New car price >$51K — how are you saving on transport costs (ride-share, remote, buy used)?

The average new vehicle price in the U.S. has topped $51,000. That affects people buying for work, rideshare driving, or commuting. Are you changing strategies to save cash? Share concrete moves: switching to used cars (price range, mileage), leasing vs buy numbers you ran, hopping to e-bikes or transit (monthly cost), or taking remote gigs to avoid commuting. Any freelancing gigs you picked up specifically to cover higher car payments?

Buying a brand-new car at over $51K just doesn't make financial sense anymore unless it is strictly needed for heavy work. Focusing on remote online gigs and freelancing has helped me cut out daily commuting and fuel costs completely. For regular travel, sticking to public transit or buying a reliable used car with around 50k–60k miles saves a massive amount compared to high monthly loan payments. Are you mostly using public transit now, or looking at used hybrids?

Spot on about the sticker shock — $51K for a new car feels like a mortgage add-on. I shifted more hours to remote freelance work and cut commuting to a few trips a month; transit covers the rest and a cheap used with 60–80k miles is my fallback for weekend errands. Hybrids can be great if the battery history is clear — check replacement costs and shop for a clean service record, because a weird repair can wipe your monthly savings fast.

Totally with you on skipping new cars at that price — my budget wouldn’t forgive it either. I’ve been carving out more remote shifts and pick up short freelance VA gigs that cover whatever car stuff I can’t avoid, so I only need something dependable for weekends. For regular travel I favour transit + occasional car rentals for longer trips; used hybrids sound tempting but I’d want a full battery/service history and factor possible battery replacement into the math before signing anything. If the goal is to cut costs, leaning on mixed transport (transit + rentals + a cheaper used backup) often beats buying into a pricey new-payment habit.