Driving your own car may be a dream for many, but over time the convenience and cost-effectiveness of car rentals can supersede owning a car by a large margin.

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Overheads or over it?

The cost of the car itself, whether it is in Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) or loan repayment, is only one aspect of transport expenditure. Added to this are periodic PUC checks, regular maintenance to ensure upkeep, annual insurance charges and unforeseen expenses on car breakdown, all summing up the massive overheads that are incurred. Some of these are often overlooked as small amounts, with the vehicle being viewed as a one-time investment, but these small amounts accumulate in the long run to become a vacuum for one’s earnings. 

Stress or relief

We buy vehicles for much more than just transport. It could be the thrill of long and fast night drives, the sentimentality of considering a car an extension of a home, or the desire to possess a private vehicle as a status symbol. While finances are the major determinant, abstract emotion often plays an even larger role in decision making. What we sometimes forget is the stress that car ownership brings to our lives. If to save money, we choose to drive instead of employing a driver, we are left in a situation where with each use of the car, we are subjected to intense traffic conditions, road rage issues and scarcity of parking spaces.

Time or overtime 

Cutting costs by driving our cars ourselves translates directly into cutting time right out of our days. Time is on its own very limited, and time is also money. In no way are we benefiting ourselves if instead of reading, making a presentation, or talking to our loved ones, we are stress-sweating and cursing behind the wheel while waiting for traffic to move. If every-day transit to and from work, alone, causes you to spend several hours a day in a state of agitation, and return home too exhausted to even converse with your family, then perhaps this is a warning sign that you must literally take a back seat. 

Convenience and conveyance

With pay-per-use rental services, you can find a driver even on holidays. Besides, given the deals that such companies offer, comfortable travel is steadily becoming more affordable than ever before. With a diverse range from hatchbacks to luxury sedans, once can choose a car based on mood, need and occasion. Car-rental companies are now also branching out with new deals targeted at corporates. As an organisation, it is significantly more cost-effective to allow employees to use rental services and reimburse them for the same, rather than being saddled with the added responsibility of a fleet of company cars. Car renting guarantees that the conveyance perk is not misused, and also eliminates the extra investment of regular upkeep.

Yes. There will always be multiple perspectives to a scenario. Like what happens when your rental partner goes on a strike? Or if you realise that you are not as safe as things may seem? To each their own, but to each their own money and time as well. After all, cost and worth are two completely different concepts. 

The writer is director and dark knight at Never Grow Up