Today, the IF blog turns into a car blog!
I very much appreciate all the comments by Hans Bonfigt. He particularly seems to enjoy commenting on my articles about cars and bikes. For instance my article about what-goes-without-saying . He wrote:
“We have now arrived at a time when buying and running a ‘mid-size luxury car’ costs well over 1,000 Euro each month”.
Well, I feel motivated to dispute that!
For a nice Fabia Kombi, directly imported from the Czech Republic, including air conditioning, CD radio player and winter tyres, I pay 10,000 EURO. The only thing that is missing is a navigator, but you either already have one or can buy it for less than 200 €.
That is exactly the model sitting on my front yard. It is now (besides our ancient BMW Isetta of 1959) the only vehicle our still large family owns and is mostly used reasonably according to our private “car sharing” concept by all (well, I am the one who drives it the least often).
On the above picture, you can see the vehicle. I can show you the invoice.
This Fabia, which is not available in Germany, has 60 P.S. and costs exactly 48 Euros in tax per year! After ordering it, you have to wait 0 (ZERO) days for delivery. In the internet, you find out where it sits, buy it, get the number plates, go there by public transportation for 5 €, hand over your money and take possession of the car. Naturally, there is no cost for transfer or delivery party. To make up for it, you get an additional practical gift.
Since I have been totally accident-free for decades and the car, due to its few PS also statistically will cause little damage, the insurance is also quite low. My insurance company (DEVK) really surprised me by offering such a low rate for comprehensive cover (!).
What we got is a car with four doors and five seats (all of them with automatic safety catch). It is considerably more comfortable than my first family car, a Passat Variant, was and has just as much space inside. And my sitting position is better than in many flat two-door Coupés!
Now let us assume I drive this car to V-Markt at Balanstrasse. At a mileage of 6 litres per 100 km, this means 10 cents per kilometre. Which is 2 Euros variable costs for the return journey.
Of course, this is only possible if I do not count the “working hours” of the driver. Incidentally, if two people take the S-Bahn train for the same distance, they pay more than 8 €. They will not get out right at the front door and will also have to carry all the products they have bought.
And the fixed costs per month without repairs (I will sell the Fabia after three years with a maximum of 25,000 kilometres) are no higher than 100 Euros (1,000 write-off per year plus 48 Euros, the rest is insurance). During this time, the depletion (tyres, etc) is low.
🙂 So you see: a (new) med-sized luxury car for 100 € each month, plus 10 cents for fuel per kilometre!
And now here is my question for Hans:
How is public transport competitive at all? …
🙂 Or even my Utopia Luxus Roadster
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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