The Green Choice
To buy a car or not, that is the question.
Two days ago, on the 18th of November, our 2005 Hyundai Getz decided to throw a spaz. The little beast has developed electrical problems and now drains the battery no matter what state it’s in. It can be fully turned off but like an introvert at any social event, reliably its battery quickly drains to zero.
Four years ago, for €1500 we bought the concise A-to-B roadrunner, and it has been a wonderful servant. 42,000kms on top of the base 60, with no more than a few changes of oil and a headlight issue for maintenance. We’ve been considering selling it since 2020, but it has just kept on going so why not run it into the ground. But now the little one has done its dash. It’s time to sunset the car to the nearest scrap yard.
So, onto the next car? Of course we have to have a new car, we just had one and we need one right? Actually no, we don’t!
As a pair of cliché, Kalamaja-dwelling city folk, we rarely go on bigger trips. It’s a few kms to the office or the stores, and sometimes a few more to visit the parents in the burbs. Rarely, we take a car outside of the city except for the odd trip to Pärnu say or to the forests for some summer camping. I love these trips, and having a car makes them possible.
I need a car for these specific, longer-than-a-taxi-journeys yes, but do I need to own one? - that is now a question to which 2021 throws up an interesting choice.
Whatever way I’ve run the numbers over the last few days; buy outright, lease, buy super cheap etc, none of them add up to a wise decision. My favourite way to describe my favourite subject - economics - is the study of choice. Here with the death of our vaike Hyundai I’ve been presented with a new choice, one that would have been simply out of the question a few years ago.
It’s 2021, and we have Bolt Drive. When I want to go to the forest for a days swimming and hiking, when I want to go to Pärnu for a night, and when I need to go to Bauhaus to pick up a few brackets and silicon for a DIY project - I just hire a Bolt.
Running the numbers now makes sense.
€20k on a used hybrid, cause it saves on petrol. Leased or buy it outright? What’s your interest rate? Where do you go for maintenance? Are you changing to winter tyres?
I don’t care now for those questions, someone else does. The numbers have pointed me perfectly to the shared economy. We are now car-less car-drivers. The price mechanism is the ultimate guide for the study of choice, and the price of not buying a car is wise.
When I need to get from A to B, it’s no longer our personal little beast doing the work. It’s a few clicks on an app and off we go.
Oh and cool, we get to save the planet at the same time.