At the end of 2014, we moved across town to a new-to-us (and, frankly, new to Portland) neighborhood. Our new house is perfectly situated in a hip (and growing) part of town. There are high rises being built about four blocks away from our house, and, since this is Portland, you can tell the direction the neighborhood is going by the fact that the fancy grocery store (our local version of Whole Foods) chain chose our part of town for their latest location.
We’re in one fun neighborhood, and about a mile’s walk from three others.
I have driven my car six times since December 31, 2014.
So, should I sell my car?
Reasons to Keep My Car
- It’s paid off
- It requires very little love and attention from me (gas+insurance cost about $1200 per year)
- Sometimes, it’s rather convenient to have my own car
- I can’t easily find the title
- It sits in a nice one-car garage all by itself
- There’s comfort in having it
- It’s about to get some nice repairs done
Reasons to Sell My Car
- I drive two or three times a month — some of those are after Brent gets home, so I could easily drive his car
- I live on the bus line
- I have a bicycle
- If I don’t have a car, then I don’t have to buy groceries*
- I can get a discounted public transportation pass through Brent’s work
- I’m a Car2Go member
- I can use Uber (maybe? soon?)
- The garage can be used for Brent’s car, or … to store something else (can’t think of what… portable hot tub? That’s not weird, right?)
This Post Almost Didn’t Happen
The other day, as I was driving home from the doctor, I got into a fender bender. Everyone is fine, the driver apologized profusely, felt really bad, and was honest with her insurance company. My car looks a little more janky than it did before the crash, but according to the body shop, it is still in safe driving condition. And the repairs aren’t costly.
You know you’re a blogger when one of your thoughts after getting into a car accident is, “But that post is already half done!”
I thought that I might be looking at a total loss situation for a minute. I mean, I do drive a very fancy 2005 Toyota Corolla (don’t be jelly), but even small crashes can end up costing a lot to fix. Perhaps the accident would render this decision unnecessary?
But no, the good news is, my car will be in fine working order in about a month.
Which gives me more time to decide.
It’s funny how different this decision is today than it was three years ago when I used a tax refund to pay for the down payment on what was quite obviously an overpriced used car. Having my own car then was a game changer. And now?
Not so much.
Should I Sell it?
I’m leaning toward selling my car and seeing if it’s easy for us to be a one-car family. If it’s not, then I can buy another car worth about what I sell the Corolla for, so it’s not a huge decision. I am not the kind of person who will get rid of a car worth $3000 and all of a sudden get a hankering for a $30,000 car. I mean, I can rent a fancy car every single time I want one and still not spend $30,000 on it!
It should be noted that this is 100% my decision. Brent has his car (he wrote about buying it here, here, and here!), and since he commutes to the suburbs (and I’m not exactly Mustachian enough to move to the suburbs), he drives. 40ish miles a day. He doesn’t have a problem parking in the driveway, and he doesn’t have a strong opinion one way or another about my having a car. He thinks my car should live in the garage, since we live on an urban street and you’re not really supposed to leave a car parked on a street forever (but nobody told my one neighbor who has four flat tires).
What do you think? Would you keep it or sell it?
*Kidding. We buy groceries together on the weekends. What can I say? We’re newlyweds.
