So Long, Saturn

I sold my car, and I couldn’t be happier ... I think 20

handing over the keysIt’s all yours.iStockI recently committed a subversive act: I sold my car, and I’m not buying a new one.

I’d thought that I’d feel virtuous and free—and I do—but it’s turned out to be a bit more complicated than that.

Never too attached to my particular car, I considered it transportation, not a reflection of who I am. My job as an environmental reporter has taught me about the hazards of car ownership, from pollution and materials waste to sprawling, disconnected communities to oil politics—even obesity. Yet in spite of living for 14 years in San Francisco, a compact city with good public transit, I’d held onto my car.

In fact, I did walk and bus many places. Plus the city has two car-share businesses, one with a lot around the corner from my house. Why did I need a car? I am the target market for these companies, yet the notion of selling my car still generated paranoia of being trapped in a lawless city after an apocalyptic event.

Finally, I realized that my 1997 Saturn SL2 wasn’t getting any younger; it would be best to cut ties before it really cost me money. I considered buying another, but a quick look at used prices put me off that idea.

Doing the math—insurance, registration, gas, maintenance, depreciation—I was surprised to find that I would likely come out ahead by busing and car sharing. My plan to rent out my parking space was gravy. I joined the car-share company on trial and borrowed a car once to see how it worked. It was easy and kind of fun. Yet despite all this progress, I still resisted putting my car up for sale until my insurance came due again.

Because suddenly, instead of a rattletrap responsibility, my car felt like a security blanket. It could take me wherever I wanted to go, whenever I wanted! My depth of feeling for this vehicle, which I’d never really liked and sometimes felt guilty for using, caught me off guard. In spite of my values, I clearly wasn’t immune to the way cars are embedded into our infrastructure and culture.

Finally, the time came. The morning of the sale, I drove to meet the buyer. On this, our last trip together, I looked around the car’s interior and considered it with new eyes. Cleaner than usual, it felt cozy, almost homey. I thought to it, “Say goodbye to the neighborhood,” simultaneously feeling verklempt and a bit ridiculous.

After the sale, I walked past where I’d last seen the car and instinctively veered to reunite with it. Laughing, I ruminated over my expected savings and the maintenance hassles I’d avoid, feeling a real sense of liberation.

In the weeks that I’ve been car-free, the story of Why I Sold My Car, And How I Will Travel Now has been a subject of intense interest from family, friends, neighbors, insurance agents. As I am one who enjoys challenging assumptions, these talks have been mostly fun.

Still, living differently has a learning curve. Frustration hit when I encountered a line at a car rental company (used for longer trips) and when I researched a bus route improperly and ended up late. But other lessons have been exciting, like when I realized a bus a block from the house takes me directly to three popular neighborhoods across the city.

I’m saving money, getting exercise by walking, and becoming more familiar with my city on the street level. If that’s subversive, I’m for it.

Erica Gies is a freelance environmental writer who lives in San Francisco, Calif.

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  1. enviroperk Posted 2:02 pm
    08 May 2009

    Good for you, Erica. Great article on the challenges. Someone should write about doing this a smaller city and the challenges without public transportation. I think part of the solution would have include relocating to a place where day to day necessities ( Grocery, etc. ) are within walking distance. Bikes are great for much of the year.

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  2. katakanadian Posted 7:28 pm
    08 May 2009

    I bike to work most of the time. There is a car share coop in my city.I share a car with with my dad. My main reason I don't want to give that up is that that my decision to drive is frequently made about 5 minutes before I would have to hop on my bike depending on whether the rain has stopped yet. I wouldn't like reserving a car 24 hrs ahead of time because "maybe it will be raining tomorrow". This is, of course, just an excuse because I survived quite well without a driver's licence until I was 31 but it is honestly my biggest reason for wanting to keep easy access to a car. I bike to work ~75% of the time and hardly do any other driving.

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  3. MRMinSF Posted 11:01 am
    10 May 2009

    I use a car share company in San Francisco also... quite often the cars are available right away, so planning ahead 24 hours isn't always required. Sometimes, though, I actually have to be flexible and creative... not the worst thing in the world, when you think about it. I'm trying to be less greedy for convenience.



    This piece brings up the question about our addiction to cars, and forces us to consider that cleaner cars are by no means a silver bullet to a better future... if we could magically swap every gas-car for a 100% green/pollution-free car with a snap of the fingers, we'd still have unsustainable sprawl, obesity, and road-rage.



    Is a world of cars, cars, and more cars what we want for our future?

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  4. mihan's avatar

    mihan Posted 10:39 am
    11 May 2009

    The stuff you own owns you. That's one less (expensive) thing you have to take care of/worry about. I've never had a car (I'm 37), and hope that my first car is a tiny electric car to port my groceries after I've had my hip replaced and can't bike too well anymore.Next step---get rid of the cell phone!

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    1. CS Posted 1:32 pm
      11 May 2009

      You're the first person I've heard saying get rid of a cell phone! I think 9 out 10 people are obsessed with having one. I don't have one; only have a land line and never have been in such a hurry to make a call that I can't wait till I get home. I'd get one if I had money to spare and it would be a luxury and good for emergencies. Experts say too much use affects the brain. What do you all think?

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      1. MRMinSF Posted 1:42 pm
        11 May 2009

        This goes a tad off-topic, but most people can save a lot of money and motivate themselves to limit their use of cell phones by going on a prepaid, per-minute plan. For 8-10 cents a minute (T-mobile in the San Francisco area) I can make the calls I need to but keep my monthly bills in the $10-12 range, which I consider to be a highly affordable convenience. When you know every minute counts, you regulate your chatter.And, I am happy to keep using my perfectly-functional 4-year old phone. One less item in the ewaste stream.But, like driving, cell phone use is fundamentally a lifestyle habit so many of us take for granted: never a bad idea to stop for a moment to ask ourselves if our lifestyle is healthy or not, and make adjustments that seem worthwhile. Its easy to get addicted to convenience, but that is not necessarily a good thing for our personal or environmental health.

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  5. CS Posted 1:23 pm
    11 May 2009

    Good article. The easiest place to do this is in a public transportation friendly city. Here in Salem, OR some busses run every 15 min; others every hour. Some areas of town don't get bus service and it wouldn't be possible to walk or bike.  Also, there's alot of rain here. I think my favorite thing about owning a car is the independence. It's always there at the last minute, gets me to my destination the fastest and I can put much more in a car than on a bus, bike or what I can carry. I had a temp job once where my bus was paid for. Walking to and from the bus + the ride took 1 hour. In my car, maybe 15 minutes. Right now, having a car is better for me.

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  6. MRMinSF Posted 1:53 pm
    11 May 2009

    I'll challenge your notion of 'independence' given that it takes a fair amount of money to buy and operate a car... so, some # of hours per week at your job are actually dedicated to funding that possession. How that compares to the time you might spend walking/bussing is a formula you might enjoy working out.

    At a different level, there is a collective 'independence' our country has lost since we are required to import oil from foreign interests whose values around environmental protections, human/womens' rights, and democratic principles hardly align with our own.

    I certainly don't fault you for being practical: you're absolutely right that cars often get us where we want to go faster than busses. That is because we keep on building infrastructure that rewards car use rather than transit use and fails to create walkable/livable environments that meet our needs. Let's start asking our President to consider massive infrastructure stimulus spending that changes that misguided reward system.

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  7. MRMinSF Posted 2:34 pm
    11 May 2009

    By the way... today's New York Times features an article on Vauban, Germany, a suburb designed explicitly to reduce or eliminate the need for a vehicle. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html?_r=1&ref=global-homeIts not the only such example, but a refreshing reminder that cars are not fundamentally required for a modern lifestyle.

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  8. human power Posted 11:58 pm
    12 May 2009

    Enviroperk asked about car-free in a smaller city. I live in Eugene, OR, a city of less than 200k, even if you add adjoining Springfield. We have very limited public transit and it is mostly filled with drug addicts and homeless people; sometimes because this is the only place they can get out of the rain. I walk and ride a bike everywhere I go, except for trips to CA (train). With a decent bike trailer and some baskets and/or panniers, I usually leave the grocery store/farmers market/hardware store with a much larger load than the folks in the steel wheelchairs. There is one major downside to riding: every week I am assaulted in some way by car-critters. I am not sure why they hate cyclists so much, but the animosity is very real. The only times the motorists were well-behaved towards cyclists was when the busses were on strike and when gas was over $4.00/gal. I think their improved behavior was due to them thinking that the cyclists were only riding because they could not afford to drive. I am anxiously awaiting a return to less cheap gasoline to see if this happens again.Considering the fact that nearly all of our oil is imported, it is obvious from an econ 101 standpoint that using a car not only drains away the user's health and wealth, but also negatively impacts our national economy. Get patriotic and get car-free!

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    1. enviroperk Posted 10:33 pm
      13 May 2009

      I live in a small, rural town ( less than 10,000 population), in the "old downtown". Thankfully it is experiencing a resurgence so the library, post office, grocery store and even stuff like a shoe repair place, tailor, hardware stores bike shop, coffee shop are close. Like within 3 blocks close. I still bike for shopping and the biggest challenges are finding well made baskets for the bike that carry a lot of weight.  In my old paper-boy days that stuff was easy to find. Now, the local bike shop, with all of the ounce savings feature-bikes, looks at me like I am crazy for wanting a big and heavy set of steel baskets.As far as cars and bikes, I have seen only two other people in town that bike for errands, and take hostility from fat rednecks driving monster trucks as an unavoidable nuisance. I miss living in the mountains of Colorado, where a motorist not yielding to a biker could almost be summarily executed.

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  9. gohlkus's avatar

    gohlkus Posted 11:10 am
    14 May 2009

    I got rid of my car for good not long after moving to the SF Bay Area 6 years ago.It would have been a little bit tougher to do so when I lived in the Midwest (winter biking to the grocery store kinda sucks).A great book that helped inspire me to do it was "Divorce Your Car" by Katie Alvord, which I'd recommend to anyone. I don't know how dated it is now, since she got rid of her car in 1993... but it is an interesting and well-researched story.

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  10. Mark431 Posted 1:07 pm
    19 May 2009

    I love my black car but in same way i have to get rid of it. That is because we keep on building infrastructure that rewards car use
    rather than transit use and fails to create walkable/livable
    environments that meet our needs.E20-322 Specilist Certified

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  11. vesper7's avatar

    vesper7 Posted 9:59 am
    21 May 2009

    I got rid of my car almost two years ago. I miss the following:1. Getting out of the city and exploring places in "solitude" that public transportation doesn't touch. I used to love getting out of the city in my car, driving up to the mountains or some secluded place by the ocean.
    2. Listening to music in the car. I always love how music sounds in a closed space and car audio has gotten SO GOOD.
    3. The personal space of the car, where I can control who sits next to me (or who doesn't!), the temperature, and the lighting. I have gotten sick more often since being a regular public transit user.
    4. Direct access to places. Public transit does take longer, generally speaking.I promised myself that I will not buy another car until electric cars come out and when the electric filling station grid is in place.

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    1. gohlkus's avatar

      gohlkus Posted 10:21 am
      21 May 2009

      Have you considered car sharing? It can be a great way to have those experiences without the expense, hassle, or carbon footprint of owning a car. Your profile says you're in Vancouver -- have you looked at http://www.cooperativeauto.net/ or zipcar?I'm a member of City CarShare here in the SF Bay Area and like it a lot. I don't know what the services up there charge, but I pay $10 a month to be a member (I consider it a donation to a cause I support). And then each trip costs no more than what it would cost to rent a car (sometimes less), I have access 24/7 via phone or web, and the price of gas and insurance are included.It's a good deal for that occasional need for a joyride (or a trip to the store).

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      1. vesper7's avatar

        vesper7 Posted 10:37 am
        21 May 2009

        Thanks for your comment. I have looked into car sharing a bit. I know that the two companies you've mentioned require an upfront fee that can be quite costly, and then there are monthly rates depending on how much you plan to use the service. I will continue to research these options.
        When I got rid of my car I realized how many joyrides I actually went on. Probably not very environmentally responsible of me at all. I would get the urge to go for a ride, realize I didn't have a car any longer, then I'd start pacing the house back and forth, back and forth. I laughed at myself, got the headphones, and began the habit of "joywalking". ;) ...which I do to this day, rain or shine. Costs nothing, gives me fresh air, and the only footprints I leave are from my Converse hightops. :)

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      2. vesper7's avatar

        vesper7 Posted 10:41 am
        21 May 2009

        I checked the Coop Car Network again. It costs $520.00 CAN to join, plus signing a six month commitment. This is what makes me a bit wary, because I'm so used to transit that I'm not sure how much I'd actually use the service....

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      3. gohlkus's avatar

        gohlkus Posted 11:44 am
        21 May 2009

        Wow, that's a lot. City CarShare required a $300 deposit when I joined, but it's fully refundable. It was a cash hit at the time, true, but it's nice to know I can get it back if I leave for any reason. (Looks like it's refundable for the Co-op also, and they have a deposit-free plan that looks sort of reasonable.)On the subject of joyrides, hey, you gotta recharge sometime, somehow. If burning a little gas once in a while helps you do good work the rest of the time, it's probably worth it. (And I say this as a VERY occasional driver -- I haven't taken a car out in over a month.)

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      4. vesper7's avatar

        vesper7 Posted 12:07 pm
        21 May 2009

        I checked out zipcar again, too, and it is probably more in line with my potential car usage...at only $55 a year, and no automatic monthly fees. That might be the best way for me to go....

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  12. katakanadian Posted 10:32 am
    21 May 2009

    Vesper7,I love riding my bike to all the places buses don't go. I like taking shortcuts that cars can't take.I love the sound of my iPod without the background rumbling of a motor. Unfortunately it can be hard to get away from all the road noise caused by cars but cycling roads/trails are nice and quiet.With my bike I'm not stuck beside someone I don't want to be with and nobody begs me for a lift.I often dread driving to places because of the hassle of finding a parking spot and then having to walk from there to where I'm actually going. My bike gives me much more direct access.When I lived in Japan, the train was usually much faster than driving because they didn't have to deal with frequent stoplights and traffic jams. Often the only way to drive as fast as the train was to pay extra for the expressway. e.g. my seasonal trips to Costco took 2.5hrs by train (~2500 yen) one way but driving took 4 hrs unless I paid ~2500 yen in tolls on top of ~1500 yen for gas.

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