How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life

This book is very long overdue. Chris Balish does an excellent job of explaining the true cost of car ownership and promoting cheaper and cleaner alternatives. Many people in the U.S. assume that they must have a car in order to function. I live in a large city in Ohio and have never owned a car. I have always used mass transit and walking as my primary means of transportation. I also occasionally car pool with family members. Many people in my area live very close to the bus lines, but do not use the bus because of stigma associated with mass transit. Some people believe that the bus is only for the poor and underclass. That is a shame because they could save a lot of money by ditching their car. I know people who cannot afford to buy quality healthy food,(fresh fruits, veggies, lean meat, fish and whole grain breads) but spend a fortune every month on their car payment and car related expenses. I also know people who drive to very short distances that can be easily reached on foot. Over the last 30 years of not owning a car, many people tried to push me into getting a car. I would be the butt of jokes because I did not own a car. I have had people refuse to talk to me when they found out that I did not own a car. They treated me as if I had AIDS or Ebola. But these very same people would constantly complain about the price of gas, expensive car maintenance, and being stuck in traffic. When I moved to my condo back in 2001, the bus route that runs through the neighborhood use to have only a few riders. Now the same bus route is almost always crowded, sometimes with standing room only. Now it is no longer a stigma to ride the bus, especially when gas prices shot up to over $3 a gallon a few years ago. I really don't need a car because I am single and have no children. I live within a 5 to 10 minute walk to the bus lines, which run every 30 minutes, 7 days a week. There are 4 different bus lines that go through my neighborhood. I can get to work and do my grocery shopping without a car. I have access to many different shops that are within a 3 to 5 mile radius, easily reachable on one bus route. If I owned a car, it would put me into serious financial ruin. It may take me a little longer to get to work and to the store, but I have less stress and my transportation bill only runs a little over $60 a month for a bus pass. I don't have to worry about parking, gas prices, oil changes, car insurance, maintenance, parking tickets, road rage, etc. The city that I live in is currently conducting a long range alternative transportation study and may be planning to implement light rail in the future. If 10 percent of the American public cut back on driving or got rid of their cars altogether, it would save millions of barrels of oil each year. The streets would be less congested, the air would be cleaner and people would save a lot of money. I like the cartoons and illustrations that Mr. Balish used in this book. It made the book fun and enjoyable to read. I have already shared this book with my sister, who is thinking about going car-free in the future.

Both me and my fiance are coming from Los Angeles families with 4 cars each - that makes it 8. I used my car quite intensively to get to school (27 miles away) and back and do a lot of unnecessary shopping. My fiance worked as a delivery guy for more than 3 years. What I am trying to say is that cars were a big part of our lives, and at that time, looking at a long term future, we did plan to give them up.Once I started to learn about how our lifestyles affect climate change, my outlook on many issues including transportation has changed quite drastically. Thanks to this book, I was able to realize that owning a car:1. Has a significant financial burden, something that I never questioned.2. Negatively affects person's quality of life and quality of life of city populations. (Who would volunteer to live right next to a freeway? What about sitting in traffic for 2 hours every day?)3. Encourages us to make impulse or otherwise unnecessary purchases.4. Has obvious effects on the environment.As a result of reading this book and after moving to a different city, both of us were able to sell our cars. We settled in a place that enables me to use public transportation and him to use his bike to commute to work. We got more than $10K of upfront income and a minimum of $12,000 annual savings. So just as one of the other commentators mentioned: retiring early has never been easier : )It is much more relaxing to have someone else do the driving and even be able to read on a bus. Also, you think big purchases through before you go to the store.I cannot say that we never used a car. During a year that we didn't have our cars, we twice rented a car and used a taxi 3 times. My bus pass is subsidized by my company, so I don't spend more than $200 on that. All together $500 or $600 that we spend on other methods of transportation does come near the amount of money that we would've spent on two or even one car.So if you are contemplating getting rid of your car or living a car-lite lifestyle, I definitely recommend this book!

When I started college in 2010, I commuted from home forty miles each way, because there were no buses that reached rural Kentucky areas. After transferring to the University of Maryland, though, I bought my first bicycle as an adult, and over time discovered that the only times I ever used my car were the trips I would take to drive home to Kentucky once or twice a year (600 miles one way).After reading this amazing book, I began to realize how much my car was actually costing me each month. Even though I had paid it off, my apartment makes me pay $50 a month for parking, and I have to pay $200 a month for insurance because I'm a male under 25... After suffering through using a base model car with no air conditioning for years, I had originally made up my mind to purchase a new car after graduation (one that had air conditioning), but then one day at work (I work at a used book store), someone donated a copy of this book (which was an advance reader's copy, and had no ISBN, so we couldn't do anything with it).After reading this book cover to cover in about a week, my perspective has taken a 180 degree turn. Where previously I was trying to plan my life and future career around making enough to purchase and maintain a new car, now I am intent to sell my car as soon as I get my clean title back from the DMV! I'll be able to save $6,500 a year (from a car I already paid off completely) by selling it and not buying another car!This book gives you everything you need to plan out living without a car. First it gives you reasons why its better to live without one, and then it shows you how. For anyone who is interesting in saving TONS of money, helping the environment, and decreasing stress, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!

There are plenty of books out there on this topic, such as "Divorce Your Car!" and such, so I assume the topics on how our society has been "car jacked" and how our urban lives and culture have come to be dominated by car-culture, have been dealt with elsewhere. This book doesn't really talk about any of that, it's mostly a text meant to persuade that living without a car is possible and preferable once you know all the facts! The amount of money spent on a personal vehicle per annum is pretty amazing and eye-opening, that isn't to say it will be easy to transition for most. One of the key things for example one should at least do is to move closer to work, which I assume for many doesn't sound "realistic." However considering the money saved though by not owning a car, it is entirely possible but it begs the question "what about the people who like living in suburbs (if there is such people, I am just assuming)? I am only giving a four star because there are no references to back up some of his claims, I don't doubt them but some other readers might.