Jack Tame: My verdict on becoming a one car household

I had a funny entry in my calendar this week that took me a moment to decipher.  

‘Mava 1C anniversary’ it said.   

My heart skipped a beat. Anniversary?! Oh, hang on. No. Stand down.   

Forget romance. What my entry was telling me I’d just reached the anniversary for this very radio show, in which I’d shared with you our decision to become a one car household.  

We made the call at the start of 2023 because Mava had an old dunger that needed to go, and in theory it didn’t seem necessary for us to replace it. Sure, it was convenient having two cars. It was what we’d always been used to. But with a bit of coordination and organisation, we reckoned at the very least, moving to one car was worth a crack.   

We’re now more two years in, and we are still a one-car household. But in other ways, our circumstances have changed. For starters, there’s now four of us – Me, Mava, our eight-year-old, and our 10-week-old baby. That means a baby capsule AND a booster seat. And we’ve upgraded from my oh-so-cool, grey Toyota Corolla to an oh-so-cool white Toyota Corolla. You could say I’m on a coroll.  

Every household and every family is different, and there are things that make our set up easier and things that make it harder. For starters, we live really centrally, which certainly helps. But we also have kids. Kids who have appointments and sports and playdates with their friends. Kids who need to be in different places at the same time.  

The way it works is that I default to not taking the car. About 80% of my journeys, I ride my bike. When it’s really heavily raining, I take the bus to work or catch an Uber. When Mava isn’t pregnant or carrying a newborn baby, she rides her bike too.  

The Uber thing is actually a big one. Again – easier when you live in a big city. But when we became a one-car house we told ourselves that we wouldn’t feel guilty spending on Ubers if the pair of us had a clash in our schedules or a thunderstorm was rolling through. It didn’t take a Nobel-winning economist to work out that a few big Uber journeys in rush hour traffic probably still wouldn’t come close to what we were spending on insurance, parking and petrol.  

That was the theory. In practice it’s been a comprehensive money-saver. Last year we spent about $300 on Ubers. Compared to the price of buying and running a second car, it’s nothing.

The hardest thing for me has been when plans change at short notice. One of us is out with the car and the other’s waiting at home, but then the first person gets delayed. And even though I know I have to look at the overall spend rather than one-off journeys, catching a $40 Uber when previously we might have driven still feels a bit galling.

So, two years on, what’s the verdict? Sure, it takes marginally more coordination than it did with two separate vehicles, but if anything, it’s honestly been easier than I imagined. I’ve actually noticed that subconsciously, I often don’t even consider taking the car for most of my journeys. The biggest challenge is organising around a clash in our schedules. But there are surprising benefits outside the obvious: I LOVE not having to faff around so much with parking.

I’m not saying our set up is right or will work for every household and family. Of course not. You do you. Although, our really good friends are a three-child house in a suburb much further out, and they manage with one car just fine. But not once in the last two-and-a-bit years has either of us doubted the decision. It’s cleaner, and even if you don’t care about that, it’s certainly cheaper. New Zealand still has one of the highest rates of car ownership in the World. I’m convinced it doesn’t need to be so.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at Me, I had a kind.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Of a funny entry in my calendar this week that
kind of took me a moment to decipher. So it
said marv one Sea Anniversary, and my heart kind of
skipped a beat when I saw it anniversary. I thought, what, oh,
oh no, hang on, no, stand down, stand down, forget romance.

(00:34):
What my entry was telling me was that I had
just reached the anniversary for this very radio show in
which I had shared with you our decision, our family's
decision to become a one car household. So we made
the call at the start of twenty twenty three, right
because Marva had this old dunga that sort of needed

(00:55):
to go, and in theory, it just just didn't seem
necessary to replace it. In theory, at least, sure, it
was convenient having two cars. It was what we had
always been used to. But with a little bit of coordination,
a little bit of extra organization, we reckon that. At
the very least, moving to one car was worth a crack.
So the anniversary has passed. We are now more than

(01:19):
two years in, and I can report we are still
a one car household, and otherwise, though our circumstances have changed.
So for starters, there are now there's now four of us.
We've got me, Marva, our eight year old, and our
ten week old baby, so that means a baby capsule
and a booster seat. And we've upgraded from my oh

(01:41):
so cool gray Toyota Corolla to an oh so cool
white Toyota Corolla. You could say I'm on a Corole.
I'm a dad. Get used to it. Anyway, Every household
is different, right, every family is different. I get that.
And there are things that make our setup easier and

(02:03):
things that make it a little bit harder. So for starters,
it's easier to have a one car household when you
live centrally, and we live really centrally centrally, which certainly helps.
But then we also have kids, kids who have appointments
and sports and playdates with their friends, kids who need
to be in different places at the same time. The

(02:23):
way it kind of works at the moment is that
I default to not taking the car. About eighty percent
of my journeys I reckon are journeys in which I
ride my bike. So when it's really heavily raining, I
take the bus or I catch an uber to work.
Sometimes when Marva isn't pregnant or isn't carrying a newborn baby,

(02:44):
she rides her bike too, And honestly, the uber thing
is actually a really big one. Again, easier obviously when
you live in a big city. But when we became
a one car house, we kind of told ourselves that
we wouldn't feel guilty spending money on ubers if the
pair of us had a clash in our schedules or
a thunderstorm was rolling through. It didn't take a Nobell

(03:09):
winning economist to work out that a few big uber
journeys in rush hour traffic probably still wouldn't come close
to what we were spending on insurance and parking and petrol.
That was the theory anyway, That was the theory, But
in practice it has been a comprehensive money saver. So
I looked it up. Did the sums. Last year we

(03:31):
spent about three hundred dollars on ubers. Yep, that's real money,
three hundred bucks, but compared to the price of buying
and running a second car, it's nothing. The hardest thing
for me has been when plans change at short notice.
So one of us is out with the car, the
other one's waiting at home to use the car, but
then the first person gets delayed. That is frustrating and

(03:54):
it kind of throws a bit of a spanner in
the works. Even though I know I have to look
at the overall spend rather than individual one off journeys,
I'll be honest, Like catching a forty dollars uber when
previously we might have driven, that still kind of catches
in my throat. That still feels a bit galling, and

(04:14):
it can be hard to remind yourself you've got to
look at the big picture, look at the overall spend
rather than one off journeys. So two years on, what
is the verdict. Well, sure it takes marginally more coordination
than it did with two separate vehicles, but if anything,
it has honestly been easier than I imagined. And I've

(04:35):
actually noticed, like subconsciously, I often don't even think about
taking the car for most of my journeys. The biggest
challenge is organizing around a clash in our schedules, but
there are honestly surprising benefits outside the obvious. One little thing,
I just I love not having to faff around so
much with parking. It seems minor, but it's like it's

(04:58):
like a quality of life thing for me. And look,
I'm not saying that our setup is right or will
work for every household and every family, of course not. Okay,
you do you, although it has to be said at
We've got really good friends who have a three child
house and a suburb that's much further out than our
one and they manage with one car just fine, and

(05:21):
not once in the last two and a bit years
has either of us, either me or Marv, doubted our decision.
It is cleaner, and even if you don't care about
the fact that it's cleaner, it is certainly cheaper. Having
a one car household an interesting right. New Zealand still
has one of the highest rates of car ownership in
the world. After two years. I'm convinced that doesn't need

(05:44):
to be so.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
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