I’m slowly but surely transitioning from driving to cycling to the point I’m going to have to change jobs to stop driving all together. While this surely has many health and environmental benefits, I was wondering about the financial benefits. Those of you who have already made the transition, how much have you save by not driving?
It’s been like 6 years since I’ve owned a car but I’ll try to estimate what is was when I had one.
- $150 a year in registration
- $100 a month in insurance
- $100 a month in gas
- Not sure about maintenance but probably $50-$100 a month
- $130 a year city sticker
So my estimate is $3500-$4000 a year
But I do spend about $150 a year in bicycle maintenance so there’s that. And about $50 a month in bus fares.
If my math is right, $850 over $4000 is still huge savings.
I went from 78-90 bucks of gas a week 2-3 hour per day work commute, 2600 annual insurance, anywhere from 1200-5000 annual mechanic work from parent’s friend that totally ripped himself off, to like 60 bucks gas every 4-5 months and the 600 or so it costs for my parents to have my name on their insurance so I can borrow the car once in a while when bike just isn’t feasible. oh and bcaa I kept because they will pick you up if you are biking too, associate member on parents account to cheap out a little.
What needs fixing per year that is $1200-5000?
Don’t buy vehicles with milti generational transmission problems
4 years. I saved 4 whole years before the second serious hit partially disabled me 2/26/14. I’m in Southern California and rode everywhere rain or shine and occasionally took the train with bike. I was on career vacation where my pay was garbage but I was having fun and riding a ton. I was super cautious too. A lot of the danger is just the total milage. You will encounter people that are so insanely stupid that no amount of caution will save you from them. The one that is the worst are illegal U-turns. I was disabled by one of those that involved 2 cars. I rode around 100k miles from 09-14. I still ride. Disability is complicated. I’m at around 170k miles since 09 now. I have not had another major hit, but I never ride distance on the road or commute.
That sound awful to go through, I’m sorry you experienced that. I feel like I wouldn’t be able to get back on a bike after having major incident like that. Kudos to you for getting back into it. I live in a bike phobic city where people will openly harass you throwing stuff at you like drinks and shout at you if you are riding a bike in the designated bike lane. And there’s been I think 3 - 5 deaths in the last month alone here since it’s too expensive to own a car so there’s more cyclists now. North America needs to work on its car centric problem
I was in race shape when I got hurt, and I’m in a very weird condition where I am very close to being healthy but it is just out of reach. A MIPS helmet could have had a substantial bearing on the crash that almost killed me. I highly recommend doing whatever it takes to get one. The tech came out in Q3 of 2013 and I almost started riding one, but didn’t want to spend my own money on one when I would likely be given a demo unit with my job as a Buyer for a chain of bike shops. They aren’t super expensive now like they were then. Making sure the helmet fits you well too. My face was shredded by glass too. If it wasn’t for my sunglasses taking most of the glass around my eyes I probably would have lost an eye, like I have nerve damage in my chin and a chipped tooth among other issues.
I didn’t remember any of it or for 3 hours after. My last memory was a beautiful morning, riding to work then the darkest blackest nothing and waking up in the hospital clueless about how I got there. Not a bad way to go really. Massive head injuries are like that, but I was traveling 30 MPH at impact after braking with GPS showing exactly how fast I was going.
Ok, i still have a car, and my wife will sometimes use it. We’ve filled the tank three times this year.
EDIT: i think it’s important to note that when we were both driving, it was often mindless and not planned out. Back then, we’d be filling the tank every 2 weeks at a minimum, so it was extremely expensive (and wasteful) compared to now.
Because we’re also on pay-as-you-go insurance, it’s dirt cheap.
What I’ve done over the last year or two is to calculate how much gas and insurance would have cost, had i used a car and not a bike to run errands (i exclude recreational rides or rides specifically because of the bike, like going to pick up parts).
I take the amount and transfer it to a separate bank account. In the last 12 months, it grew to over $400.
That doesn’t include anything else we might have saved by not using the car.
Granted, i did invest a bit into equipment to help replace my car, like panniers and bike trailers. But they’ll last an exceptionally long time, so they’ll eventually pay for themselves.
That’s one thing i noticed with car vs bike expenses. Most car expenses are one-and-done. You have nothing to show for it.
Bike expenses, for me, are mostly things that enhance the experience and utility of cycling.
If my wife was able to bike as much as I do, I’d honestly probably not want to own another car and invest in two ebikes instead.
Good luck with everything!
Bike parts do need replacing every so often, but obviously aren’t as costly as car parts. A professional service once or twice a year also costs a wee bit but again isn’t like getting the car MOT’d.
Of course, but comparatively, it’s far less expensive to maintain a bike.
And if they are maintained (i.e. waxed chain), then those costs go down even more.
Every major repair on my car(s) over the last 25 years could have bought mutliple brand new bikes. 😮💨
Also keeps your health up for longer to use a bike! If you’ve got health insurance then that probably matters even more.
Oh yeah, there are so many other cost savings that I didn’t even include. If I wasn’t cycling, I’d for sure have to either get a gym membership or invest in stuff to keep in shape. Not that I don’t do other things to keep fit (i.e. upper body), but I can get cardio and aerobic exercise without even setting aside extra time!
Be careful about filling the tank three times in a year. Gas goes bad. If you’re filling up that infrequently, you may need some stabilizer. Or, get a BEV
I’ve read about that, but we’ve been filling infrequently since around 2020 (pandemic), and so far, no issues. 🤞
4039.66€ / year
I didn’t switch but I know the cost of owning my truck
I switched in the other direction (cycling + public transit -> car) and have spending some 2600€ on fuel, insurance and other car related stuff, yearly (vs 900€ for public transit fares)
That made sense for me because the reduced commute time (3hrs daily -> ~1h20) allowed me to pick up a part time job teaching at the university I study at (+5000€/yr).
I switched from transit to cycling, which saves me around $100 a month on the monthly pass we have here in Stockholm. A bit less so since I still occasionally ride transit and those trips now cost around $4 a ride instead of having a marginal cost of 0.
I’m sure I manage to spend similar amounts buying upgrades and gear for my bike so far, but I also save some time for each trip I make since biking is generally faster from where I live. I also get copious amounts of exercise, so I’m still getting out way ahead
I don’t have driving license but I did the calculation.
Tldr: repair + depreciation cost per year are equal to cheapest car leasing per month.
So I have more expensive bike in the range of 2000€ (including rack, panniers and some other stuff). On the second hand market similar bikes go for 1400€ (even older ones in this category), I count depreciation for 10 years so 60€/year (beat this with car).
Repairs/maintenance is around 100-200€ for me but I easily ride 10 000 km/year on it in every condition and surface.
I basically save for new bike per year even with public transport tickets counted in.
The car is still in the garage for emergencies so 0 in insurance. It’s an ev so 0 in gas and 20 bucks a month in electricity if im estimating generously. Evs don’t need much maintenance either but I saved a couple hundred a year in not changing tires.
Cycling to work, the biggest savings for me were being able to drop my car insurance to “pleasure use less than x Km per week” status. The insurance dropped from $800 a year to $150 a year. Then fuel savings also. However there were additional costs like studded snow tires for winter and increased food consumption.
I haven’t completely switched and still own a registered and insured car, but I didn’t drive more than 2-3 times over the course of a few months and that was already several hundred dollars in gas alone, plus the increased productivity from getting exercise and feeling less shitty than usual. Overall, even a single ride has a positive effect, but I imagine you would save several thousand a year (then spend it all on cool new bikes).
