How many cars per family?

I am thinking of selling my truck, which means we will only have one vehicle. DH goes to work 5 days a week from 7:30 - 5:30.

I live in Dunedin, public transport is ok, but horrible in winter.

How do you cope with one car, or is it best to just have two?

Any tips/experiences please :)

I couldnt cope without my car

We had one until I was about 8 months pregnant with DD. We live rural but worked nearby each other, so it made sense to share the commute. However, there were no options of public transport for either of us, and it's a bit far for DH to bike to work, so we bought a second car once I was going to be home on my own while DH was at work. Without it, having DD would have been a really isolating experience for me. Truthfully we hardly use the second car much, but it was a godsend having it there on the days when I desperately needed to get out of the house and go and see someone.

If you have public transport as an option though, I'm sure you'd be ok without it. When is your bub due? Perhaps if it's due in the depths of winter it might make more sense to have a car, but if it'll be a couple of months old by the time it gets really cold, then you should be experienced enough to dress it appropriately for the weather. If you are going to have only one car though, then a decent pram and a good baby carrier would both be worthwhile purchases I think.

We have managed fine with one car for ages now. DH bikes to work, but got a lift from work last winter with a freind from work- that friend has since moved house, so now DH has bought wet weather gear so he can now ride his bike in all weather. I always have the car and use it each day to take DD to kindy etc. When we did have 2cars one was only used to get DH to and from work and thats it- became too epxensive to have a car for just that!

There's not just the rego - there's the warrants (and with an older car, there's often the cost of things that need doing to get it warranted, sadly), services (if you choose too - but if you don't things go wrong faster), tyres, and at least in my case, the extra petrol Id use that I really don't need to.

It's worth mentioning that I don't use public transport - I find it too difficult with a baby who likes his routine a lot to get to and from where I want to go without a meltdown because the little Mr wants to be in bed. I dont think we'd cope very well if DH needed the car every day. Does your DH, or could he get to work some other way half the time?

Thanks for the input, I live at the very top of pinehill (by mt. cargill) so its a bit of a hike up from the bus stop.

I am thinking I could just drop DH and pick him up after work? he is the one with regular hours not me so should be easy, no-one we know lives around here for him to get a ride.

I think a cheaper car might be the best option, my truck while great for dogs and going on the family farm is just a bit of pain in terms of parking and upkeep etc.

I would much rather have only one car though so will try my hardest to see if this will work! I have a horse, if only it was still feasable to ride it to town haha.

when my dd was first born i was a solo mum and at the time didnt drive so i had to bus absolutly everywhere which was hard as i had a baby born right in the middle of winter but i managed and it wasnt too too bad, 4mths later i met my partner and he had one car so it got alot easier , i still had to use the bus during the day when he was at work but at least i was able to do grocerys and stuff with him in the car . i bought my own car a year ago and also my dp now has a work van as well so we went from having one car between us and me not driving to having a car each and a work van and i drive lol so lifes ALOT easier now , esspecially since the earthquake here in chch public transport is very hard to use as theres no city centre anymore. it can be a bit harder with one car but its definatly do-able

We only have one car although DH mostly walks to work so its usually available if i needed it during the day. We live within walking distance to the supermarket, pharmacy, doctor & preschool so most days i don't need a car anyway & we have a good buggy. In saying that if DH had the car away all day during the week I think i would want a wee run-about or at least the option of him able to take time off at short notice to take us to Dr or where necessary. To be honest with my first child if it was a crappy day in the middle of winter we just didn't go out if didn't have too ;-)

We survived with one vehicle for a year but at times it was a PITA. DP only gets every second weekend off work and usually only the middle of the day off when he is working. So if we wanted to go to a family lunch for instance - we had to shoot off at around ten/eleven when DP finished morning work, drive to where ever we were going and then hastily eat lunch and get back in the car to drive home so that DP could be home for afternoon milking. It would have been much easier if I could have gone by myself with the kids and DP come and gone when he needed to.

We have recently bought a new vehicle. We will keep the old vehicle for 6 months to see how much we use it - having the convenience of a second vehicle may not be worth it after having to pay for two sets of insurance, WOF, Rego, Maintenance etc.

ETA - When we lived in Dunedin we had two cars but hardly ever used the second car. DP would bike to work and I would drive to work.

Edited by Delli

kebakat wrote: I couldnt cope without my car

Same!! DH has his car to go to work and I have my car to do the stuff I want to do. I live rural out in the wops so having no car would be a disaster for us!