Car-Dependency and Its Burdens

In the U.S., owning a car is often framed as a symbol of freedom and opportunity. But for many low-income women, especially mothers, car ownership is more of a financial trap than a ticket to independence. In the absence of reliable, accessible public transit, women are effectively forced into car ownership to meet the demands of caregiving, work, and household survival. And the costs are increasing year-over-year.

According to AAA, the average annual cost of car ownership has surpassed $10,000. For a single mother earning minimum wage, that’s more than a quarter of her yearly income gone just to making sure she can get around. This burden is felt the highest by low-income women who also shoulder the vast majority of domestic responsibilities, often making complex, multi-stop trips for daycare, groceries, school pickups, and multiple jobs. Public transit, with its limited schedules, safety concerns, and inadequate coverage, makes these essential trips difficult.

As Evelyn Blumenberg explains in her research on low-income women and car dependency, automobiles are not a luxury, they are often essential. Women’s travel patterns are shaped by what planners call “trip chaining”: combining multiple short trips into one longer route. These patterns are incompatible with most existing North American transit systems, which are typically designed for nine-to-five, downtown-oriented commuting. So while there is an increasing push to reducing car use in the name of climate and land use goals, the reality is that the U.S. transportation landscape has made car ownership basically essential for caregivers in much of the country.

But what happens when the cost of that necessity becomes unbearable?

The Vox article “Why America’s Love Affair With Cars is Financially Ruining Us” reports on the large rates of car repossession, especially among subprime borrowers, many of whom are low-income women of color. Families are defaulting not because they don’t value their cars, but because the economics of vehicle ownership simply don’t add up anymore. Monthly payments, interest rates, rising insurance premiums, gas, and maintenance costs all compound in a system where wages are stagnant and inflation continues to eat into household budgets.

This isn’t just a personal finance issue, it’s a policy failure. As this Planetizen article on automobile dependency describes, car-centric planning has long prioritized highways and sprawl over people and accessibility. Low-income communities are often located far from job centers, schools, and health care facilities. When public transportation is underfunded or poorly integrated, residents are left with no practical alternative to driving, even if it pushes them deeper into debt.

And women aren’t just disproportionately burdened by car dependency, they’re also more vulnerable to the consequences of car loss. A car repossession can derail not just a person’s credit but their ability to get to work, take their kids to school, or access food and medical care. The cascading effects can be devastating.

What should be done?

First, policymakers must recognize that car dependency is not a lifestyle choice, it’s a structural condition. Transportation policy must prioritize investments in safe, frequent, and accessible transit that meets the needs of caregivers, and not just commuters. Programs that subsidize car maintenance, insurance, or access to electric vehicles could provide short-term solutions, but long-term solutions lie in shifting away from car-centric land use altogether.

We need transportation systems that work for those doing the most unpaid labor in society. For low-income women, especially mothers, mobility isn’t just about getting from point A to point B, it’s about survival, dignity, and opportunity. Until we plan for that reality, the burden of car dependency will continue to fall heaviest on the people least able to bear it.