In cities like that , you might also want to look into car sharing . It ' s very city by city if it ' s worth it , but it can end up being a lot cheaper . Especially if you have to pay for a parking spot , the parking alone can almost equal occasional car share use . I recently gave up my car , but I live downtown and it ' s awesome not having to pay for my building ' s parking fee every month just because I still do occasional runs to Costco or to refill my propane tank . The best way to look at it how much does your car cost you every month . Then find out how many hours and or miles that buys in in a given month with a car share service . For me it turned out I could use about 18 hours a month before I ' d be spending more than what I was spending on my own car . Since I use it less than 18 hours a week I ' m coming out with a net positive , and I don ' t have to worry about sudden mechanical failures and I get a fleet of cars to choose from . It ' s a different kind of freedom , a freedom to lock the car , walk away and never have to think about it any more . I can ' t speak to what ' s available in your area , but I ' m sure New York has services like this , find the ones with the most convenient locations for near you and price out how much you ' d get for a month worth of your current car budget .