My husband and I own two cars. Do we need two cars? When both of us worked at different offices
in different directions– yes. Now both of us work from home, so probably – no. Have we considered
selling one of our cars though? No. And the reason – what if we both had to head out for different
reasons at the same time?
I have a friend who has been driving the same car for more years than I know her. She finds no
reason to change it because it hasn’t given her any big trouble yet and also, she is emotionally
attached to it, since she learnt how to drive in it.
On the other hand, I have another friend who can’t stop changing his car every few months. He
needs to have the latest model of the coolest car in town. He also gets rid of it in less than two years,
only replace it with the next swanky option available.
In two minutes, I was able to profile three distinct types of spenders when it comes to their modes
of transport. There may be many more profiles we can create, but it raises an important question.
Why are people so concerned about what they drive?
The purpose of owning a private vehicle is to take you from one place to another, at a time of your
choosing. So why does it matter what colour it is, how old it is or how expensive it is? Sometimes, all
that seems to matter is the perception of others when they view our wealth. Our home, our cars,
our phones and even our underwear (think men whose jeans are falling off their hips) create a sense
of achievement among our peer. It announces “We’ve arrived”.
As the wealth grows, the show of wealth seems to grow too. This is part of what we call “lifestyle
inflation”. As a person’s income grows, their expenses seem to grow with them. Nothing wrong with
that, as long as your expenses are always less than your income. The moment your expenses get
higher than your income, you get yourself into debt or worse – you may start dipping in to your
investments to meet these expenses.
So the next time you decide to buy a car, think, is it for “log kya kahenge?” or is it for yourself.
