Whether you need a car depends on your address and your daily journeys. Compare the full cost and the time involved, not just the price of a ticket or fuel.

Put together a week of journeys

Include work, shopping, children's activities and evening journeys home. Check the timetable for each time of day. Mark routes where you would need a taxi or another substitute for public transport.

Make a like-for-like calculation

For a car, take into account parking availability, maintenance and other applicable costs. Without a car, count tickets and occasional alternative journeys. Check the specific rules on using your driving licence separately with the relevant authority.

How to build a one-week comparison

Write down each person's journeys with start and end times, then check the routes door to door. For public transport, include waiting, changes and the last available departures; for a car, the real access and parking conditions at the address. List rare journeys separately so they do not define the whole everyday scenario. If the comparison relies on a future work schedule, note that it is not yet confirmed. Do not replace checking the route with the straight-line distance or one smooth trip at the weekend.

How to test whether your choice holds up

Think about what changes if work finishes late, you travel with a child or one way of getting around is temporarily unavailable. Decide on an acceptable alternative and its limits. Compare costs over the same period, keeping regular payments separate from individual journeys. Consider your entitlement to drive and other formal requirements independently of the household calculation. A convenient route does not mean those conditions are met. After a few weeks at the new address, compare your original estimates with the actual load and revise the scenario if the starting assumptions have changed.

What to check

  • Compare door-to-door times.
  • Add irregular journeys.
  • Check transport at weekends.
  • Test a scenario with changed working hours.

Example situation

Good daytime connections to the centre do not guarantee a convenient journey home after a late shift. Check your actual departure time.

Next step

Your choice of transport should be based on the family's calendar and the specific address, not on the city's reputation.

Official information on this topic

Checklists and examples are organisational recommendations. Requirements depend on the procedure, the city and your situation; check them with the relevant office before you act. Please discuss legal and tax questions with an authorised professional.

This article was prepared with the help of AI. The example illustrates the approach and does not describe a client case.