Can Not Driving A Car Save You A Million Dollars?

By John Vlahakis

I’m sure most of us who spend a lot of time behind the wheel of a car are always looking for ways to cut our driving costs. With gas at $4.00 per gallon the incentive to cut that expense grows with each penny spike in gasoline. Besides listening to the radio for which gas station in your metro area has the cheapest gas prices, getting out of the car is an easier way to cut that cost. Yes, public transportation does lower our cost for vehicle ownership, but that too adds to our carbon footprint and it also costs us some hard earned cash. Walking and riding a bike makes a lot of sense for those of us who can do it. It’s not for everyone, but if you live in an area that provides you with good proximity to shopping, it may be the way to go to cut your car expenses. Besides the fact that walking and riding your bike is good for your wellbeing. I’ve been riding my bike to work, and have extended it to running errands. I can’t give up the car completely, but not having to drive every day is cutting back the cash out lay, despite the fact that I drive a Prius. There is a cool web site that provides a calculator on the costs of owning a car or not owning one, http://bicycleuniverse.info. It claims that if you did not own a car for 35 years you could save a million dollars in auto expenses. I’m not too sure there are many of us in our society that can pull that off, but it does make you think about driving less a little bit more. And if we all could drive a little bit less, this planet would be far better off.