Opportunity cost is
defined as the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a
certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking
an alternative action.
One of the basic
questions that arises before buying a car is deciding which specific one to go
for, and among all the factors that are considered for reaching a conclusion,
the one that is given the most weightage in our land is the market value while
giving little or no importance to other areas. I explained one of the most important aspects i.e. legal issues associated with buying a used vehicle before, now its time to move on and compare the different options available in the market,
What does the market
value of anything mean? The price that most people in the market are ready to
pay for it, which might not have much to do with the actual benefits the
product is able to offer compared to the same products which are valued less by
most people, and more to do with the “perceived” benefits by public at large.
But what is stopping you to take advantage of this situation and picking
something that offers you the maximum benefits while people keep paying more
for less, solely because others who do not even ponder over other factors are
doing the same?
The whole logic behind
buying a market car revolves around one thing i.e. perceived monetary benefits,
whereas many financial aspects are not even considered where it actually might
not be the best decision even from this specific angle. The only rhetoric
we keep hearing endlessly is that they sell faster, well how often does one
have to sell a car compared to the time spent driving it, striving to keep it safe
or having less features to enjoy during the whole course of ownership ? The various aspects hat are not considered while buying a market car are mentioned below:
1. You pay more for less e.g. for getting a sedan
which is valued higher in the market as compared to another which is not, you
would generally end up paying around 3-4 lacs more under the pretext that it
would sell at a higher price i.e. 3-4 lacs more. So you have your money stuck
throughout the entire ownership period for no added benefit coming out of this
blocked fund.
2. The probability of a market car being stolen
is so high that it is not even comparable to an out of market one, so why not to
opt for some peace of mind instead of sleepless nights whenever a car is stolen
from your area which was similar as yours, or you are out for having a good
time and spend most of it looking after the thing you came on. Have you ever noticed the guests who keep going towards the gate in order to listen to the sound of a car alarm after pressing the button ? Great hobby isn't it ?
3. In case of a major accident, the price of both
types of cars would fall drastically. Since buying a market car involves a
greater sum of money, you actually have much more to lose in the end as the
option you thought would attract more buyers suddenly became a bad choice for
the same type of people. Even in case of less extreme cases e.g. losing the
original documents, the resale would dip and all the sacrifices you made to buy
the inferior product would go to waste.
4. Genuine spares of no car come cheap; since the
variety of qualities available for the same part for market cars is huge, your
chances of tracing an actual good one are pretty slim given that dealers almost
never tell the truth. On the other hand the low quality part manufacturers have
not much to gain by fabricating parts of cars that sell less, so you end with
mostly genuine spares if you own an out of market car. This although looks like
it costs more but with a better operational and service life it indeed is a
better and safer investment.
5. In the used spare market where we
end up when facing complete engine swap or replacing body parts etc, the demand
for parts of market cars is really high while the supply is hardly able to
catch up hence higher prices. The same parts for out of market cars can be
found at much cheaper rates although this trend is seen more for mechanical and
less for body parts. Try searching the salvage markets for the price of an
engine from a Mehran, Khyber, Corolla etc, and then compare it with those for a
Vitz, Lancer, Sunny. You might be astonished at what you would discover, several times the price for the same thing, in fact mostly inferior, for what added benefit ?
6. Generally the out of market cars
offer much more features comparatively, e.g. if you opt for a lancer instead of
a corolla, you can fetch a clean 1.6 liter top of the line model in a price you
cannot grab a decent 1.3 liter corolla of the same year and comparable
condition. The later would have much lower built quality, fewer features, less
power, shorter trouble free service life and a driving experience not at all
comparable to the counterpart and still costs a lot more. Value for money?
7. In the end, a car is a machine and you never
know what shape the market conditions would take by the time you decide to sell
it. Some cars that cost a lot less when they enter our local markets shoot up
in price later on when some acceptance is shown by the masses like in the case
of Vitz.
Instead of hoping that
your car would give you profits, get the best machine that provides the maximum
utility with a reasonable risk factor. This does not mean that you buy
something that has no spare availability and is seen nowhere e.g. a Ford or a
Renault. There are reasonable alternatives available to the handful of market
cars that we keep buying blindly without considering the competition. Our buyer
market has seen some evolution recently and people are realizing that they have
been getting so much less in the same amount of money they could have used to
grasp a much better machine.
The results of this
adaptation is that now we have a decent list of options to consider when buying
a car, and competition leads to better products for the customer so all of us
are the real beneficiaries of this trend. Let us hope our people get over the
phobia of re-sale and start enjoying the driving experience of better machines
then what has been imposed upon them for ages i.e. decade’s old designs with
obsolete technology at sky rocketing prices.
So please think before
you act, this would lead to better cars for you and favorable conditions for
everyone else while forcing the local assemblers to offer improved products. Although our markets have moved from the
strict chitti od (white 2.OD corolla which was the default choice for anyone
who had access to a good sum of money) mentality, we needs much more realization
before assemblers of market cars are pushed to offer basic features such as
airbags and in case of a mehran , a brake servo unit and maybe no more leaf
springs; although just thinking that we buy something without such basic
necessities is downright ridiculous. Experience the driving pleasure that the
better machines have to offer, it’s your right.
