A Year in Review with the E-bike and an Update on my Car Insurance
A little over a year ago I got an e-bike after 3 years of having parked my car and removing the insurance. After a year of having the e-bike, I can definitely say this is one of the best investments I have ever made.
If you are interested in why I decided to get an e-bike in the first place you can read this post. As for removing my car insurance, you can learn about how I saved $15k in 3 years here. (I am now up to $18k in savings).
Spoiler alert, I re-insured my car a few months ago after 3.5 years of being car-free.
One of my goals this year is to get outside more often and do a lot of hiking. The cost of renting a car or taking an Evo for the day to get to the mountains was really expensive and wasn’t really worth it, so I just wasn’t going. This summer I have a lot of plans to go backpacking up various mountains in B.C. as well.
My FIAT 500 that I bought as a rebuild in 2017 for $6k
Here is how I came to the decision to re-insure my car:
After 4 years of living in my apartment, and being on the waitlist for a parking stall, I finally got one! Around the same time, I was looking into the price of car insurance. In B.C. we have ICBC which has a monopoly on car insurance in our province, but recently has changed their coverage policies, and as a result, for those that have a clean driving record, the price of insurance has significantly decreased.
3 years ago, my insurance was $250/month, with a completely clean driving record. Now, for the exact same coverage, my insurance is now $135/month. This difference is a savings of $115/month, and $1380 per year.
With my insurance now being almost half the price, and gas prices have come down slightly to about $1.80/L compared to the $2/L it was last year, financially the trade off of Ubers and Evos wasn’t really worth it anymore. Also, having a parking spot now means that I don’t have to spend so much time circling around my neighbourhood trying to find a spot and I no longer have to move it constantly, so I don’t get towed.
So far, I have been averaging one tank of gas per month, , or about $60, since my car is small and is fuel efficient. My parking stall is $45/per month. Therefore, having the car is costing me $240 per month. This is about half of what I was spending before I took my insurance off 3.5 years ago, even with gas prices being higher.
I attest this reduction in fuel to the e-bike. While I do have the car again, I am still using the e-bike a lot. I still will never drive downtown and when the weather is decent (not pouring rain or icy roads, I take the bike to the office and to run errands). My car often sits unused during the week, but it allows me that freedom to head to the mountains of the weekend and will be a nice to have this summer for weekend adventures.
If you can, I would still highly encourage you to go car-free or have one car as a household if you can. For me wanting to get out into the mountains more, requires a vehicle, but if that isn’t your thing, and if you are in the city, it is easier to utilize public transit. Of course, if you live in a rural area, this usually isn’t an option and there are lot of other ways to reduce your impact.
The right balance for me is biking/taking the bus downtown, using the e-bike or walking to run errands, and only using the car to go longer distances and to access hiking trails.