In 2013, we were eyeing the Tucson of Hyundai, an SUV that fits our taste. But it costs 1.7 million so we had second thoughts. My husband accidentally saw a demo in the mall of a Ford Everest. When we went to the display center near our home, it's not the Everest but the Ford Escape that caught our eye. The tag price is 1.2 million. I checked on other dealers of the same car and got a bargain of 1.1 million that we agreed. After some months, there came the promo of Mitsubishi for their Mirage, a people's car type for only 600k. We bought it at once. In effect, we have 2 brand new cars for 1.7 million, the same budget for the Tucson. From our experience, it is more economical to have 2 cars instead of 1 as long as the budget is the same.
What of the money you'll spend on gas? For many people the reason they decide to car pooling or strictly use one car is because they spend less money on gas. And that's what I'd choose too unless there are reasons that demand that two cars be used.
That is a good question. When we had 1 car, my husband would drive me to my office before going to his office and in the evening, he would pick me up. If we would chart the route, it is definitely shorter than both of us using one car each. However, the time saved is worth the cost because of the heavy traffic here. When he used to pick me up, we reach home at 8pm but when we go solo, I reach home before 7pm. PS. One good reason for having 2 cars here is the so called coding where a car is banned on the road one day a week (depending on the last number of the plate). So when 1 of our cars is banned, we go the usual pickup method.
That's good, I agree with that method because in my past I remember telling myself that I had a budget of $70,000 dollars for the car that I wanted, then I told myself that I could just buy 2 brand new cars that were much cheaper and still have money left over. It's more relevant to ones personal life to be able to buy more than one car because you never know what might happen, and vehicle repairs for higher priced cars are much more expensive.
In fairness - although buying two cars for the same price as you would have paid for just one does in theory appear to be a good deal financially - when you then factor in not just the extra gas used by the second vehicle - but also the tax, insurance, maintenance and repair costs of both vehicles - the overall costs start to mount up and instead of being more economical - the long term cost of owning two vehicles is usually significantly higher than it would be for just one. Which is why when people are looking to cut costs - switching from 2 cars down to 1 is generally considered to be one of the best ways of doing so - especially as the financial savings for the average family are well worth the initial inconvenience - as they're usually quite substantial.
I agree with your logic. However, we have here the so called coding where a car cannot be used one day a week depending on the last digit of the plate number. Our SUV has the number 3 for the ending digit which is banned every Tuesday while my small car's plate number ends in 8 which is banned every Thursday. That's one advantage in having 2 cars - the luxury of having a car every day of the week.
