<prompt> Human: Long-time lurker on this sub. I recently pulled the trigger and decided to become car free. Ive lived in a very bike friendly city for the past 5 years, but always had some excuse why I should keep the car even though work provides a free bus pass. Recently Ive been going through the yearly cost of the car though and realized just how much more I could save per year, and decided to sell it. I see a lot of posts here about the amount of money people spend on and maintaining vehicles, so maybe this will be interesting to some. I bought the car brand new in 2012 for 24,000 yea, not my smartest decision and recently sold it for 11,000 with 49,000 miles on it. Heres the cost breakdown over those 5 years. Depreciation: 13,000ouch Insurance: 83month X 63 months 5,250Maintenance: 1,075 Car included 2 years free maintenance, but had to buy new tires 2 years agoFuel: 49,000 miles X 3gallon 48 milesgallon 3,000LicenseRegistration: 1,100Total cost: 23,425Centsmile: 23,42549,000miles 48 centsmile this is surprisingly close to the government estimate of 50 centsmile, even for a hybridCostyear: 23,4255 4,685By no longer owning a car, I am saving roughly 3,000-4,000year assuming I rent a car for trips or take UberLyft occasionally. In hindsight, I should have originally purchased a much cheaper used vehicle. Overall, selling the car has removed a burden from my finances and should help me stay in shape by biking everywhere. Edit: Yes, Im aware that this was not a particularly financially savvy way to buy then sell a car. When I bought it, I anticipated needing it regularly for the next 15 years, but that was no longer the case so I sold it. This is the personal finance sub and it is therefore unique to my personal situation. Assistant: For some it works. For me it couldnt work.Closest grocery store is 15 miles away. Im just lucky and have liability insurance, rarely drive more than 20 miles a week, and I can go to a scrap yard when something breaks down.There is some good to owning a nearly 30 year old car.Human: Yea definitely. I realize that most cities are not set up with proper bike infrastructure and that I am very lucky to live in a place that is. Plus, I live about 1 mile from the grocery store. Youre doing it right by having an older car though. Owning such a nice car for me was so stressful. Every time it would hail or snow a bunch, I would worry about body damage. It actually got hit by a falling tree branch a year or so ago and the repair would have cost over 800 I didnt get it fixed though, since my car was already paid off and the deductible was nearly the same.  <response>: I would be very careful about falling for the older car potential trap. Having a car with a warranty and existing parts catalog can make it a lot cheaper for some repairs than others. Mind you, a Chilton manual and some tools means you can do a lot yourself. However, some parts are just harder to find. This all depends on the car, year, etc. My parents have never owned a new car, and my dad taught his maintenance skills to me. My life has drastically changed the last 5 years, but prior to that, I did all my own work. If you arent mechanically inclined, older cars can cost a fortune to fix. For instance, ex wife had a 92 civic and refused to let me fix it. As it turns out, it just needed a quick weld on the exhaust after the cat. Cost 500 to replace a 12in piece of metal. Could have done it for less than 40 myself. 