Well, *mostly* carless with kids and its only for the summer. My SIL is moving back from PDX and will need a car to get to her job, but doesn't have the $ to buy one until she's settled. In the spirit of family love and as an experiment for ourselves, we've loaned her our car until September with the provision that we can have it weekends if we want to go to the cabin and the idea that she would purchase it at that time. Since getting the Babboe City in April we have driven three times, all of which were to visit my parents in Lakeville.

We have an Hour Car within 3 blocks of our house should we need it, but I doubt we will.

Our car is currently insured as a recreational vehicle so we'll have to change that, but it there anything else we should be thinking about?

Our single biggest hurdle/concern has been access to emergency medical care for the kids. Should Q break a leg or the baby run a high fever we'd be reliant on neighbors (who we are friends with) or my MIL who lives 2 miles away to drive us. Carless parents - what is your emergency plan?

I'd make sure you have proper amounts of of coverage for medical being it is not you in the car. My wife had to increase our coverage for her job since she sometimes has to drive clients around.

I'd also add a stipulation that she needs to come running with the car in any kind of emergency. Years ago I got my License suspended and I gave my sister my car for the 30 days I was unable to drive. her one stipulation was she was to come pick me up if I was in a jam. You are helping her out in a jam, so asking for this is not asking too much.

It took a couple tries before I didn't read "Careless with Kids."

I'd suggest making sure your insurance agency/company know that your sister will be the primary driver for the time being. I almost got in big trouble with State Farm a couple years ago when a family member regularly used an otherwise unused car and we didn't tell my agent.

As far as an emergency backup plan, is it an option for your health insurance to add a special rider for ambulance services?

In an emergency I'd use the Hourcar. Yes, they'll fine you for using it without a reservation, but if it's an emergency...

That's been my plan, but I've never done it.

Call 911.

Tons of people do not have cars, by choice or otherwise, and their kids survive.

I figure if its enough of an emergency that I can't take the kid to the doctor to the hospital on the bike, its appropriate to call an ambulance.

It hasn't been needed yet, fortunately.

When I got smacked last winter I got a bill for roughly $2200 to cover the three mile ambulance ride to the emergency room. Of course in my case it was covered by the driver's insurance, but if I had to pay it certainly would have been more expensive than keeping a car I never use. Euterpe, I think it's definitely worth looking into insurance coverage for ambulance service before exclusively relying on it for emergencies.

I don't have kids, but I've never owned a car. My plan for emergency trips that do not need an ambulance is a taxi. If it's an emergency, an extra $30 for a cab is not a big deal, whereas an extra $3k for an ambulance is pushing it.

It helps that I'm pretty close to the airport. The longest I've ever had to wait for a taxi at my house is 15 minutes. If I lived somewhere taxis were harder to get, I'd re-think that.

Ah, yeah, I have ambulance coverage through my employer. I didn't realize that wasn't a standard medical insurance thing. $2 - $3k? That just doesn't seem reasonable.

It'll get covered by your insurance but depending on your deductible you may still end up paying more if you have to use it. For instance, I pay nothing each month for my insurance (provided by my employer) but I have a $3000/person, $6000/family per year deductible. If I take a $2200 ride to the ER for $1000 worth of work, I'll have to pay a significant portion out of pocket for the ambulance before I hit the deductible.

But then again, I have a special needs daughter and a wife with her own health issues, so I usually hit my $6000 deductible by the second week of January.

TL,DR internet version: Ambulances are not cheap.

Wait til you see how much a Medi-Vac costs

I hope to never have to know

Although, a helicopter being really expensive somehow surprises me less.

Second week in January. The man has a sense of humor.

Well, I am certain that my MIL or a neighbor would be easier and quicker than a cab or an ambulance unless things were very, very serious.

We're debating the Hour Car. There is a $75 application fee for a household membership and I don't know that we'd ever use it so is that just dumping $75 in the garbage? *shrug*

I am a state employee and our insurance is not something I can add a rider to, etc. But, we pay a very low deductible (which we've already met for the year) and I will look into what ambulance coverage is.

I think the best thing is to let several neighbors know our plan so they answer their door in the middle of the night if we come knocking. A neighbor gave me a ride to the hospital when I had our new baby, D.

Taking to our insurance agent today.

BTW - we are saving no money through this. The car is paid off and it is insured as a recreational vehicle. We only buy gas quarterly. So the whole trade-off between transportation costs and other costs isn't a benefit for us - we already have next to no costs for the car. Hour Car will costs us more for 3 months than our car does.

What about just renting a car are there any car rental places closer to you? I was looking at Hour Car and Zip Car but both places are too far for me to want to use. So I was thinking of just using a rental car as the rates are not that bad and you get a better selection of cars to chose from.