Time to buy a car?

Frustrated with Uber and Ola? Read this!

I’m sure all of us have experienced the pathetic service of Uber and Ola these days.

Just think about your last few cab booking experiences - You’re ready to leave home and you start searching for a cab. But for 20 minutes both apps still say “searching for cabs”. You finally manage to find one, but the driver cancels within 2 minutes of booking.

Add to that, even if you do manage to find one, it’s shit expensive, especially during peak hours.

If this is something you can relate with, you’re not alone.

A lot of people I know are now considering buying a car because of these issues.

But that’s easier said than done.

For starters, if cost is an important criteria for you and you think cabs are expensive, that’s not always the case. Or if you think cars are expensive, that’s not always the case either.

Frankly, depending on your situation, you may be more likely to benefit from either owning a car or using cab services.

We just think of the absolute cost of buying a car, but don’t think about the allied costs that come with it - servicing, depreciation, interest on the loan and insurance.

Well, I’ve done a detailed working of these costs, and owning a car could be more (or less) expensive than you think.

Check out the table below for the different kinds of costs associated with owning a car. I’ve added assumptions and numbers to them to give you a fair idea, and then calculated what works out cheaper.

Now, taking all of these costs into consideration, depending on the distance traveled by you every day, owning a car could work out to be either cheaper or more expensive than using Uber and Ola. Here’s a table based on the above data, for someone who travels anywhere between 10 and 100 kms every day. (Assuming price per km for Uber = Rs. 22)

You see, for the above scenario (7 lakh car, 2 lakh down payment, 5 year loan), only if you’re travelling roughly 40 kms or more every day, does owning a car make sense from a financial standpoint. If your travel is lesser than that, then it’s better to use cab services.

Now that’s from a financial perspective. You need to see the convenience perspective too.

Would you rather be frustrated in spending 20 minutes to book a cab, or would you rather be frustrated driving in traffic and searching for parking spots? That’s your call to make. (By the way, I’m really keen to know your preference, so do reply or comment on this post, so that I know what you guys prefer!)

Now, you’re thinking how do you calculate all of this shit by yourself?

Don’t worry. I’ve uploaded this excel sheet on the cloud. You can download it from HERE, put in your own numbers and check out the costs for yourself 🙂

But before that, why don’t you share this post with friends who you think may need it, and also on social media? We’re 5,500 subscribers now, and I really want this to grow! Your love and support will go miles in growing our reader base! 🤗

Feel free to shoot your questions in comments or just by replying to this email. And do like this post if you found it insightful!

See you next Sunday!