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Could your household live in Raleigh with just one car? Believe it or not, plenty of people do, including me! Today we discuss the challenges and benefits of living with just one car. We also hear from two other one-car families in the Triangle. Thank you to Owen and Greg for sharing their experiences with us. We’d love to hear yours, so email us or post on social to share.
LINKS
Car Ownership in U.S. Cities, Data and Map – Governing Magazine 2016
Does Everyone in America Own a Car? – U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs
Americans are Driving More than Ever – Scientific American, February 22, 2016
A Record 107 Million Americans Have Car Loans – CNN Money, May 19, 2017
How Many Cars Does the Average American Own? – Cars.com, March 15, 2017
Car Sales Squeak Out Another Record in 2016 – Forbes, Jan. 4, 2017
One-Car Families Going Out of Fashion – The Guardian, Dec. 3, 2013
Record Number of Miles Driven in U.S. Last Year – Feb. 21, 2017
Other Stats
- The number of people with a driver’s license in the United States grew from around 167 million in 1990 to approximately 222 million in 2016.
- There are more than 7 million licensed drivers in North Carolina.
- Information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests Americans Survey suggests that households continued to own the same number of vehicles over the last 10 years, but are owning their vehicles longer.
- Americans drove more miles than ever before in 2015, a departure from totals that have stayed mostly flat since 2004.
- Driving jumped 3.5 percent over 2014, the largest uptick in more than a decade, according to new data released by the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.
- Car ownership peaked in 2006 with 2.05 vehicles per household and is down to 1.927 cars.
- In 2017, a record 107 million Americans had a car loan, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Car Savings Budget
This is one person’s estimates on what he saves per year not owning a car.
- Car insurance was $1,080/year
- Registration & Tax = $200/year
- Wear and Tear Maintenance (including tires) – $750 a year
- Gas? – $840/year
- Add back $600 per year for Lyft/ridehailing
- =$4,270