Let's not kid ourselves

We can’t afford a car. That includes the hire-purchased car you are driving now (if you are still hire-purchasing one).

Unless we can afford another car just like it, we are in no comfortable position to own it. That also means, if you plan to own 2 cars, you should be able to afford 4 in reality. And I don’t have to tell you why.

Have you missed an oil service? Do you wait until you can see ripped Kevlar canvas peeling from the tyres before you change them? And when you finally change your tyres, do you try to find the cheapest available? Do you send your car for a knock and paint job immediately if it has minor collision? Or do you wait until you find out how much it’ll cost and how much you have left after you’ve settled all your monthly bills? Or do you wait until there are other dents and scratches in other areas so that you could do a total makeover? Does the annual roadtax and insurance policy renewal affect your budget?

If you answer yes to all these, you belong to the majority of Malaysians who can’t afford their cars. The minority who can are either plain rich or smart financial planner. Or a bit of both. Smart financial planners aren’t necessarily rich. They can afford an Audi A6, but they buy the Toyota Camry. They deserve a Maserati Quattroporte, but they go for the Mercedes E-class. They like a Honda Jazz, but they settle for the Perodua MyVi. They can afford a RM1,000 monthly installment, but they go for the RM500 per month convenience. See the pattern? You have to have extra cash to be comfortable with your hire-purchase.

There’s more to owning a car than just driving it like it is the trendiest outfit. Take the front suspension for example. Shock absorbers usually last 5 years in average. If they are leaking and mess up their rebound, and you forget to inspect them, they will cause irregular wear on your tyres. Your tyres will lose their balance and alignment affecting the geometry of the steering rack. After a while the steering rack breaks and leaks out fluid, damaging the pump, hose and the rack. One thing leads to another, and before you know it, your repair bill can actually start another hire-purchase!

So if you earn RM1,500 monthly and think you can afford RM700 per month installment, find a car that lets you pay RM350 per month and save the other RM350. If you earn RM5,000 a month and think you can afford that sexy Alfa 147 at RM1,300 per month, don’t indulge. Instead, find a car that drains only RM650 from your wallet every month.

Please don’t tighten your belt and squeeze your budget only to buy the latest car you think you deserve and then run it on the cheapest tyre you can find.