Why so many cars in one family or person?

[medunko]

I wonder what’s the reason that Americans to have 2-3 or more vehicles ? Longer distances ? Poor public transport? 2 -3 children?
Because it’s time consuming thing to maintain so many cars, expenses, looking for new ones…

 

[jeepman3071]

I wonder what’s the reason that Americans to have 2-3 or more vehicles ? Longer distances ? Poor public transport? 2 -3 children?
Because it’s time consuming thing to maintain so many cars, expenses, looking for new ones…

Public transit is horrible here, especially in rural areas. Growing up my parents each had a car, and both commuted to work. One was an SUV for towing a trailer and for snow, the other was an economy car for running errands, kids to sports, etc. For example, I only have a 7 mile commute to work, but there are no bus stops in between my house and the college campus where I work. Back when I worked in a city 30 minutes away, there was a bus stop about halfway there, but if I wanted to park and take the bus it would add about 20 minutes onto my commute due to the poor transit system.

 

[AZjeff]

1-Longer distances ? 2- Poor public transport? 3 - 2 -3 children?

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Possibly

This should be good.

 

[racer12306]

Do you mean 2-3 per person or 2-3 per household?

I'd have a hard time believing we have 2-3 per person (No I didn't research it), but 2-3 per household is not surprising at all.

There's a few things that play into this...

Our public transit SUCKS.
Conflicting work schedules, can't carpool with spouse.
I don't think the number of children matters much, until it comes in to what you need to do to support them. I have 3 kids, my whole family is comfortable in my truck and we drive it everywhere. We have something every evening, Mon - Thurs, but fortunately we avoid conflicts so only one car needs to be used.

I think in the US we also spend more time in transit than in EU. Personally, I have a 30-40 min drive to work, while it's a little long, I don't think it's uncommon. I think a large percentage of people have a 20-30 minute drive. If one parent is off to work and the other parent needs to go somewhere, you need that second car in the household. And this comes back to our public transit, it sucks as soon as you leave a major city.

 

[cptbarkey]

Long distance in Texas is a fact of life. A few of my older friends used to measure the distance between Austin and Dallas by how many beers they drink to get there. Also, its all about circumstance for myself, and the right tool for the right job. I let vehicles sit idle and drop insurance when not in use.

 

[Oro_O]

Americans on average do NOT have 2 or 3 vehicles.

There are 1.2 vehicles per registered driver in the US, which includes ALL vehicles - heavy duty trucks, too.

More comprehensive stats here:

https://www.zippia.com/advice/how-many-cars-in-the-us/

Car ownership is much higher here than in Europe, though, for multiple reasons, among them cost, distances, public transport, as well as simply freedom - the US has fewer non-democratic barriers to ownership erected by government.

 

[Reggaemon]

I don't need to, but I want to. OR
I don't need two, but I have four.

 

[wings&wheels]

Lifestyle, commutes and, above all, fun!

 

[zfasts03]

4 drivers going at different places at different times.
Also need a backup car for when you are working on a car and some fun cars.

 

[DriveHard]

Because I can...I have two motorcycles as well ;-)

 

[medunko]

Ok, thanks for all replies.

 

[meep]

My wife only keeps one vehicle. I keep one right now, but at times have had 2. why 2?

for much of my adult life I’ve bought inexpensive and highly used cars. This allows me to buy/sell more freely since they are cheap and I get to try different things. This also means there was always maintenance. Having a spare car so one can be down for a week or two is helpful. In other words, I was relying on my hobby to commute to work.

other reasons include type of vehicle. I prefer sedans for commuting, but we experienced a decade of travel trailer fun, which needed a truck, and I find myself doing a lot of handyman work for ourselves and others. Once I bought a truck, that was a game changer (never had one in my family). As the truck (tow vehicle) aged, a well-worn sedan kept the miles off of it, saved a few mpg, and provided greater comfort.

we moved to a different part of town, and it’s truck country out here. I sold the sedan because the commuting behavior here favors larger vehicles, so I’m back to one. I occassionaly peek around for a “fun“ hobby second.

 

[OVERKILL]

Things are much closer together in Europe and population density is much higher.

You can get in a car in London, England, and drive to Warsaw, Poland, 1,637km in around 18.5 hours, and entering 5 different countries.

I can get in a car in Ontario and drive west and after 18.5 hours, I'm still in Ontario. It's 20.5 hours and 1,889km to Kenora, Ontario.

Germany can fit inside Ontario 3x.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

I wonder what’s the reason that Americans to have 2-3 or more vehicles ? Longer distances ? Poor public transport? 2 -3 children?
Because it’s time consuming thing to maintain so many cars, expenses, looking for new ones…

Historically speaking....
Comparatively inexpensive cost of residential construction which encourages people to live outside cities.
The US govt encouraged urban planners to design cities around the automobile beginning around the 1930's. Consequently the financial viability of public transportation suffers due to a lack of population density.
Worries over crime hinder further development of existing public transportation under the premise that criminals are generally poor and public transportation allows for convenient travel to commit criminal acts in wealthier areas.
Low cost of fuel.
Low cost of energy.

 

[medunko]

So, lifestyle, fun, freedom, I see.
In Europe we’re using bikes in the city and cars for going out of the city. I don’t talk about professional drivers, delivery, construction etc. and of course public transport is very well developed.

 

[Rmay635703]

Cars seem to break down often and take months to get parts, at the moment I am glad to have many vehicles.

It’s unfortunate there is a war to get every family down to 1 car by overcharging for registration and insurance

 

[Kurtatron]

My wife and I share ONE car. It’s sacrilege here in the US. We can only commit this atrocity by living 1.3 miles from work. I take a bicycle to work, while she has the car. It works for us. Saves money and my waistline.

 

[Malo83]

Wife has her car and I have a car and a truck, both daughters have their own cars, what's the problem.

 

[medunko]

Wife has her car and I have a car and a truck, both daughters have their own cars, what's the problem.

No, I don’t think it’s a problem big family. Just was thinking about environmental reasons to use bikes, public transport . But indeed criminality , rural areas, modern cars are not so reliable as before, I see the point.

 

[PF52]

I live alone and my commute to work is four miles..... But I have four cars. I'm close enough to work that sometimes I ride my bike.

I suppose I could collect cats instead, but they shed too much.