How many of you keep a "backup vehicle"?

[JDgreen227]

My 25 year old nephew was here about an hour ago, he is in the area from Florida for 2 weeks and I offered him the use of my car while he was here so he picked it up. Thing is, I drive less than 3,000 miles a year so I don't really NEED a second vehicle because my girlfriend is also retired and we put most of the miles on her Equinox....yet I hang onto my '04 Saturn because it basically costs me nothing aside from insurance and registration which are about $900 for a calendar year. I hang onto mine as it's nice to have a third car should I need "gofer" wheels while my GMC is in the midst of repair work. Thankfully, reliability for most of today's cars is such a given and the bodies stay cancer free which makes hanging on to a backup car much easier.

Opinions, please.....

 

[the old grind]

I've always kept a backup, if nothing but my truck. A 3rd vehicle can be an expensive but useful luxury, not much needed in retirement, so I have 2 cars & one truck 'on the block' now. Two to keep should be enough, & btw I drive ~3k mi/yr too.

 

[dodge man]

There is my wife and two kids. My son has moved out and is in college, but between us there is 5 vehicles. One vehicle is more of a toy and gets put away during the winter. We could bet by with 2 less if we had to but if anything I'd like to get another. More of a hobby for me than anything else.

 

[LD1]

My wife and I both have back-ups.

For daily drivers we both drive little economy cars. Mine is a 2001 saturn and hers is a 2008 Nissan sentra.

Backups are also the winter vehicles. A 2005 Dodge ram Daytona 4x4 for her, and a 2005 Ram 3500 4x4 for me.

I cannot do without a p/u. Plus I plow snow. But dont want to pay for fuel to drive them for the 95% of the year when the roads are clear.

 

[TripleR]

Yep, we've kept a backup of one kind or the other for years, everything is paid for so no real loss. Our backup is my 06 pickup and I put only a few thousand miles a year on mine. My wife drives a medium size sedan and I drive a small AWD crossover.

 

[sld]

I've always had a back up but in the last few years I am down to one. With the wife and 2 driving kids we have 4 in the household so I can always confiscate one of theirs!

As soon as a garage slot opens when one of the kids move out I will get another for sure.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

We have one SUPER ECONOMICAL car - a 2010 Prius - 49mpg average over 4 years.

I just bought a new 2015 Silverado 2500. On a good day, highway is about 14mpg - lol. Good news is, I only bought the thing to drive around for fun. When purchasing the new truck, I kept my old Ford f150 to use for everyday driving and farm work. It only has 190K so, being a Ford, it should last another 10 years. If/When it becomes problematic, I'll let it go and start using the new one.

 

[dieselcrawler]

My back up became the parts donar... our daily drivers share powertrains so the dually has been disabled for over a year as I stole parts to repair the other two. I have the replacements to reinstall but havent gotten around to it.

Growing up we always had a spare or two... living 15 plus miles from the nearest parts store mandated that.

 

[dragoneggs]

We are down to two people in the household and each have a vehicle. F-150 is my daily driver. Wife drives a nice big heavy (safe) 4 door sedan so we can also haul kids or friends to dinner or whatever. If one needs to go to the shop, we still have one vehicle. I would love another but that is a luxury and takes up space. I suppose I could save gas with an economy car but the cost of an extra vehicle/insurance/repairs, etc probably makes that proposition a wash.

 

[JDgreen227]

We are down to two people in the household and each have a vehicle. F-150 is my daily driver. Wife drives a nice big heavy (safe) 4 door sedan so we can also haul kids or friends to dinner or whatever. If one needs to go to the shop, we still have one vehicle. I would love another but that is a luxury and takes up space. I suppose I could save gas with an economy car but the cost of an extra vehicle/insurance/repairs, etc probably makes that proposition a wash.

Much of the choice depends on the age of what you drive...My GMC is a Y2K and my Saturn is a 2004....both are long since paid for and low mileage and in excellent condition and I do the majority of maintenance and repairs myself. The killer is the obscene cost of insurance here in Michigan...no-fault is over $800 a year per vehicle with $500 deductible and I get every possible discount available from AAA...I could save about $200-225 a year by dropping collision and comprehensive coverage but here the roads are such s**t and drivers so bad I want to keep full coverage as my vehicles are so clean and low mileage.