Would you rather have three cars or two?

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Assume that you are part of a family with two adult drivers. Would you rather have two cars (one for each driver) or a fleet of three (of equal total value to the two).

With three, you can have a car with special capabilities - more fun to drive, or able to pull a trailer or have an open bed - that might not be practical or economical as a daily driver. With three, you can get away with owning less reliable daily drivers. When the "dailies" need work, you can take your time and fix it right or and enjoy the leisure of not being forced to fix it quick to get to work the next day.

But, with three you have another vehicle to maintain, store, inspect and register, and the additional cost of insurance. I think the taxes come out to about the same if the total value of the vehicles is equivalent.

How would the calculus change if your total budget was greater or smaller?

We've done three cars for two drivers for about 9 years now, and it's worked out pretty well. The third car was a fairly rough Ford Ranger, but it came in handy enough times out of the year that the battery stayed charged.
 
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3 for me.
1. 2019 Charger SXT for wife.
2. 2018 RAM 1500 for me. It does the trash, leaves etc.
3. 2019 Challenger. I just don't know yet if a nice tame SXT or a R/T again. This time a automatic. Looking hard at a R/T with Shaker option, Shaker Stripe's, 20x9 wheels. Maybe RED this time.
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I've had an extra car most of the time since 1992. There have been times when I've only had 4 cars for 4 drivers or 5 for 5, but that was because we could take a car from a kid as it was my/our car and not theirs.

We are not at 4 for 3 and my son will be moving out soon and will have 3 for 2 drivers.

It works out when one is in the shop or someone comes to visit. No need for a rental. I just give them the spare car and off we go.

Right now, the spare is the 1999 Grand Marquis that we bought when my grandmother stopped driving. It's also a car we don't feel bad about leaving parked for a week or so at the airport since we leave it parked outside at home...

Nothing special about it other than liability only insurance and it's reasonably reliable.

Any extra costs are recouped in not having to keep rental car coverage on the insurance policy to provide a rental should we have a car in the body shop. (My Mazda3 was in for about 10 days a while back, so I DD'ed the MGM for the duration.)

We've provided it to a trustworthy neighbor as well as they let us use their pickup when needed.
 
I have enjoyed 3 or more cars/trucks for years. I can keep one in the aircraft hangar when not in use.

However, as I've aged, I simply can't maintain too many vehicles anymore. 6 airplanes, 3 F150's and a single Jaguar take all my time
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I can no longer deal with much more than that. So no sports car or motorcycles anymore.
 
Well, I own six, some of them specialized/optimized for specific tasks, so...
 
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My 3 are in my signature. Each one has a specific duty or function.

Si...fun commuter car
Le Sabre...family hauler
Sierra ... work
 
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Definitely 3 or me out of necessity.
I have a 98 Expedition, 03 Suburban and a 04 Sentra.
When 1 breaks down, my wife and I can still get to work while the other is waiting to get fixed. I have that going on right now with the Expedition.
The fact that we can both get to work while one is waiting to get fixed offsets the cost of insurance and registration, not to mention the convenience.
On top of that, if one breaks down, we always have a backup to get my son from the bus stop.
I also have my Suburban tooled up for work, so getting my son in the Nissan while the wife drives the Expedition to work prevents me from having to make room in the Suburban just to get my son.
Ideally 2 newer SUV's and one cheaper smaller vehicle for short runabouts would be better, but that is cost prohibitive.
 
We've done 3 cars for 2 drivers for the past 5 years or so; I liked it at first, but honestly, it has become a hassle; The additional cost of the 3rd vehicle (insurance, registration fees, maintenance, etc.) tends to eat into the funds you'd otherwise have available to upgrade or maintain the other two.

I do agree that with 3 you can get away with less reliable/older vehicles since you'll always have a backup - but again, freeing up the costs of the 3rd should allow for the two primaries to be more reliable daily drivers.
 
Having a third car provides the handy option of a 'fall-back' car, for those times when one is in the shop, has a flat or other last-minute issue, etc.. It also allows for a certain degree of variety.. a break from the routine.

While I'm working on selling my Fusion due to its mechanical issues, there is a strong urge to just keep it and see if I can fix it on my own. The only problem is space and time. I can't very well leave it parked in the driveway partially disassembled, and I don't have room in the garage for it.. so, I'm basically ultimately forced to just have two. Now, if I had a 3-car garage or a separate workshop, I'd totally keep 3.
 
Depends on situation. With parking limitation definitely 2, or even 1 if I have company bus I can take to work. This is 2019, we can Turo or Uber as needed for maybe twice a year.

My 3rd car is a sentimental value car, I wouldn't buy it from the used car market today. I also won't make much money selling it either (265k), so might as well use it.

You have less thing to deal with in life if you have 1 less car, and you can free up your mind to do something more fun and more valuable, like learn a new skill that make you more money in your career, reading books, playing video games, instead of fixing a leaky gasket or troubleshoot some starting issues, and most importantly, passing the California SMOG test.

Having a 3rd car means your wife should stay away from it, and you can do whatever you want to it, that's a big plus if you want your privacy and things your way.
 
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One car for each driver.
Have had this since I got married till just recently.

I got a motorcycle that fills that "3rd car" category for me, something for me to play with. My truck is reliable, allows me something to drive in bad weather or bring people or stuff places, but my bike is my main transportation. Wife has a new SUV that is our primary travel vehicle.

As of this moment though, I actually have 4 vehicles for 2 drivers. My F150, my motorcycle, my wife's new Hyundai Santa Fe (bought in December), and my wifes old Scion xB.
The plan was my daughter would get the xB when she got her license (turned 16 in December), if she ever gets it. She has another month, then it will be put up for sale.
Hate paying insurance on a vehicle that sits most of the time, bad enough I pay on my truck for maybe weekly use, the Scion sits for weeks sometimes.

Sad thing is, this is a question that many never can even think of asking. They are lucky to have 1 semi decent vehicle for 2 drivers...
First world problems.
 
Considering I'm the only one to maintain (including filling) our vehicles, I find 2 is the max I'm willing to have.
Reason is similar to what others have posted above. I'd much rather spend the extra time and money on other things.
I tried having 2 cars plus the motorcycle, but I always felt that I should allocate more time and money to the other vehicles.

Now that I'm down to two I actually like, I'm ok not having the bike and don't miss it one bit.
 
Well, I have too many cars; more that what's in my sig.
It depends on your budget and what you want.

There are 2 of us; I really consider the RX and Model 3 to be Sue's.
One thing for sure: I love my Tundra. Gotta have a truck.

The answer is... Buy 3
 
I have 4.
I like to have them all paid off. I don't mind one payment.

The wife has her daily driver, the Malibu. I have mine the Caprice.
I have had the WS6 for 15 years and it is my summer car.
The truck is a tool to tow my trailer and run errands. I am not a truck guy at all. That is why I have the Caprice or I would daily the truck.
I will say I am sort of attached to the truck as it has been rock solid.

It works for us.
 
When you live in a snowy, cold region, having a 3rd car would be a bother.
Such as:
Snow removal issues
Keeping it in good running condition through the winter - plugin? And if yes, all the time? And if not trying to start in a really cold spell is just a bad time.
Unless the 3rd car is used weekly, and if it is parked outside, they just become too unreliable.
 
I personally have three: 2019 Ram 1500 that I use for towing since it has the 5.7, the 2011 Dodge Charger Police that I got for when I don't feel like hauling around an empty bed and 4WD gear, and oddly, I kept the 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 4.7. The latter is used for the dirty jobs, like trash runs, oil recycling, grabbing yard trash, old furniture, etc., that I don't want to put in the new truck (I'm really BAD about getting scuffs on the new bed, even though that's what it's for :p ).

I don't count the cars/truck I have for sale in my little "fleet", as they are intended for buyers, so I don't use them for my personal errands. That right now is a 2003 Chevy Avalanche, 2010 Ford Crown Vic PI, and a 2007 Mini Cooper S. I have buyers on the hook for the last two; I have to finish the work on the Avalanche.

Now, my mom and brother? They too have three each. Looks like a car lot out here some days.
 
We have 3, one is a spare. I think this fall we will get a fourth, and in a couple of years it'll be one of the kid's. I could hit a point where we have 5 cars for 4 drivers, which isn't that bad.

N+1 has its benefits. One goes down, it can go into the shop without much drama. Likewise, the spare vehicle can have 4WD and snow tires and get 3mpg and not be a big deal.

When I got my third I did out the math, and a 30mpg car would save enough gas to pay for its ins&reg (no collision) compared to just running my 17mpg truck. Granted, those numbers change wildly as you change vehicles. But that is how you do the math. Problem is, how can you put a price on the convenience of having a spare vehicle? or having a vehicle that is optimized for each job?
 
I kept 2 for years then gas got crappy and my spare ate a fuel pump after sitting for 2 months. Now I have one and it is under warranty with rental so something happens I still have a car. I normally don't drive much since retired and wife had a stroke with her not being able to drive. I wanted a truck but Caravan will haul 10ft piping with rear door closed.
 
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