USA
Did you know that according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average american household spends $9,000 on automobile ownership? The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts that at roughly 17.5% of the household’s expenses, the second largest single expense category (after housing, but still larger than the sole cost associated with paying rent or a mortgage). That’s a lot of money, and not for a fancy car - AAA only includes sedans in that assessment (no trucks, vans, or SUVs)!
What this means is that you can save a significant amount of money if you can manage to drive less (wear + tear is $.74/mile). Cut down your mileage and you could easily save hundreds of dollars per year.
But the real financial burden of a car is in the fixed costs - ownership, maintenance, insurance, taxes, and fees. If you’re a one car household, this may not be an option for you (and that’s ok - most of us at Love to Ride are too!). However, there are a lot of households out there sitting on a second car that gets a whole lot less use but isn’t costing much less. Even if you’re not paying that car off anymore, it’s sitting there depreciating in value, costing you for registration and insurance, and for what?
Ditch the second car - you’ll save a lot of money, that could be better spent on stuff like a holiday, a new bike, retirement, studying, heck - almost anything else!
Oh and you know the best part? You don’t just save that money once - you save it every single month. Let’s say you ditched a second car and saved the following:
That’s a 4% raise (at the median national income) that you just gave yourself - and it could be even larger!