Does it make sense not to own a car at all?

[chakarafox]

@jamesf123 > they really are a lot worse than other carsharing options in Europe

Care to elaborate on that?

 

[jen76]

@chakarafox I think I understand where OP is coming from. Mobility is station-based and takes/requires reservations, whereas a lot of European car sharing systems are free-floating, where you can spontaneously find a car close to you and leave it wherever you want within reason. Therefore, mobility restricts flexibility especially during high-demand times and for one-way trips.
Depending on your situation, you may actually prefer station based though: the time is ususally cheaper and you never have an issue finding parking.

 

[jamesf123]

@chakarafox Friends live in Berlin, for example. They have something from BMW that allows them to get cars like scooters, drop in / drop off anywhere, no sign up fees or whatever (at least that was the case like 5 years ago). They were also very money conscious and said it was cheap enough. Perfect for day trips.

I realise the situation is not fully transferable to Switzerland because of geography / population etc, but we are usually behind on new business models, and one, somewhat old fashioned provider with restrictions and relatively high costs isn't something I like (compare them and getting a car at GoMore for like 60 CHF / day). I'm happy to be convinced otherwise though if there are in fact better ways of using it.

 

[chakarafox]

@jamesf123 Mobility is only for flexible, short, local use, but they excel at that. I could get a car within 10 minutes, drive 40km, come back after 2h, and pay less than 30 bucks. The car would be within 5min walking distance from my home, and when I return I have a guaranteed parking spot.

I'm not aware of other services that offer that kind of flexibility. But I agree that more choice would not hurt.

 

[eklisiarh]

@jamesf123 Day package with mobility budget costs 65 CHF with 100km included.

 

[jamesf123]

@eklisiarh Would usually be 150 to 200 for me, that would be a lot more. As another poster here said, they really are rather good for under / around 100, you're right, some conditions now are better than before.

 

[eklisiarh]

@jamesf123 It's 100 km per 24 hrs, so 48 hours would be 200km. For more there's classical car rental.
Mobility even offers special discounts with hertz of I remember correctly

 

[panamint]

@shirel This. And don't forget that Mobility includes fuel. I use it a lot for weekends, with daily packages I know I can do 200km in 48h for 65/70 CHF a day. If I drive more, I just pay the extra km. Obviously it's not the best choice if you know you're going to do more km, but in that case you have discounts with Hertz.

 

[resjudicata]

@jamesf123 If you live in the city and don't need a car for work, owning a car is a luxury.

 

[jamesf123]

@resjudicata I have to say I generally agree, but it was a lot more useful than I thought it would be. We ended up helping people move, taking more holidays in corners where we wouldn't have gone otherwise, taking people around to day trips...

And friends who do not have a car end up spending quite a lot on rental.

 

[sarahavian]

@jamesf123 I think in this context we are using luxury as a meaning of having a car always at your disposal. It is just convenient to not think about the fix train arrival or departure time. A own car is 24/7 available. I had a BMW 325d for my work. If you count really all expenses together it comes down to 0.70 CHF/km as an estimate. Its just insane ho much you pay for a parking lot. At least between 80-200 CHF/M. A blue parking zone pass was not a option for me. I do not like to drive around to find a parking place. If you count the time you are searching thats just additional costs you have to count. You could work for the time. I solt my car because I had to much time spend with traffic jam. As know I am working also in the city so my work distance is very short. 6 min to walk. Everything else i do with train (Halbtax) or bicycle or even e-scooter. If i need a car to go fishing or something else I take my neighbour or my parents car. Just try to do everything without the car and you are suddenly thinking out of the box.

 

[andrew1221]

@jamesf123 By my maths and as a guide: for single trips under 100km then Mobility is best, trips less than 200km per day then GoMore makes sense and for travels of more than 200km per day it's better to rent a car from Hertz or another such agency.

Owning a car is a bit of an unnecessary luxury depending on your use case. In my case I'd not use a car very often if I owned one and it would only make financial sense to buy one if it was very depreciated and then cheap to run otherwise renting when required is better financially. However there is something to be said for convenience and it would be quite nice to have a car to do weekend trips without too much planning and the additional hassle of renting

 

[jamesf123]

@andrew1221 Yeah it's this kind of borderline case where I definitely fall into the under 200km category, but I may (should) use it more if / when personal life stabilises.

Thanks for breaking it down per trip length though, I think it matches what I thought would be the case.

 

[alesli]

@jamesf123 I also live carfree and I enjoy it. Every time I hear people talking about how much time they use to take care of their car, I get more and more convinced of my choice. Anyway, car are also useful, especially with family and on weekends.
Idea: if the costs and the lack of use are disheartening yourself, you can also rent your car on gomore.

 

[onceawaretwiceempowered]

@jamesf123 It really depends on what your priorities are.

I have been in CH for 10 years out of which 8 were without a car, I also had a GA for some years (as a SBB Employee).

If you live in a city e.g. like Zurich you probably dont need a car for your everyday life.

However it does help in many circumstances e.g. you can go skiing with the train, done it several times, but for me going there with my car is 5x easier since you can just load your skis and stuff in the car and not worry / pack light. Also some day trips, hiking routes etc. are easier to reach or cheaper to do by car, especially if you travel with 4 friends (so 4 people would have paid tickets).

In general however if you make your decision based on money/expenses then of course it is way cheaper to have a mobility abo or rent a car when you need one. For me owning a car gives me a feeling of freedom (i am not sure if this is the correct formulation, i am not a native english speaker). Freedom aside I use the public transport or my bicycle to commute to the office since moving around with the car in zurich is not very efficient time-wise.

 

[jamesf123]

@onceawaretwiceempowered Yeah, that's one important point. Like I said in the other replies, we ended up going to cool places by car that we wouldn't have considered otherwise. The feeling of freedom is pretty important.

And yeah I don't go skiing or hiking by public transport anyway. But in recent years I barely went skiing.

 

[jesselharrison]

@jamesf123 I live in Vaud

I bought a car in January 2022,

I ended up selling it in November 2022 and going back to 100% public transit

If you ask me, yes, it makes sense to own no car

 

[jamesf123]

@jesselharrison My condolences. Hope you didn't get burned too badly on that one.

Did you hate the commute that much or?..

 

[jesselharrison]

@jamesf123 I don't even commute (I work form home), I only used it for leisure. Most productive thing I did with it was grocery shopping

Anyway, getting almost anywhere in my area is faster, more practical and cheaper with a train. Let alone the fact that while moving with public transit, you can actually enjoy your time

My final reasoning is that I had this chunk of metal that requires a ton of attention and maintenance for basically no return in terms of what I am able to do. I thought it would give me more freedom of movement, but it just meant that my trips were boring as all I could do was drive, and I had to get gas and find a parking spot all the time

I ultimately decided that I prefer to spend money on things that make my life simpler and less stressful, not the other way around

 

[melinda2022]

@jamesf123 I had a similar situation. The car broke down and had to decide. I ran my numbers and decided that as long as I would drive less than 5,000 Km per year, it was better to just use Mobility. Yes, it becomes expensive for longer trips, but still. It's also peace of mind that I don't have to worry about my car parked in the street for weeks.

If I was going somewhere for a weekend, what I have done is get there by train and then get a Mobility at destination when I needed it. I much rather spend 2 hours sitting on a train reading than driving.