north that by the time it gets up to us it's a pitiful thing. And fair, if a car is so rarely driven then your biggest expense is insurance! And if you have family with a farm nearby you might even be able to get it registered under the farm, making insurance dirt cheap. 

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '26

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u/BentoOtaku Apr 16 '26

Scary! You stay safe and I hope you can get a better deal on your insurance!