Although I do have a car lease, i've been regretting that decision for quite some time. For at least a year now, I have debated on listing my car for a lease takeover. I'll be honest paying that much a month on car payments, insurance, gas and two parking spots makes me sick to my stomach.
The reason why I haven't listed my car is part 'scared' to give up my car freedom, the safety issues of having strangers drive my car and I would have to repair the bumper. Unfortunately, someone had hit me only three weeks after it got repainted and fixed because two other people hit my car prior to that (I only ever caught one of them). I've followed listed cars like mine on a popular website and they had better mileage and better incentives I couldn't match. It stayed listed for months and then I stopped tracking them so I just gave up on the idea.
I've decided to keep the car for now and concentrate on my first goals of getting out of debt and organizing my investments. Since my car lease is done mid-2016, I may just keep it until then.
Fortunately, I recently moved right in the heart of the city and my work is only a short bus ride away. I think biking to work is a much better option than busing, you'll save even more money. The city has a lot of bike trails but unless there's trails that lead to your work, the roads are not biker friendly. The personal reason why I don't like biking is because of a bad accident I had when I was younger. Ever since then, I haven't really enjoyed biking and would make me miserable if I had to bike every where. Let alone the fact that I'm scared to bike on any busy roads.
I don't think there's anything wrong with owning a car but one thing I've learnt is I should buy a good used car and pay it off within two years and/or save for it first. My first car was used and approximately 4-5 years old, I paid it off quickly due to a bursary I received from school. Unfortunately, it was what we call a 'lemon' and had numerous problems with it. It got to the point where I couldn't pass the emission test and it would cost a lot to repair than what it was really worth. Since, I felt like I didn't have a lot of time to look around for a good deal and didn't have a lot of knowledge, I bought another used car that was a year old. Unfortunately, this car also had a lot of issues. As soon as I was done paying the car off, I spent the next year spending just as much money in that year to repair it. That's what lead me to lease a new car. I couldn't afford to buy a new car and I didn't want to have to constantly repair it.
I used to think that I couldn't live without a car, as do most people, but when someone put it into perspective how much a car costs, it really hit me. Although, I know at first it'll be a bit of an adjustment without a car, it's something that I will get used to and the amount i'll be saving (or not spending) will make me forget how inconvenient it can be.
The reason why I haven't listed my car is part 'scared' to give up my car freedom, the safety issues of having strangers drive my car and I would have to repair the bumper. Unfortunately, someone had hit me only three weeks after it got repainted and fixed because two other people hit my car prior to that (I only ever caught one of them). I've followed listed cars like mine on a popular website and they had better mileage and better incentives I couldn't match. It stayed listed for months and then I stopped tracking them so I just gave up on the idea.
I've decided to keep the car for now and concentrate on my first goals of getting out of debt and organizing my investments. Since my car lease is done mid-2016, I may just keep it until then.
Fortunately, I recently moved right in the heart of the city and my work is only a short bus ride away. I think biking to work is a much better option than busing, you'll save even more money. The city has a lot of bike trails but unless there's trails that lead to your work, the roads are not biker friendly. The personal reason why I don't like biking is because of a bad accident I had when I was younger. Ever since then, I haven't really enjoyed biking and would make me miserable if I had to bike every where. Let alone the fact that I'm scared to bike on any busy roads.
I don't think there's anything wrong with owning a car but one thing I've learnt is I should buy a good used car and pay it off within two years and/or save for it first. My first car was used and approximately 4-5 years old, I paid it off quickly due to a bursary I received from school. Unfortunately, it was what we call a 'lemon' and had numerous problems with it. It got to the point where I couldn't pass the emission test and it would cost a lot to repair than what it was really worth. Since, I felt like I didn't have a lot of time to look around for a good deal and didn't have a lot of knowledge, I bought another used car that was a year old. Unfortunately, this car also had a lot of issues. As soon as I was done paying the car off, I spent the next year spending just as much money in that year to repair it. That's what lead me to lease a new car. I couldn't afford to buy a new car and I didn't want to have to constantly repair it.
I used to think that I couldn't live without a car, as do most people, but when someone put it into perspective how much a car costs, it really hit me. Although, I know at first it'll be a bit of an adjustment without a car, it's something that I will get used to and the amount i'll be saving (or not spending) will make me forget how inconvenient it can be.