There is no way I could do the things I do without owning a car. They do cost money to run, but the return on investment can’t always be measured with dollars.
There are ways you can save money.
When you go away with mates, get them to pay for all the fuel (unless they are helping you in a race). Only far when you are paying for the Rego+Insurance+Running cost.
Try to only buy fuel on Tuesday (Melbourne). Bottom of the discount cycle.
Get a car you can sleep in. Saves on accommodation on long trips.
Learn how to service the car yourself and do it regularly.
Only drive it on weekends when you go away.
Saves on moving costs, because you bought a car you can fit stuff in.
Buy a cheap second hand car, that is easy to service. Do your research.
Learn how to draft trucks. :evil:
There is no way you could do stuff like this with a flexicar, thought I imagine they might be good at doing 100km/h in reverse.
I just moved from Melbourne to the Southern Suburbs of Brisbane and am doing fine without a car. That said I don’t have any family or friends who live 50kms out of the city like I did in Melbourne so I’m not expected to be moving that far out of my local area. When in Melbs I remember choosing to ride from the City out to Bayswater once for a party. The driver attitude changed from about Box Hill onwards, from quiet contempt for all things on two wheels to hey lets try to kill this guy by throwing shit at him and cutting him off.
i was using flexicar when i lived in south yarra. it was pretty convenient - except that stonington don’t have any (they don’t believe in giving parking spaces to businesses). so i had to ride to the nearest car.
more often than not i could book the car 5 mins before i needed it as there were two at the location. it was pretty cheap as the petrol was included.
I also have the unfortunate issue of having a hobby that requires a car, and not just a car, but a car that can tow 1500kg. I scuba dive most weekends and tow a boat to do it with. I was renting 4wd from thrifty and using those. which worked out pretty cheap. but at $40 + $25 for insurance a day i could rent for 12 times and have paid for registration on another car. also found out that you’re not supposed to tow with rental cars…
so i went out and bought a shitbox 4wd for $3k and am now running it on 80/20 oil/diesel. It only gets used on the weekend and I plan on using flexi car when I move back into the city area.
Try a month with flexi car and see how it goes. if you’re thinking of joining find someone (me, blakey etc.) who are already members and get a recommendation so everyone gets more free hire.
gotta work out what’s best for you - financially and convenience wise.
I personally love having a car even though its only used once or twice on the weekend.
I’m actually thinking about buying another and doing a budget hill climb car!
“The reality is that I work in the city, I ride to work and I rarely use my current car during the week”
If you work in the city then I reckon you should be using charter drive as they tend to focus more on the CBD and have that weekend cap offer. This means that you can take a car home from work on a Friday arvo and return it when you come back to work on Monday morning. And you’re not “on the clock” because the rate is capped.
Charter Drive’s cost advantage and the convenience of being able to collect/return to cbd without having to pay for parking make me think Charter Drive is the better solution for your needs.
