It’s been exactly one year since I splurged on my third vehicle. I added a Jeep to the BMW SUV and sports car I already had. When I was a kid, I thought that would be the perfect combination of vehicles: something rugged, something luxurious, and something racy.
After a year of owning three cars, I’ve come to a different realization: three cars is probably two cars too many.
I keep two of cars in my home garage (along with my wife’s sport sedan) and rotate another car over at my son’s nearby townhouse. That gives me some flexibility in deciding what vehicle to use for any trip. Even if I want to use the car that’s not in my immediate garage, I can switch cars at his townhouse in just a couple minutes.
Still, it requires a bit of planning & analysis – how many people are going (Jeep & Roadster are 2-doors)? What’s the weather? Do I want tops up or down? Am I going to need the bike rack? Or, what sports equipment am I bringing? All three of the vehicles have trade offs in style, performance, and carrying capacity. It often seems like the car I need for a trip is the one that’s away from home at that moment and requires a quick switcheroo.
In addition, it seems like all three vehicles also need their own repair or maintenance at any given time. The roadster is in for hail damage right now, the SUV needs service on the brakes, and the Jeep just got an oil change. I have new LED headlights I want to put on the Jeep, a new license plate holder for the sports car, and the SUV needs a new windshield. Cars always need something, don’t they? I can’t even remember which ones have a full tank of gas.
Still, I’m not ready to depart with any of them right now because it is fun to have three vehicles. The sports car & Jeep are especially fun to blast around in and very different from my everyday SUV. The fun of driving them & great experiences make it worth the extra logistics & work.
My son and I just took the roadster to the race track (above photo) and on a backroads sports car rally to the Indianapolis 500 over Memorial Day weekend. We really ripped it. I blasted the Jeep through a 20” snowstorm this past winter and am pulling the top & doors off this week for the whole ‘Beach Jeep’ summertime vibe.
I hope we all have foolish pleasures in our lives that bring us joy & adventures – even if they are impractical in terms of cost & care. In my mind, early retirement needs to have a healthy dose of frivolity. What is yours?
Image Credit: (c) MrFireStation.com
MrFireStation 
My Rottweiler and Rotterman rescues that I worked with a dog trainer to get them from having enough issues that the previous owners rehomed them. With the work, they are well behaved and happy dogs now.
And, the car I am rebuilding to get back on the road.
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I would think three dogs would be “two too many”, too. Although they would love playing together all day!
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I had that discussion with my wife over the weekend, because she wanted to adopt a Doberman. I think three is too many, but two are very manageable and they enjoy each other’s company.
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We have a neighbor with three dogs and it seems like a lot. Man-to-man defense much easier than playing zone when it comes to dogs!
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I suggest a motorcycle be added to the fleet of vehicles, maybe a boat, and wouldn’t a private plane and helicopter be cool too. I always dreamed of having a bunch of cool toys like that.
However, with experience owning a few toys I changed my thinking. Maybe I don’t need to own them I can just rent or pay for the experience instead. I paid for the race experience in a race car, and I also spent a day on a dirt bike doing a trail tour and while the experience was expensive for just a day of driving/riding not having to buy all the gear or pay for maintenance, storage etc. makes it easy to justify paying the money and joying it. Of course if it’s something you are going to do all the time maybe it’s better to own. The math should be easy if you know how often you use the vehicles and all the costs.
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My neighbor is a member of a sailing club that works out to be much less expensive than buying. He gets to enjoy sailing large craft that he had to qualify for without any maintenance hassle.
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We did a speedboat club for about 7-8 years. It was terrific. Just show up & jump right on the water.
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They have one of those “fractional toys” places by us that I should check out. We used to be in a summer boat club – that worked out really well. A NetJets card would be amazing!
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We finally rid ourselves of the horrid SUV’s since the kids are all grown now. (Than goodness!) We now have an F150 SuperCrew Cab 4×4 (my wife’s luxury ride), I have an F250 SuperCrew Cab 4×4 (also useful to pull the 40’ RV on trips and our New Holland Tractor/lowboy trailer around the Farm), and a BMW Z4 for the pretty “top down” days. Yes, I guess you can tell we live in the red-neck zone (and love it!) with pickups trucks and tractors for toys! 😉😄
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The F-series are some of the most reliable vehicles you can own.
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You must have a huge garage or barn on your sprawling campus, Thom. I don’t think those big trucks would fit in our suburban garage!
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Just a country boy with his toys! Barn and garage… I’d like to say everything is necessary living on a farm, but who am I kidding. 😳
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One comment about two dogs versus one, especially of the guardian variety. Two dogs play zone defense when someone breaks into your home. A trainer that I know has two standard sized poodles who were able to corral a burglar who broke into her house into a corner and detained them until the police came to arrest him. She proudly displays a copy of the police report that says, “the suspect was detained by the owner’s poodles.”
With multiple dogs you need to manage them as a pack. You need to establish yourself as the alpha. They other dogs will fall in line and even help enforce the house rules.
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I call myself the pack alpha at our house, but my wife thinks it’s little Riley! 😉
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