The Benefits of Sharing a Car (If You Can)

My husband and I moved from Denver to Nashville in the summer of 2017, making some pretty big life changes all at once, with a new job (for him), a new apartment, a new church, and of course, a new city to get acclimated to. And amidst all of that, we also decided to sell his car and move to Nashville with just one car between us. Funnily enough, we ended up spontaneously selling my car to my brother (R.I.P. FJ Cruiser) while we were on a month-long road trip ending in Seattle to visit family.

So we were car-less for a few days and then purchased a GMC Terrain just before we made the long trek from Seattle to Nashville. And at that point, we looked at each other and said, “I think we could make one car work.”

And spoiler alert: we have! It’s been five years since we became a one-car family and let me tell you — it has been one of the best decisions we’ve made. Not only have we saved a significant amount of money, but we’ve also halved the amount of maintenance, cleaning, and other inevitable annoying things associated with owning a car.

Trust me — I’m not naive. I know that this is not feasible for every couple and every situation. In fact, when we lived in Denver, there is no way we could have possibly pulled this off. We lived in a city called Lakewood, I worked in Denver, then we moved to the heart of Denver, and Brandon worked in Lakewood — needless to say, we drove a lot. And usually in very different directions. And once we have kids, there will undoubtedly be a need for two cars, as doctor’s appointments, school drop-offs, soccer games, etc. fill up the calendar.

But in our current situation, it has been extremely doable. I usually tell people there is maybe one time a month where it becomes inconvenient — and of course, we always figure it out. Not only is there Lyft or Uber, but we often figure out a solution of dropping the other person off at their destination before we go on to the next, and then picking them up after. Sure, it’s not the most efficient, but 1) this rarely happens, and 2) the pros far outweigh the cons.

And above all, we walk. A lot. We live in an extremely walkable neighborhood, so if Brandon has the car and I need to meet up with a friend, I can easily walk to one of our coffee shops or restaurants down the street. Plus, both of our jobs are fully remote, so neither of us are commuting in and out of an office on a daily basis. So trust me — I fully understand that this one-car setup is possible primarily because of these two privileges.

But after five years of this setup, I can attest to some major benefits of the one-car lifestyle.

You Save the Initial Cost of a Second Car

It feels obvious to state this, but you will save thousands of dollars if you don’t have to buy a second car, which can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000, or even more (if you’re into that kind of thing!). You can use some of those savings towards buying a car you know will accommodate all your needs, keep you extra safe, and last a long time. Or you could invest in an electric vehicle for even more long-term savings on gas. We went ahead and bought a new GMC Terrain because it would ultimately fit a couple of kids, wasn’t super flashy (we opted for the base model and didn’t do any add-ons), and was made in America, so replacing parts wouldn’t be as expensive. Side note: we had also never bought a brand new car before (and grew up in used-car-only families) so it felt like a big splurge for us. It definitely beat buying two cars though!

You Save on Insurance + Registration

Aside from that initial cost, there are other sneaky costs associated with having a car — including the registration, title fee, insurance, and more. Each state is different, but here in Tennessee, it costs $26.50 to register your car, $95 for the title fee (including the license plate), $100 for the annual EV fee and wheel tax (?), and an average of $738 for car insurance for the year. This is all an estimate (that is changing all the time), but you get the idea. And it totals almost $1,000 a year! What if you instead put that $1,000 towards your Uber/Lyft budget? Or better yet, your savings account.

You Save on Maintenance

All of those expenses are what you’re paying if nothing ever goes wrong with your car. And we’ve all been around long enough to know that is likely not going to be the case. No matter how well we take care of our car, there are bound to be bumps along the road (no pun intended), forcing us to shell out hundreds of dollars at the most inconvenient time. Not to mention, there is ongoing preventative maintenance you should be doing that adds up over time, like changing your oil, getting a checkup at a certain mileage, rotating your tires, replacing your windshield wipers, etc. So if you have just one car to take care of, the maintenance is cut in half!

You Save on Gas

This past summer, gas prices reached historic highs, which significantly affected commuters all across the country. We weren’t as affected because we put in less mileage overall — and consolidate a lot of our driving, mostly out of necessity. For that, we were very grateful! You won’t cut gas in half by driving one car (because you’ll still be driving similar amounts of miles, just not overlapping), but you may reduce it by 25% or so!

You Reduce Headaches

There’s obviously a cost to owning and maintaining a car from a financial perspective. But there’s also a cost from a mental perspective — as any annoying issues that arise will take up space in your mind, causing unnecessary worry or stress. Having half of the issues means half of the headaches! And don’t get me started about when two cars have issues at the exact same time…it feels overwhelming (and expensive) to take care of.

You Save Space in Your Garage or Driveway

We don’t have a garage or driveway and use street parking, and it’s a lot easier to find parking for just one car. But if we had a garage, we could use the remainder of space for gardening tools, the lawnmower, trash bins, sporting equipment, etc. Plus, it just makes it easier to walk through a garage with an empty space!

You Get to Rely on Your Community

I would estimate that about every three or four months, we’ll have to ask someone for a ride to this or that, because the other person is using the car. It’s not often enough where we feel like we’re always “those people,” but it’s just enough to make us rely on our community. Our friends have been more than happy to help and it gives us a chance to spend some more time with them. And of course, if the roles were reversed, we would be more than happy to be their personal Uber.

You Can Use Other Forms of Transportation

This setup is much more feasible in the age of ride sharing. Plus, the bicycle has been around since 1817! Not counting rides to places we don’t want to park (like downtown Nashville) or to the airport, we’ve used Uber and Lyft only a handful of times for one-car reasons (I’m talking, less than five times in our five years of sharing a car). But just knowing it’s an option is a relief! Plus, we used electric scooters back in The Golden Age of Bird Scooters. But mostly, we walk. A lot.

You Spend More Time Together

With this setup, we have to work together as a team to plan out our schedules. (Again, a schedule conflict is rare — if this was a weekly occurrence, we may have considered getting a second car by now.) But we’ve had to communicate clearly in order to make this work. Plus, when you’re regularly driving to places together, you have so much one-on-one time. It sounds weird, but our drives are some of my favorite memories we have together — talking about our day, listening to music, praying, etc.

It’s Better for the Environment!

As an added bonus, this setup is better for the environment, as you’re emitting half the carbon monoxide and other harmful byproducts released when a car is running. It’s a beautiful thing when the decisions that are actually better for you (insert all of the above reasons) actually end up being better for the planet. Because that is not always the case! But I’ve found it is true for many of the things related to minimalism, like thrifting, for example.

Could You Do It?

Have you considered sharing a car with your significant other? I would love to hear from you if you’re interested in this setup — or if you have any questions related to one-car living. Leave a comment below!