4 ms·

Is car ownership pretty affordable overall? (Insurance, fees, etc)

• burntoutfire 5y ago
  Yes, very affordable. Yearly mandatory insurance, without any discounts for crash-free driving (as I doubt they'd honor insurance histories from foreign countries), is perhaps about $300. Mandatory yearly checkups are $30. Cars themselves are a bit pricier than in US - mostly due to VAT being higher than US's sales tax I guess. But, maintenance is way cheaper - there's plenty of cheap and skilled mechanics who will improvise fixes using scavenged second-hard parts (which they themselves will provide). Rebuilding an engine will cost you perhaps under $400 in labor, while I suspect it's in thousands of dollars in US. Gas is currently $5.5 per gallon. Most people drive cars with low fuel consumption, so they're easy to get on second-hand market. Also, if one is particularly stingy about fuel costs, it's popular to own cars fueled by LPG. LPG is currently $2.5 per gallon.
  • xkqd 5y ago
    > if one is particularly stingy about fuel costs, it's popular to own cars fueled by LPG. I’ll add that it’s been popular for the last decade, up to 15 years. So don’t think it’s going anywhere, anytime soon!
• kolinko 5y ago
  It is, but you don't really need a car. Public transport and Uber/Taxis work very well in most cities. Most of my friends don't have cars, around half doesn't have a driver's license. They can afford a car easily, but just don't see a need.