Went car-free abroad — did you end up needing one after all?

We tried, Marco, for about four months. We live in a city that is designed around cars, much more than the photos suggested, and with three kids, school runs, a weekly food shop and sport on Saturdays in three different places, the buses simply didn't work for us. The final straw was a Sunday when my youngest was ill and the nearest open pharmacy was a forty-minute walk away.

What I'd tell anyone considering it: look at your real week, not your ideal week. Where do the kids go to school, where is the nearest big supermarket, where is the nearest emergency service, and how do you get to each on a Sunday evening in winter? If most of those need a car, you'll end up with one. We bought a small used one after four months, and I'd have saved money by buying it in month one.

Car-free in Ireland until I had a child with a fever at night and no bus, which is exactly Tariq's story.

Nine days. That's how long we were car-free after moving to a village. The bakery is walkable, everything else is not. We bought a very small, very old car from a neighbour's cousin, which is apparently how cars change hands here. It has no working radio and one window that only opens halfway, and it's the best purchase we made in Portugal.

Car-sharing for the occasional trip has kept us car-free for two years now.

Tariq, "your real week, not your ideal week" is the sentence I needed. I've been planning around my ideal week for two years.

Still car-free in Spain, but only because I work from home and my dog prefers walking.

Good thread for anyone planning a move. If you're weighing it up, the Transport and Driving sections of each country guide cover the practical side: how public transport works outside the big cities, car-sharing, and what it takes to drive on your foreign licence and for how long. For Spain, for example, the Driving section covers licence exchange and buying a car, which is worth knowing before you decide either way.

With two kids in different clubs, a car was inevitable for us after the first winter.

We're planning to live without one in Spain and rent when we need to, and this thread is making me nervous.

Renting often is a good test: if you rent more than a couple of times a month, the maths usually tips.