11 What About Retirement Transport?
Martha was upset that it had come to this point so soon. She had expected to be driving for another few years. Martha, though, had managed to have a couple of small fender benders, fortunately without anyone hurt. Martha’s doctor had already expressed concerns over her eyesight and attention. Learning of the accidents had convinced Martha’s doctor that it was no longer safe for Martha to drive. Martha’s daughter, who lived far away but tried to keep up with Martha’s health and security, agreed. The problem was what Martha would now do to be able to maintain herself and her household, without her own transportation.
Transportation
Safe, affordable, accessible, and reliable transportation can be another significant aspect of a good retirement. Reliable transportation during one’s work life is essential. You’ve got to get to work on time, every workday, and then get home, while in between running a dozen errands. Reliable transportation is no less important during retirement, although not for work reasons. Transportation in retirement instead has everything to do with maintaining your independence in your retirement home. Independence may mean getting yourself to the grocery store, doctor, dentist, drug store, church, library, barber or hairdresser, and a handful of other places, and safely back. Indeed, a retiree’s inability to drive or otherwise arrange for transportation for personal, household, and consumer goods and services basically spells the end of independence. Loss of transportation may also mean a move to assisted living or a nursing facility, unless family, neighbors, or contracted services can supply the transport or arrange for the necessary goods, services, and care. Pay attention to your retirement transportation. It matters for a good retirement.
Safety
Safety is often the concern that triggers an issue with a retiree’s transportation. If an aging retiree can no longer drive safely, then police, insurers, doctors, lawyers, relatives, social workers, and the department of motor vehicles may eventually intervene. A motor vehicle accident due to the retiree’s careless driving is sometimes the trigger for concern. Police may discern and document the cause. Insurers and their lawyers may confirm that cause. A family member watching out for the retiree or social worker providing the retiree with assistance may get involved, urging that the retiree’s doctor evaluate the retiree’s ability to safely drive. In the end, the retiree may lose a driver’s license. Then, the real work begins to determine whether the retiree can remain in the retiree’s own home, still relatively independent, but with necessary transportation services and other assistance. Safe transportation is thus a key to continuing an independent retirement. Maintain your health, vehicle, and operating ability for as long as you safely can. Be especially careful when driving. Accidents happen, even without fault. But any accident in which an elderly person is driving is likely to raise questions of the elderly driver’s fitness to operate a motor vehicle.
Affordability
The affordability of transportation during retirement can be another significant concern. Motor vehicles wear out. Motor vehicles can be expensive to maintain, repair, and replace. The cost of the motor vehicle itself, and its maintenance and repair, isn’t a retiree’s only cost. A retiree must also pay for the required motor-vehicle insurance and gasoline or the electricity necessary for the vehicle’s charge. Those costs add up. Some retirees find themselves unable to fit a replacement vehicle in their budget, when their old motor vehicle finally becomes too unreliable to operate and too expensive to repair. If your retirement budget is tight, try to build a small reserve fund for vehicle repair and replacement, and be sure to maintain the vehicle you already have, if you can afford to do so. Operate your vehicle only when you need to do so, coordinating and reducing necessary trips to save vehicle costs and wear and tear. When you do purchase a replacement vehicle, carefully consider the costs not only of purchase but also of operation, maintenance, and repair. Retirement may be a good time to downsize not only from a large luxury home but also a large luxury vehicle.
Accessibility
Retirees can also face accessibility issues with their own motor vehicles and other transportation. Some vehicles are just easier to get into and out of than others. Low-slung sports cars and high-frame pickup trucks can, for instance, be especially hard for individuals to access, when those individuals have weakness in the hands, arms, and shoulders, or in the hips, legs, and back. Watch your own capability and the capability of your spouse, as you age in retirement. If you find yourselves groaning as you get into and out of your motor vehicles, then consider whether the time may be ripe to swap for a more-accessible vehicle. Injuries or illness can also bring on sudden vehicle-access issues, especially with an injury that requires the retiree to use a cane, crutch, walker, or wheelchair. You may not own a wheelchair-accessible van, but if you and your spouse can own a vehicle that is especially conducive to transferring from a wheelchair to the vehicle seat, to store the wheelchair in the trunk or back, then that vehicle may suffice for temporary disabilities. Maintaining a vehicle that can accommodate you and your spouse as you both age and lose abilities can be a wise strategy to extend your personal transportation.
Reliability
Retirees can also benefit from maintaining reliable transportation. No one wants to break down on the roadside. Yet transportation failures can be especially concerning and disruptive for elderly retirees with limited capacity to respond to emergencies. All it may take is one roadside breakdown to shatter that retiree’s confidence in providing for their own transportation. The safety and security risks of a roadside breakdown enhance the concern over vehicle reliability. An elderly retiree of limited capacity may not have the wherewithal to get the disabled vehicle safely off the traveled portion of the highway and may not personally remain out of harm’s way, instead wandering into the path of other vehicles. Severe weather at the time of the vehicle failure can greatly increase the hazard of a serious accident of one kind or another. Consider making a reasonably new and clearly reliable vehicle a part of your retirement planning. Don’t ignore vehicle maintenance and repair issues that could lead to a roadside breakdown.
Operation
At some point, our aging or illness is sure to rob us of the capacity to safely drive. The question for a retiree is just when that point comes and how to delay it as long as reasonably safe and responsible. Maintaining your health is, of course, a big part of remaining a safe and responsible driver. Maintain regular medical checkups, especially as to eyesight and mental acuity, but also to avoid conditions like stroke and seizure, the presence or risk of which may require removing driving privileges. If you drive with a license restriction requiring use of eyeglasses, or you begin medications during the use of which you should not drive, then comply with those restrictions. An accident in violation of restrictions may result in loss or restriction of driving privileges. Operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including certain prescription drugs, can lead to especially severe penalties. If you are unsure of your fitness to drive, then don’t do so unless and until you address the condition that makes you question your own fitness. Listen to relatives, physicians, social workers, or others who express concern over your driving at all or over your driving destinations, routes, and practices. Modify your driving habits as you age, to ensure that you remain a safe and responsible driver. And then stop driving before you can no longer drive safely.
Substitute
Just because you can no longer safely drive doesn’t mean that you can’t find substitute transportation. Plenty of adults of all ages lead sound, enjoyable, and independent lifestyles while not having their own motor vehicle or driver’s license. As your abilities decline, plan for that day when you can no longer drive. You may find that changing your housing to a location with amenities within walking distance can help. Delivery services are another common and very workable solution, even for perishable groceries, household supplies, prescription medication, restaurant meals, and other necessities and conveniences. Local public dial-a-ride services, ride-sharing services, friends, neighbors, and family members may provide reliable transportation for visits to the doctor and dentist, and to get out for church, entertainment, and other social interaction and personal or household necessities. The out-of-pocket costs of these substitute forms of transportation may seem high at first but may be significantly less than the cost of owning and maintaining a motor vehicle of your own. Planning early for a transition out of your own transportation and into these other services can help relieve the sense of crisis and urgency that can arise when suddenly losing your driving privileges.
Insurance
Motor-vehicle owners must maintain vehicle insurance to operate their vehicle on the public highway. The cost of vehicle insurance can be substantial, especially for drivers who have had moving violations or vehicle accidents involving their own careless vehicle operation. Nonetheless, maintain adequate insurance on any motor vehicle that you own and operate on the public highways. Motor-vehicle insurance laws vary widely from state to state, but all states require minimum liability coverage in case careless vehicle operation harms others or damages property. If you have assets to protect against liability, consider purchasing more than the minimum required liability coverage to protect those assets in the unfortunate event that you cause such loss. Increasing that liability coverage is generally not expensive. The basic coverage is the more-expensive part of motor-vehicle insurance. Consult an independent insurance agent about your motor-vehicle insurance needs and insurance costs. If your motor vehicle has lost most of its value and would not be worth repairing in the event of an accident, then consider dropping the expensive vehicle-repair coverage. Again, consult your independent insurance agent regarding your motor-vehicle insurance needs.
Maintenance
Vehicle maintenance can also be a special issue for retirees. Vehicle maintenance is always a good idea, whether you are retired or not. Vehicle maintenance can both ensure your vehicle’s safety and reliability, and extend its useful life. But in retirement, vehicle safety, reliability, and affordability can all be bigger issues than they were before retirement, for the reasons discussed above. So, give special attention to vehicle maintenance during your retirement. You need not be your own mechanic to do so, even if you previously serviced your own vehicles. Find a reliable and affordable vehicle-maintenance service near you to address both routine, scheduled maintenance and any issue that comes up with your vehicle. Don’t ignore maintenance lights, schedules, and issues. Listen for the telltale knocks, bumps, and other noises, and have your mechanic investigate them promptly, to ensure vehicle safety and reliability, and reduce repair costs.
Perspective
Keep a reasonable perspective among all the above issues having to do with your transportation. Driving your own motor vehicle can be a great pleasure and convenience. Motoring is an American way of life. But driving your own motor vehicle isn’t the goal and purpose of life, and losing or relinquishing your motor vehicle and driving privileges isn’t the end of life. Don’t do anything rash that treats it as such. Don’t, for instance, continue to drive when you know you shouldn’t. But also don’t treat your inability to continue driving as an enormous loss, when it may not be a loss at all. You may, with a little good planning and effort, find that you have greater time, safety, security, and convenience without all the time and trouble that goes along with owning, maintaining, and operating a motor vehicle. We can grow attached to our motor vehicles and the independence they provide. But we have better attachments to pursue, especially in retirement. Keep a sound perspective on your transportation.
Reflection
On a scale from one to ten, how comfortable, secure, and assured do you presently feel about your retirement transportation? What is your greatest concern about your transportation? Are you still a safe driver? Do you have any medical or other health issues or physical or mental disabilities that could be affecting your safe driving? Has your spouse, doctor, or anyone else expressed concern over your driving, to the point that you need to change driving habits or take a driving test? Is your motor vehicle affordable to you, considering all its associated costs? Is your motor vehicle reliable, relieving you of any significant concern over a roadside breakdown? Are you maintaining your motor vehicle to ensure its safety and reliability? Does your motor vehicle have any current maintenance or repair issues that you need to address? Do you have motor-vehicle insurance in place, with sufficient liability limits? Have you checked recently with your insurance agent for any changes you need to make in insurance coverage or can make to save on costs? What backup plans do you have for substitute transportation in the event that you can no longer drive yourself?
Key Points
Transportation is just as important in retirement as during work life.
Monitor your driver safety, especially for medical and vision issues.
Also monitor your transportation budget for affordability issues.
Ensure that your own vehicle remains accessible to you in disability.
Use only reliable transportation to avoid roadside breakdowns.
Operate your vehicle only within your capabilities as a safe driver.
Maintain vehicle insurance at or above liability minimums.
Arrange for substitute transportation before a transportation crisis.
Keep a reasonable perspective about driving, which isn’t everything.