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Cars: Who Needs Them

I overheard a comment the other day that got me thinking. I was in an elevator when I heard one guy say, “Cars are like women. You can't live with them, you can't live without them.” For the sake of my personal safety, I will leave the debate about women alone. Cars, on the other hand, does present an interesting quandary.

In many parts of the world, cars are essential. Australia and America come immediately to mind. There is so much distance between locations that traveling often requires owning your own car. Just the drive to and from work can last an hour for many people. How long would that take on a bicycle? You certainly can't walk it everyday.

Public transportation may be a solution for some, but not everybody. If you don't live in New York City, Melbourne or some other huge city, the public transportation system just doesn't get you close enough to the places you need to go. It just isn't practical, we cannot live without our cars.

On the other side of the coin, there are a lot of things about cars we can certainly live without. The pollution cars produce is significant. Whether it is destroying the earth or not, breathing smog is definitely not good for the lungs.

The cost of owning and maintaining a car is right up there with food and shelter. Gas prices are out of control. Mechanics are constantly taking advantage of those who don't know the first thing about how a car works. Break pads, tires, oil, transmission fluid, registration, long or short term car insurance; the list of things you need to buy on a regular basis just to keep a car in good operating condition can be pretty long too. Given all these expenses, I would be happy to live without my car.

One option for some is to rent. Whenever a car is actually necessary, just rent one. Then there is none of the overhead costs to maintain it and you get the benefit of going where you want or need to in comfort. Of course you still need insurance. Short term car insurance, which you can buy in the UK from sites like this one is often offered by the company renting out the car. It is interesting to think about. But the fact of the matter is, as much as I would like to ditch my car, I simply could not get by without it.
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