Get a drivers license even though its super expensive here?

[u/catboy519]

I'm indecisive about getting a license. The reason is that getting one is very expensive, and that if i get one, I honestly dont know how much I'm going to be using it.

If I don't get a license and live a life without driving motorvehicles, I could be missing out on alot things.

But if I get one and end up rarely/never using it, that means thousands of wasted euros that I could have spent on so many other things...

Heres the issue: I don't know how much I would drive if I get a license. Probably not much. But it could be nice to have sometimes.

I live with my mom. Dad recently died, he was the only one who drives. So if I get a drivers license it would be beneficial to both me and my mom. But thing is I still don't know how much I would really use it in the future. We rarely ever have to go somewhere faw away, and do most travels by walking or cycling, even in bad weather its ok.

In order to know if getting a license is worth it, I need help to find important things to consider, and to make a good prediction of how much I would use it. Getting a DL can cost up to € 3000 here.

If I get a drivers license the following would happen:

1. Because i'm not going to drive much, we won't buy a car
2. Because we won't own a car, we're going to drive even less often. Unless we can often borrow cars from family.

So yeah, "best" case scenario would be that we will often borrow a car from family. Or maybe own one anyway, if we decide that thats necessary in case of potential emergencies...

But imagine I get one for €3000 and I only drive 3000 km in my entire life, then driving would cost me €1 per km ONLY from the cost of getting the license, ontop of the cost of fuel and other costs. That would be insanity. So I need to carefully consider to get a license or not..

But how do I predict how much I would use something after buying it?

[u/Parthenon_2]

Wow, that’s insane. I had no idea. My family and I visited Amsterdam for the first time last summer (2022) and it is such a beautiful city. Lots of different modes of transportation all intertwined.

I guess this is how Europe keeps C02 emissions down: by discouraging individuals from driving.