Owning a car may not be the best option..

[DieselFan]

It is clear that it makes sense only if you run about 20K km a year on your car.

[DieselFan]

Here is the math I did for a Diesel car for 5 years 100000 km use-

Depreciation per year - 60K
Insurance per year - 10K
Cost of capital per year- 10K
cost of service per year- 10K
cost of Fuel per year- 40K
cost of parts per year- 10K
Misc per year - 10 K (Can be used for additional expense incurred over and above the items given above)

Total - 150K for 20 K KM. per year Hence cost per KM - Rs. 7.5

The above is the most pessimistic estimate you may end up with a lesser expense than above.

[dadu]

Everything cannot be judged in terms of the cost, do you know that its economically better if

-drive a small car(reva) than others
-you run a fan than an A/C at home
- you watch a CRT TV than a Plasma/LCD
- you take a DTC/BMTC bus than an auto/car
- stay in a 1/2 bedroom house than 2/3 bedroom
- Clean the house yourself than a maid
- buy groceries from small shops than big malls
- do shopping from chandni chowk/shivaji nagar than posh markets

but everything also has an esteem value attached to it for which there is no justification.

[abhibh]

Frankly this guy has gone crazy. I think he is underpaid or something. I agree one should walk but that doesn't mean i m walking in 44C in sun, sweating and getting sun burns and may even die from cancer due to it.

Taxis in Chandigarh are ok but that doesn't mean i will sped Rs 16 per KM everytime i need to go somewhere where. If i drive my own car i m spending around 8 RS. per KM including insurance and Services (Depending upon the use of car)

Its about ones own comfort. Though the thumb rule of my life is:
If i can afford something and i need it i will buy it and use it but if i can't i will get it of my mind until and unless i can afford it.

[GTO]

A related article : Linky (ARTICLE: The real cost of car ownership).

[LLL]

Originally Posted by Zappo

* The next day. Again I ended up in office till 10.30pm. I know its going to be a long way home. I come out of the main gate and hey! presto, there is actually a cab there at the gate looking for customer. I ask him and he agrees after some nakhras provided I pay him 1.5x the fare. Oh, so he was looking for a bakra.

1. zappo - i agree with everything except 1.5x. that fare is asked if the guy is honest. you try travelling from noida to delhi at 2 am in morning and 70% probability that cabbie is gonna ask for 5-6 times the fare.

2. also, just imagine once everyone sells off their cars, how many buses/trains/cabs/autos we will need to transport delhi's junta?

3. since the article is from ET, once ppl stop buying cars, auto indistry will go into recession...whats the consequent impact on steel, rubber, auto spare/ancillaries factories?

4. anyways what will happen to price of a taxi - right now due to economies of scale, taxis are appropriately priced. But once private cars stop selling, prices of taxis will shoot up (as manufacturer will have to recover fixed cost from less number of sales) and obviously the writer's maths will go for a toss.

5. same logic for fuel prices - lesser number of ltrs sold, fuel company will have to recover their fixed costs from lesser # of ltrs. Price of fuel will increase. ET expert writer will then need to redo the math.

[Mayavi]

I have decided to save some money and also help the environment. So I stopped subscribing to ET and TOI Saves me 2 bucks and saves the environment - 20 pages of rubbish and advertorials.