[AirbusCapt]

Imo the automobile sales decay is a result of the general economic slide in India. It's just not automotive industry, sales of real estate, consumer white goods, gold and jewelry, expensive artifacts have all declined. The market is in a recession although the government is working hard to put a media spin on it. In any recession, the first signs are a tightening credit, lack of spending and fall in Auto sales. We see all of it in India . If ola/Uber were entirely responsible for auto sales downfall, we should have seen an increase in yellow board sales proportional to a decrease in white plate sales, that's not happening. Also the second hand market should have bloomed with cabbies buying second hand cars as taxies, that too has not happened. An increase of car loans from cabbies too has not taken place. More over ola/Uber are an urban phenomenon, why has private car sales declined in rural India?

[adi.mariner]

Owning a car does not make sense for me strictly in the Economic Sense as my usage is very less (around 10k kms/year). But many of the decisions made in life are not made solely on the basis of money. The peace of mind of having a Car in the parking for those impromptu trips or even some emergencies can never be compared to hiring an Ola/Uber. I do use their services specially for airport runs, but other than that I love to use my own vehicle. The sheer convenience makes up for the money spent in ownership.

[discoverwild]

Originally Posted by Aroy

Since 2000 when I bought my Alto K10, I have driven 17K km.
. Total cost of the car and maintenance = 3.9L
. Fuel = 1.01L
. Insurance = 50K
. Total =5.4L
which means that the I have spent Rs.31/km. That is way beyond what a dedicated cab would cost.

17k kms in 20 years!! You Sir, are not the average car user.

I have a 8 year old car that just completed 150k kms including two cross-country trips. The law of averages certainly works better in my case, than in yours.

I'm one of the few guys who rarely get into a taxi, for the simple fact that I travel a lot by road and can't use public transport. A few times that I have used one, the saga of having to wait for a taxi was discomforting. I live in the suburbs on one end of town. The only other time I needed one was when the radiator hose blew and the engine was overheating on the main road. I was late for a meeting and the taxi never showed up for over half an hour even though he claimed he was on the way. I had to cancel and drive my car to the meet, rather than be stuck.

Funny how I couldn't depend on a taxi during an emergency. With ridiculous car prices and a greedy Government to boot, I might just retain the Vista to its EOL.

[timuseravan]

One huge factor which these "studies" don't consider is convenience and time savings.

Even though I live in city limits, my area is not-so heavily populated. It is almost completely residential with hardly any offices or shopping areas.
I occasional use Ola/Uber for my office commute. I have found that on average it takes a cab 20 mins to reach my home post booking. And then 30min ride to my office. If I go for pooling, the average travel time taken is close to one hour. This means my normal 25 min morning commute in car can take anywhere between 50mins to 90mins. The return commute times are similar.

I do understand that time take will always be more with any form of public transport but here at a minimum I am spending twice the time just in commute.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by discoverwild

17k kms in 20 years!! You Sir, are not the average car user.

.

Sorry that was a typo, it 2010 not 2000. Alto K10 was introduced in 2010.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by timuseravan

One huge factor which these "studies" don't consider is convenience and time savings.
....
....

That is why my Alto K10.

The convenience factor beats every financial model. Want to fetch milk in the heat, no taxi will agree to a 2km round trip. Want to go somewhere when there is a taxi strike or during rush hours when it takes an hour to get an Ola or Uber, nothing betas a car ready to travel.

A narrow body inexpensive vehicle is the way to go when parking is scarce and you can just about squeeze into a slot others cannot. And best of all you are rarely bothered about scratches and dents that other users inflict on you, as the residual value of the car does not change much in this segment. Best part is the maintenance cost - around 2500 for every 10,000 km or as in my case a year.

[narayans80]

Number of cars (plus bikes) in the household would eventually catch up with the number of working people in the family, whose commute is greater than walking distance.

Taxis (App or not) are highly unreliable in terms of punctuality. I've waited anywhere between 20 mins to 1.5 hrs, especially from work to home.

Most of my trips are done with 2 kids. The things we carry or the privacy we get to leave them on their own isn't going to be offered by any other mode of transportation.

Bottomline, taxis aren't going replace the only car in the household, no matter how good the economics are.

Originally Posted by Aroy

Sorry that was a typo, it 2010 not 2000. Alto K10 was introduced in 2010.

Even 17K is 9 years is way too low For reference, I was thinking 28K in my 11 year old Suzuki Access was low miles (which it is) that I've delayed selling/trading it in to let it run its lifetime.