28/10/2022
THE CAR OWNERSHIP DEAL
You want to own a car to ferry you to work and to run your errands. You have saved ksh. 200k over time and you feel it’s time to take the bull by its horns. You approach a car bazaar and make an agreement for a car worth Ksh. 1.3m (choose your make and your own budget). The agreement spells that you deposit ksh. 200k and monthly premiums of Ksh. 36k for 48 months. You pick the car and leave.
For months you comfortably roll on all roads of the cities while still paying for your premiums. Reaches a stage and you realise that fuel consumption is really taking your pockets to the dry wells of Kalahari. It’s around 20k monthly on top of other personal expenses that life comes with. Within an year, you need insurance cover. Call it Ksh. 50k. You agree to pay in two instalments with your insurer. But just after the first instalment, your car has a small issue and you have to check with the mech. Voila, you need to replace the gear. The mech however says he can treat the damaged part (magego ma gear). You cough ksh. 25k. Two weeks later the problem appears again and you have to do a complete overhaul at ksh. 95k or so. You are back on the wheel albeit less 25k+25k+95k and now a balance of 25k for the insurance and you have a waiting 36k monthly premium on top of your monthly bills.
Folks, if these figures don’t make you see how the car bazaar comes to pick your car without any debate, then you may never learn.
FOR AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT, the cases are many that may cause these troubles. The car may never break down but life happens. You lose your job while you have not even paid 20%, Covid 19 made many lose assets because of changes in income patterns.
It is also important to note that a car worth 1.3m ends up costing you over ksh. 2m and within the 48 months, your life may come to a standstill as you clear the car.
Why not try an idea which in two years’ time, you will buy the same car in cash and run life like anybody else?
These are the issues we have to talk about to make human kind make sense.