Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Ending rampant car ownership
OPINION: Cars are a mixed financial blessing.
They can convert a big chunk of a household’s income into a puff of petrol fumes and rust, but many rely on them to get to and from work.
The national Covid-19 lockdown resulted in a staggering drop in car usage. Spending on fuel dropped $770 million in the three months to the end of June.
Some people working from home got a glimpse of a better, lower-car, lower-cost, lowercarbon lifestyle.
Other families, less fortunate in maintaining their incomes, would have experienced their cars as a liability to be funded regardless of their misfortune, especially those with finance company loans on them not yet paid off.
Individuals within a loan company might have some level of human empathy for customers in hardship, but really, all the owners really want is their money back, and their interest.
New Zealanders own an awful
GOLDEN RULES
■ Minimise car costs, maximise wealth
■ It doesn’t have to be one car per adult
■ Consider alternatives to owning a car
lot of cars, more according to European Automobile Manufacturers Association, than any EU country.
Driveway car-cramming is such a Kiwi thing. One adult, one car, is a common ratio in homes, even in city-fringe suburbs.
I take no pride or joy in owning a car. I co-own a single car with my wife, but it’s principally hers. As a one-car household, we are in the minority, the large minority when retirees are taken into account.
Asked by a slightly irritating neighbour’s child once: ‘‘My dad drives a Lexus. What’s your best car?’’ I was pleased to reply: ‘‘I ride a bike.’’
As a result of spending most of my working life either owning no cars, or just a half-share of one with my wife, I’ve had a considerable financial advantage.
One car less car than the average means less of my money flowing into petrol stations, taxes, on-road costs, the repair shop, the WOF shop, the insurance company, and ACC.
It’s getting easier for households not to own a car per adult in our cities, providing you can afford to own, or rent within a sensible distance of your work.
Shorter commutes make for happier humans, but aspiring to home ownership is driving people in Auckland to longer and longer commutes.
Ride sharing services like Uber and Ola, car sharing services like Cityhop, and a new car subscription service from
Turners offer alternatives to ownership, or traditional leasing.
Turners subscription business lets individuals pay subscriptions to have the exclusive use of a newish car, which it insures and maintains.
It costs from $112 to $301 a week (2011 Suzuki Swift to 2016 Subaru XV), and the subscriber has to pay for petrol, but for people who only want a car shortterm (and who have clean licences) it’s a fresh option.
I can imagine flatmates wanting a vehicle, but not wanting to own cars could chip in together for a subscription.
Turners is a for-profit business, and among the cons of the subscription service is that you can own more cheaply, but it’s an option in an expanding menu of options.
Pros include being able to hand the car back at a month’s notice, not having to worry about WOFs or maintenance, letting Turners worry about depreciation, and not having to take out a car loan.
It’s probably going to be a niche service for people who need a car for a shortish period of time, but like the national lockdown, the Turners subscription service does make you think about the alternatives to our one adult, one car model of ownership.
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