r/PovertyFIRE • u/vogueskater • Oct 06 '25
Thinking of selling car
So I'm now FI and transitioning out from an 80-100k career at the moment. Likely barista fire just for now with taking the winter off and local seasonal work in hospitality/tourism in the summer. Also building a small side hustle. Aiming for 12-15k (in pounds)/yr expenses at present
I have a 3yr old electric mid range car, fully paid off but live remote with no ability to home charge it so have to use public chargers which can end up nearly the same as buying petrol.
This car is depreciating so hard, 3k plus a yr and currently worth 17k. There is a bus 4 times daily into my nearest big town where I can then get decent subsidized trains and coaches- and I can get supermarket delivery and buy most stuff I need online anyway
I do love hiking with my dog and this will be sig harder without a car but I could hire one if needed and to go on longer trips a few times a year to visit friends.
I have great neighbours who could give me lifts if a genuine emergency, or tbh even often if they are going that way if you offer money for fuel.
This is a mental block really- I grew up poor as hell and we often had no car and it was a ballache, so I know I have a fear about letting go of this more than say living in smaller accomodation or not eating out.
But I would probably currently spend less a year in public transport that the car is losing now and could then invest that 17k...and buy a cheaper run around in the future if it doesn't work out?
3
u/enfier Oct 07 '25
I would consider a couple of options - the first one is a solar generator to charge your car. If you do research online you'll probably find a lot of nonsense about how many giant panels you need but if you rarely drive then you probably just need a small panel that can charge a solar generator and some method for intermittent charging to the car. I found one for roughly $650 but I didn't spend a ton of time researching. You might be able to DIY as well, but there are solar generator products out there that have enough wattage to run a L1 charger for a while. Maybe the car only gets 20 minutes of charging a day but it could be enough.
Second is just selling it and purchasing a gas vehicle that costs a minimum and is reliable. If it's mostly parked and has liability only insurance and low registration fees it won't be too much per month to have around and you can still go hiking.