Down to home stretch on moving down to one car

Marie5656

Marie5656

SF VIP
Location
Batavia, NY
Wow, lots of new things happening in next couple of months. DH last day as a working man is May 18th. In June, the lease expires on the car I drive. We made a mutual decision that when the lease was up, we would turn in the car and go down to one car. The time is NOW. I just scheduled the "pre end-of-lease" inspection on my car. Not sure what that even entails, but they are coming to the house to do it.

I have a call in to our Nissan dealership about scheduling a date to return the car to them. I do not see that anything needs to be done on it. It is "due" for an oil change and tire rotation, but I am still under the mileage to do them, so not sure what they will expect of us.

Had to stop typing for a second. I texted my husband to let him know I had scheduled the inspection, and that I was going to call the dealership to make an appt. to return the car. He called all in a panic thinking they were coming to the house to pick up the car on the day of the inspection. I had to say 3 times NO..they are JUST looking over the car.

 

RadishRose said:
I'm curious as to how this will affect you Marie, going from 2 to 1 for the both of you. I'm sure it will work out though with a little planning.
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We have talked it over at length. It helps that HIS retirement seems to coincide with the end of lease on my car. We have talked over the car sharing situation and hope to plan our independent social lives accordingly. We also plan to do a lot more together as well. He said he would not mind going shopping with me occasionally. It will be a learning process for the both of us. We will just have to see.
I go to the senior center once or twice a week. But that is just a couple miles from here, and unless it is a scheduled activity (like the exercise class) I can be a bit flexible about when I go. Plus the library is in the came building, so there is a combined trip right there,
Ask me again in 6 months
 

RadishRose said:
I'm curious as to how this will affect you Marie, going from 2 to 1 for the both of you. I'm sure it will work out though with a little planning.
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Pretty ballsy in my opinion. Meaning no disrespect, but you and the ol man may be throwing bricks at each other this time next month. We are down to one car being my truck is in the shop. Driving me crazy that I have to check schedules before I do anything. Tomorrow hers is due for inspection. I have to sit in some garage and wait instead of throwing them the keys and saying call me when it is done.

I guess if it becomes intolerable you can buy a beater off craigslist.
 
Robusta, I see your point, and to be honest, it does concern me. But both of us are pretty much home bodies, and do not go out a lot. I go out more than he does during the week. Since many of his friends still work, he would probably make a lot more plans on weekends for now.
But we concede this may not be permanent, and we may end up with another car. Who knows
 
I think it will be fine when you eventually trade in his car and replace it with our car!

This may be a good time to check out Uber and Lyft for those times when you both need a ride in different directions at the same time.
 
We're in the same boat,Marie ..... we're also considering it ,too. We're both homebodies ,so I think we'd do okay with one. Good luck on your decision !
 
We've got three vehicles now between the two of us and I can't see us getting down to just one vehicle.

First off mama would want to keep her mid size SUV but I'd want to keep my full size pickup or the Suburban.....she'd want go window shopping at the mall with her girlfriend and I'd want to go to the range.....she'd have a dental appointment and I'd need the vehicle to go to the VA.

Doctor, dental appointments as well as pleasure time etc would have to be coordinated to see if the other person is going to be using the vehicle at that particular day and time......too much hassle and I can see conflicts and possible squabbles happening.

Till we reach the point to where one or both of us is physically unable to drive I can see us always having at least two vehicles.
 
Like Ike, we've had 3 vehicles for quite awhile, the Jeep that we use every day, the Dodge Nitro that gets used maybe once every week or so, and taken on longer drives. The full size Dodge diesel pick up for vacations in the camper. It would feel odd to be down to just one vehicle someday, but it just might happen in the distant future. We don't go out much either, but it's nice to take off and do something and not have to worry about the other person needing to pick something up from the store or auto parts place, and not having the wheels to get there. Hope it works out for you Marie, good that nothing's set in stone. :D :drive:
 
At this point we pretty much go everywhere together, probably 95% of the time, and I'm usually driving. Last year we took the plunge, got rid of our two cars, and bought a new one - first time in 25 yrs we haven't had two cars.

It's worked out nicely. Last week I bumped into a parked truck's bumper - doing more damage to my car than his, LOL - and my insurance claim rep reminded me we have loaner car coverage, so for 12 days we're driving a Fusion hybrid.

The hybrid's okay, but I can hardly wait to get my twin-turbo SUV back. We also got loaner coverage on our extended service contract, so if the car goes in for more than 4 hrs the dealer will give us a loaner. That was actually my biggest concern - we usually leave our car off for service and come back the next day to pick it up. But with one car, you can't do that when the shop is two cities away and there's no direct public transit between them and us!

Marie, hope going down to one car works for you as well!
 
Like several previous posters, we have 3 vehicles. My mid-size SUV, his large pickup, and a still-larger, more powerful diesel pickup for hauling our 5th wheel. Could we potentially go down to 2 vehicles? Sure. Am I ready to give up my vehicle? Hell, no. He'd feel the same about his everyday pickup.

Since I don't love driving the big trucks, if I gave up my SUV it's pretty clear that 99% of the time my husband would be chauffeuring me around. Although we get along very well, we spend nearly all of our time together as it is. Sometimes though, I want to go to the store all by myself and push the grocery cart myself. You know, like a big girl.

I remember the day I got my driver's license nearly 50 years ago. The sense of independence it brought was indescribable to anyone who hasn't experienced it. I'm neither ready nor willing to relinquish the freedom provided by my vehicle, especially since it's long been paid for, it runs well, and the insurance costs are fairly low. No way, Jose.
 
Today I just made the appointment to turn in the car. The pre-return inspection is tomorrow. It is going to be an interesting transition, but I think we can do it.

Both of our cars have been leases for many years. We are keeping his because it is a newer lease..and a Chevy Bolt. Which is a full electric car. Rick figured it out, and it costs us about 15 cents a week or so to run. His leas ends in two years, and we will be getting another lease.

We will definately be saving a lot of cash doing this. Coolest one being no more gas. Prices are getting stupid on that.
We shall see how this goes.


 
If you don't drive long distances, an electric car is a great choice. Our neighbor has a Prius (hybrid) and a Leaf (electric). It makes a lot of sense. The Volt and Bolt have gotten very good reviews for their design, driveability, and e-mileage. Good for you!

We live in CA, so distances tend to be long. When we go traveling, I like to have a larger vehicle so that's why we chose the SUV. If we decided to have a second car again, it would definitely be either a hybrid or electric.

My secret pipedream is for the Tesla Roadster, their second-gen sports car. We occasionally see the first-gen Roadster around town, and it is GORGEOUS! Who knows if Tesla will be around in 2020, but wow, it is sooo beautiful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster_(2020)
 
I was in that situation and I couldn't wait to get a second car.

The problem is that when you have to pick someone up from an appointment or shopping, they expect you to be there exactly on time and you can't always do that.

So you get that "where were you?, I have been waiting 20 minutes".

Cell phones have helped if you both have them. Should be no problem. I'm stuck in traffic there was an accident.
 
Lethe200 said:
If you don't drive long distances, an electric car is a great choice. Our neighbor has a Prius (hybrid) and a Leaf (electric). It makes a lot of sense. The Volt and Bolt have gotten very good reviews for their design, driveability, and e-mileage. Good for you!

We live in CA, so distances tend to be long. When we go traveling, I like to have a larger vehicle so that's why we chose the SUV. If we decided to have a second car again, it would definitely be either a hybrid or electric.
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The Bolt gets a great range on a charge. In good weather it gets over 300 miles to a charge, which is more than Chevy says. But Rick has learned to drive it efficently in order to regenerate energy while driving. Mainly no speeding, and several other things. When you are lighter on the pedal, going down hills, etc it regens.
Plus we put in a 240 outlet outside, so it charges much quicker.
 

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