Cheap petrol, expensive car
AI-92 costs about 5 som a litre. Why do drivers still complain? Because the petrol is the cheap part.
Zholdosh A. · 17 Sep 2023 · Issue 152 min read
Take a ten-year-old Japanese car, bought used in Talas for $4,500 (that is 37,800 som at the official rate). Insurance 140 a year, the annual inspection 60, tyres every second year 280, repairs, depending on luck, between 300 and 1,200. Petrol for 12,000 km at 9 litres per 100 is 1,080 litres, at 5 som about 5,400 som.
So in a normal year, before any luck or bad luck, the car costs the family about 6,500 som on top of the price, and petrol is most of that. The bigger cost is the one you don't see: the money you didn't invest because it was already in the car. For a family of four who go to the village twice a month, a car is worth it. For a young man who drives to the university and back, a bus pass is 20 som a month. Do the arithmetic once and decide with your eyes open.
1 Comment
The bus pass line hurt. I have a car. I will do the arithmetic this weekend and tell nobody.
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