Background Primary car
My current car is a 2012 Honda City V AT, which I bought it new in July 2012. The current odometer reading is a little over 72,000 km.
Primary car's upkeep
I have been the sole driver of this car all these years. I have also been maintaining the car well, with regular servicing at the Honda authorized service center every 3-4 months/5,000 km, whichever is earlier. The car runs well, and has been my primary driver for office commute every day as well as for inter-city travel with family, when required.
I intend to continue driving this car myself. I am wary of letting chauffeurs driving it.
Work situation
My work hours are typically long, and I start my work days typically between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., and return home sometime between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. with some miscellaneous work and meetings thereafter from home. I also work six days a week, though I typically wrap up my Saturdays sometime between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. This mostly leaves Sundays as the only truly off-day of the week.
Parents' situation
My elderly parents (in early 70s and late 60s respectively) live in the same city as us, about 15 km away. With my work situation, almost all errands for both my family and my parents get slotted into the Sundays of the week, with me becoming the bottle-neck to take them around for most of the needs.
We currently use app based cabs for my parents' needs.
Some of the challenges with this option:
- My parents are not tech-savvy, and find it difficult to use these apps. Their primary use of phones are to make and receive calls.
- Lack of knowledge of the local language is a barrier to explain destinations and directions to someone coming in new every-time for each ride.
- My wife helps them with cab bookings for now, but, in these cases, it becomes a three-way communication among the driver, my wife, and my parents with regard to explaining their current location to the driver and the destination. We also make additional calls to my parents re-confirming their safe pick-up and drop for each trip when we book cabs for them.
The need
I am considering getting a second car as a beater car, and employing a full time chauffeur for the car, to help my family.
Some of the typical uses I expect the beater car with chauffeur to serve are as follows:
- Helping my wife (she doesn't drive and doesn't wish to drive in the city traffic) with any local trips for purposes such as shopping, any medical visits for periodic check-ups, personal care, and other household needs.
- Helping my parents with trips to nearby temples, their local shopping needs, scheduled visits to hospitals for their periodic medical care, any visits to banks, etc.
- Helping visit each other. Right now, for the most part, we visit my parents, but, a beater car would make it easier for them to visit us as well.
Expected running
I expect the beater car to run somewhere around 150-200 km a week.
Considerations for the beater car
1. Open to pre-worshipped and new cars:
I am indifferent to the beater being bought pre-worshipped or new. Having ardently read the forum's thread on pre-worshipped cars (
main thread (ARTICLE: Buying a New Car vs Used Car),
pre-worshipped beater car thread (Pre-worshipped car of the week : The cheap beater car)), I must confess that I am leaning towards the pre-workshipped route. However, if buying new would help consideration #4 below, I am open to buying a new car.
2. Budget:
I am willing to budget up to a total of about 6 lakhs. Obviously, lesser is better, but, can stretch the budget slightly beyond, if there would be long-term value in doing so.
3. Moderate level of comfort:
The beater is expected to be used for short rides, with one or two passengers in most cases (in addition to the chauffeur). Hence, moderate leg-room and knee-room and basic level of comfort from seats should suffice. My dad or my wife who might need more leg room could easily push the co-driver seat to the maximum forward position and enjoy more leg room in the rear seat. My mom is not very tall and so leg room and knee room might not be constraints for her. I am not expecting this car to have loads of leg room and comfortable seats to suit long road trips for hours on end. More comfort would be nice to have, but not a must have.
4. Abuse friendly, easy and cheap to maintain:
I don't wish to lose sleep over how the chauffeur might be driving the car. Scratches from other vehicles, scratches from parking at inconvenient or tight places, broken side view mirrors due to other vehicles, and other such abuses are to be taken in stride and replaced/repaired. I would like consider these as expenses as part of owning the beater car and move on. However, I would like to avoid footing huge bills for such expenses. I would be open to maintaining the cars at authorized service centers, as well as at FNGs, but, I have no prior experience of maintaining cars at FNGs. However, I am willing to learn, if required.
5. Transmission option:
Having driven an automatic transmission car all these years, I would prefer the beater to be automatic too, as it would allow me to take the beater for my use if my primary car is out at the service center. I am also influenced by this
thread (Why even chauffeur-driven owners should choose an Automatic gearbox). In case I end up buying a good and a comfortable pre-worshipped car, I wouldn't mind driving it myself for a few out-station trips with family. This would be an added benefit, but again, I am willing to stay flexible on this consideration.
6. Fuel type:
Open to both petrol and diesel options. But, given the expected higher running, I believe diesel cars might make it pocket friendly over the ownership period. However, petrol cars with good fuel efficiency might serve my purpose too. The intent is to keep the running costs low.
7. Safety:
Since the car's primary intended purposes are for short city runs at low speeds, cars with high safety are not a primary requirement. Better safety features would be nice to have, but, not a must-have.
8. Form factor and boot capacity:
I am indifferent to the form factor. My dad uses a walker to assist with his walking, so, carrying the walker in the car would be a requirement when my parents are driven around in the car.
Candidates Potential options - New cars
Here's the list I compiled of potential options, if I go the route of getting a new car:
Potential options - Pre-worshipped cars
Here's a list I compiled based on looking through some of the ads on used car websites:
Some of the used cars seem to be available at prices that fall within the budget. However, I am unsure if they are a good buy given the odometer readings and the year of make of the cars and the brands.
Notes:
- I have not personally taken a look at the options considered (new and pre-owned), nor have first-hand experience with them. These are based on a desk research. I have also not explored the pre-worshipped options in detail. They are based on a quick web search for a few hours just to get an initial idea of the options available and price ranges quotes on websites. I understand that it requires a lot of leg-work and research to get good options and some negotiations to get the right car and the right price.
- I am looking to finalize this and complete this purchase sometime over the next three-four months. This thread is part of my preliminary research, looking for guidance at the start of my purchase journey, before I go too far in any wrong/mis-guided direction.
- The considerations I have put together above is based on my limited knowledge. I am willing to reconsider and change them based on inputs from practical experiences of others.
Looking forward to guidance from esteemed members of the community.
Thank you for your help, everyone!