I sold my beloved Saturn red coupe the month before I left to go overseas. A Saturn was the perfect car for a woman to own because it was possible to buy the car without negotiation and to pay for three years of maintenance up front. Saturn's innovation was pricing the product visiably so buyers didn't feel that it was a contest with the car salesman to see who could 'best' the other in deciding on a price.
As a Saturn car owner, all I had to do was drive the car into the dealership every 3,000 miles to get the oil changed. My favorable opinion must not have been universally held because the Saturn brand went bankrupt a year after I sold my car. Even loving the car as I had, I didn't appreciate how much nicer life is without one.
Moving to Prague, I was able to enjoy a very simple, cost-effective transportation system at the low cost price of $22 a month. This enabled me to have a wonderful quality of life because I could easily go home for lunch from most places in the city and I didn't have to devote any of my time to gassing up, car washes, or getting my vehicle maintained. I also didn't have to devote my time to being stuck in traffic because public transportation always had a dedicated lane, metro tube, or tram track. Better yet, I no longer needed to earn the money necessary to own a car. This opened up more free time.
I have lived in two subsequent cities since then: Madison, Wisconsin in the United States and Istanbul, Turkey. In both places, public transportation works just fine and a car is superfluous. I never want to go back to spending money on something I don't actually value!
When I get in a car now as a passenger (a very rare occurrence) I'm always struck by the stress that the driver is experiencing. I am thrilled to give up that need for control and have the freedom and lack of stress created by leaving the driving to others.
I would never have learned this without moving to another culture because my own consumer culture constantly reinforces that I should own a car.
