I Am Car-Free
As of tonight I am no longer a car owner. I sold my 2000 VW New Beetle, which I got brand new nearly seven years ago, to a co-worker. Flexcar meets my needs when I run errands, visit friends and family, and travel around the area.
I thought for a while about this decision before proceeding. From a purely economic perspective it made a lot of sense to sell my car: I don’t drive very often, so many months I was paying hundreds of dollars for parking, insurance, depreciation, and maintenance to just have the car available on a moment’s notice. Now I can save much of that money and I don’t have to worry about maintaining a car of my own. Some of the people with whom I discussed Flexcar were offended at the thought of not owning a car. It seems un-American not to own a car, and to join a car-sharing program seems so collectivist it might as well be Communist.
I’ll be following my own progress to see how the transition goes over the next year. Today also marks the first anniversary of my arrival in Seattle, so it’s as good a time as any to start another crazy scheme.