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Since finishing college, I haven't owned a car. I have had the opportunity to own a car, but I choose not to (for now). When I graduated college, my parents offered to give me the 2001 Acura TL that I drove through high school and college to keep as a graduation present. I declined the car and decided to live without one. Why would I turn down a free, paid-off, well-maintained car?
I calculate the minimum cost to legally own this car as $5,465 per year or $455 per month. This does not include fuel costs, tolls, outside parking, or other costs generated from driving the car. Here is a break down the costs:
| Yearly | Monthly | |
| Registration | $200 | $16.67 |
| Parking | $4,200 | $350 |
| Insurance | $565 | $47.08 |
| Maintenance | $500 | $42 |
| Total | $5,465 | $455 |
Of course if I actually drive the car, these costs will increase due to fuel and other incurred maintenance. At least financially, there is a reason to go without a car. You can imagine that if I wouldn't have received a paid-off, old car, then these costs would be much higher with a car payment and increased registration fees.
Beyond the costs of the car, there's a peace of mind and ironically a sense of freedom gained from not owning a car. Whenever I go out to drink, I don't have to worry about where to leave my car. I don't have to worry about parking when I go to a restaurant or other establishment. This is especially valuable in a city which has large amounts of traffic and a lack of parking.
So there are reasons both financial and otherwise to not own a car. A car does fulfill a purpose though. If someone who has a life structured around needing a car sells their car, they would not be able to live or function in the same way. Therefore, not owning a car requires a restructuring of your lifestyle.
There are places that people need to frequently get to. This frequency can vary from daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or even less. The decision to not own a car is prioritizing your living location next to your frequent obligations.
The most important location to live close to is going to be your daily obligations. For most people, this would be work. Keep work in walking distance.
This can be the most difficult priority to achieve, but it is the most important priority. I'm going to do some back-of-the-napkin math to put into some general numbers of how important this is. I'll make the assumptions that the average US worker commute to be about an hour a day (30-min each way), and that there are 150 million US workers. These numbers might be a bit off, but quick estimations are an important skill to use to achieve quick understanding of situations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_problem). This means that every work day, about 17,000 years of human existence are extinguished in commuting. Every single day, we (Americans) collectively waste more time that humans have been recording history, just to commute. If you go from an hour of commuting per day down to 5-10 minutes, you'll be left with so much time every day that you'll not know what to do with it. This increased free time is great to be used to satisfy a learning curiosity to improve a skill, or spend more time with loved ones and friends.
Other locations that are less frequent but important to live close to are your weekly obligations. Things such as grocery stores, restaurants, weekend events, and friends are in this category. It's great if these all can be walkable as well. If not, within a bus ride or a short Uber should be good. A grocery store should be less than a mile, while good restaurants, fun places, and friends you should try to keep less than 2 miles.
An important factor here can be weather, so make sure you have the proper rain gear/snow gear/shoes for braving whatever mother nature will throw at you at any time of year.
Some more frequent obligations that used to be a car trip will turn into ordering online due to the volume capacity limit that you'll be able to carry. If biking, you could have a trailer for more capacity, but my experience is with walking. A backpack, and 2 grocery bags in each hand is about what I can carry. This is enough to feed one person for at least a week, so if you need to feed 2 people, it's good to team up on grocery runs. Common items that I now have delivered instead of get myself are furniture, laundry detergent, toilet paper (very voluminous), paper towels, hand soap refills, and other bulky or particularly heavy items.
Trips out of the city or to specific locations are in this category. Fulfilling this need can be the more expensive Ubers to go to a specific event center or restaurant. Also, there are car share apps like Turo or GetAround which can be leveraged for the out-of-city trips to either neighboring cities or for exploring nature.
Some monthly obligations you can try to find a remote or delivery option for. Certain meetings can be done remote now especially since the pandemic has normalized this. Most things like medications or other necessities can be delivered if you live in a big city.
For these, I like to live close enough to Uber/train to the airport. I'm not shy about taking planes when necessary. Part of these expenses can be paid through credit card rewards, but planes are a more efficient, cheaper, and safer way to travel long distances.
One of the biggest expenses here is not even a plane ticket, but the actual Ubers/Lyfts to and from the airport. Prioritize living next to a train/bus route that goes to the airport if able. When I lived next to a train station that stopped at the airport, the cost to go to the airport was $3.50. An Uber/Lyft can surge up to $70-90 depending on availability.
Living without a car is not something that everyone can do everywhere, but it is more doable than someone living in a car-centric world might think. If you thoughtfully structure your life in a way to not need a car, you can gain a sense of freedom and peace without the responsibilities and troubles that a car brings with maintenance, legal concerns, parking, gas, repairs, and all else. The world has changed to make car-free living a more enjoyable alternative if you prioritize it.