Transportation Tally

For those of you wondering if using car-sharing services is really less expensive than owning a car, here is where I post all of my transportation costs for each month. For comparison, I have listed my automobile expenses for the year 2014, in which I owned a 28-year-old car, with no monthly payments. Even when I did own a car, I rode the bus or my bicycle frequently. So comparison is strictly for my automobile costs, including Zipcar and Car2Go reservations, parking fees, and gas.

(You may also want to check out Zipcar's cost-savings comparison and calculator.)


2014 AUTO EXPENSES
Insurance: $1301.10
Gas: $531.21
Parking: $61.57
Registration: $94.75
Parts & Maintenance: $250
Metro Bus: $121.75
2014 TOTAL: $2238.63
MONTHLY AVERAGE: $186.55

Purchasing a new(er) car would cost at least an extra $200 per month to finance, my insurance rates would probably increase a bit with a newer model, and routine maintenance costs would be higher than I was accustomed to spending on my older car. So, a very modest estimate for average monthly costs would be about $450.

And here are my monthly transportation totals without a car. 

September 2015
Car2Go: $62.88
Uber: $27.22
Zipcar: $124.79
TOTAL: $214.89

August 2015
Car2Go: $15.33
Uber: $13.01
Zipcar: $214.76
TOTAL: $243.10

July 2015
Car2Go: $5.50
Uber: $46.33
Zipcar: $82.83
TOTAL: $134.66

June 2015
Car2Go: $26.17
Gas: $20.65
Lyft: $5.00
Zipcar: $104.71
TOTAL: $156.53

May 2015
Car2Go: $87.06
Zipcar: $71.69
TOTAL: $158.75

April 2015
Zipcar: $41.51 
TOTAL: $41.51