Buy a car: it is so much more than a simple money drain

Occasionally, when a reader asks in a newspaper, "Should I buy a car or not?" I notice that many comments suggest renting a car or taking a ride-hailing service instead of spending a large amount of money on a car.

Some people also think that one should use the same money to buy land and make a profit later, while buying a car means one must spend VND50-100 million (US$2,000-4,000) each year on maintenance.

I agree that a car loses value after each use. However, we should not look at a car only as something that just depreciates after and costs a lot in fuel and maintenance.

We should consider how it carries you and your family on thousands of safe and convenient trips, how it brings a better quality of life that taxis or motorbikes cannot.

When you have a car, you are in better control when taking your family out, and when visiting your parents in the countryside. Overall, it can help build stronger connections with your family. For business purposes, a car is also a tremendous help in terms of convenient travel and building a good image, thus bringing you a better income.

I think that if you have real demand for a car, you absolutely should buy one that suits your financial ability.

The ultimate purpose of making money is to serve yourself and your family. You should not calculate too much and end up with a large account balance but suffer from inconvenience.