The Real Cost of Owning a Car

Every time we are in the mall, we never fail to notice the various vehicles on display with signages on how very little the down payment is. There was even one car that caught my attention in particular – a Hyundia Getz with a down payment of only P18,000!


Imagine that, with just P18,000 you can already be driving a brand new car (assuming all other factors are favorable, which they always seem to be when you are buying a car)!

My husband and I wondered how much the monthly amortization for that car be, considering that we already paid P126,000 down payment and still our monthly on our 2008 Kia Picanto is still P12,528.00 – and that is not even the end of it.

Yearly, we have to get a comprehensive insurance because our car is covered by a mortgage. This year, because of the car casualties from Ondoy, instead of having a lower premium on our comprehensive insurance we had to pay at least P5000 more to get an Acts of God coverage as well. This Acts of God coverage is now specifically required by mortgagee banks. So, we had to shell out P14,000 ++ in a course of six months (good thing car insurers nowadays offer installment payments).

At least twice a year also, or a few thousand kilometers or so, we have to send our beloved Picoy (yes, I name our car) to Kia Congressional for some automitive pampering (preventive maintenance). This costs us almost P5,000 every time.

Good thing our car’s engine displacement is only 1.1 because that brings our gas consumption to only about less than P4,000 a month.

We used to have a Nissan Sentra JX 91 model and P4,000 barely covers a half-month’s gas consumption. This is precisely why we thought of getting a smaller, more fuel efficient car.

And, believe it or not, compared to commuting my husband gets to save a few pesos and a whole lot of inconvenience by driving a car to work. Not only does it save him time (transferring from a tricycle to an FX to the MRT, and back is time and effort consuming), driving a car is also far more convenient when you have a baby to lug around. You know how babies are – they have to have a whole lot of stuff with them, starting with a stroller and the baby bag!

A car is also indispensable when going grocery shopping. I feel for those who have to stand in a loooong line waiting for cabs (which mysteriously, but not surprisingly, disappear at the slightest hint of rain – just when you desperately need a cab!) with all their grocery bags in tow. I used to be like that before. We were newly married and my husband and I needed some stuff for our New Year meal so we went to SM Hypermart . The store was already having their nightly fireworks display (they have this yearly at least a few weeks before New Year’s eve) and we were still waiting for a cab. It was then that I vowed to buy a car, which was the Nissan back then.

Picoy is our first brand new car and as I’ve said, he comes with a lot of expenses aside from the monthly amortization. Still, compared to our old trusty Nissan, I believe we are getting more value for having a brand new car instead of a 19-year old one which aside from the enormous gas consumption also came with a lot of badly needed repairs every now and then.

We still have a year to go on our free LTO registration. After that I also have to figure it into our car expenses.

Just a heads up for those who are considering to buy a car. It sure is nice and convenient to have one, but be sure to have more than the monthly amortization saved up because you are in for a lot of expenses – very much like sending a child to school.