THE MOTOR CAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 142, 18 June 1929, Page 16

THE MOTOR CAR.

Saving on Holidays,

IS IT A LUXURY?

BUYING OUT OF INCOME.

(By AUTO SCRIBE.)

(All Rights Reserved.);

To-(lay, when the car js playing sucli a great part in life and when it is proving so valuable aliko for business and for pleasure, it is safe to say that the possession of a car is one of the ambitions of most people. Some, for a very modest sum, gratify their ninb.'tion by the purchase of a second-hand model, and those with a mechanical bent can certainly secure some wonderful bargains in this direction. Actually, the buying of a good used car is a sound proposition, and where guarantees of service are given, a very economical one. There are many non-motorists, however, who have definitely made up their minds that until they can afford a new car, they will not buy. They do not know enough about car engines to be able to effect their own repairs, and consequently they feel that the troublefree mileage of a new car is what they want. It is for this class that the "buying out of income" plan has been instituted, and in view of the adverse criticisms that have been made against this plan recently, a brief review of the motoring situation of to-day will perhaps interest prospective motorists.

Is the Car a Luxury? One of the principal points made by economists in their attacks on the "buying out of income" system, is that the car is a luxury, and that people are encouraged to become extravagant through purchase being made easjj. It has to |be remembered that economists deal with facts, and in considering these facts they follow certain dogmatic lines. They are concerned with the wealth of the community, and the conservation of capital, and spending of any kind other than that required for necessities or which will be reproductive, is anathema to them. Needless to say, in their private lives they do not follow their theories any more than doc-; the doctor starve himself who attacks our present diet, but that is by the way. j Most of ns listen to the economists who say the car is a luxury, and imagine they arc right, but arc they? Is the car a luxury in the conditions under which we live to-day? I do not think that it is, and, therefore, I believe that provided the annual income is sufficient, it is perfectly reasonable to purchase a car out of your income, after putting down a fair deposit. Obviously, of course, it is not a sound purchase to the man whose income is so small that he must deny himself some of the ordinary amenities of life in order to keep up his payments. The type of man who buys a car 011 time payment and then neglects paying his butcher and grocer, benefits neither himself nor the motor firms by having a car. Some Definite Advantages. The possession of a car confers a number of immediate benefits that make it less expensive to maintain, a point which has been very clearly brought home to the writer, who lives some considerable distance out of town. There arc many types of business to which a car is absolutely essential. Even the economists agree that a car purchased 011 time payment is justified here. There are other businesses in which a car can bo used to some extent for increasing the annual income. Often it is not until a car has been bought and has been in use for some time that the method of using it for increasing income suggests itself. The third type of buyer is the one who buys a car when it will be used solely for pleasure, and it is when these are bought "out of income" that the economists wax wroth. I maintain, however, that even here a car purchase is justified, provided the income is a reasonable one. Let me give two typical cases to prove my assertion and show how a car can be run at little cost. They apply- more particularly to main centres, of course, where rents near the city are very high. The first is the case of a friend of mine who bought a section some miles out of town and some distance from either a railway or bus route. He has built a home, and purchased out of income, a light car which lie uses for'going backwards and forwards to town. He shows me figures giving his expenditure before and since buying his country home, and these show clearly that he is to-day running a car and spending less than he did when paying a high rent for a house handy to town. He has a big section, a good house, and is bringing up his family in conditions infinitely better than he could in the crowded suburb in which he formerly lived. The second case, which comes to mind, is that of a man with a smaller income who bought a cheap section about 20 minutes' walk from a suburban railway station and put up a small house. He, too, bought a car on the "out of income" plan and has had no cause to regret it. He uses it in bad weather to Set to the station, and he buys his supplies in bulk and takes them home in it. Certainly, it was a second-hand c;ir — a ]ittle-used one secured at a good reduction oil the original price but it cannot be said that his purchase is unsound.

Nowhere is the "annual holiday" idea more firmly implanted than in New Zealand, the travel figures of the Dominion providing striking evidence of this fact. Everyone who can possibly do so, goes away for an annual vacation, the distance depending on the means available. It is indisputable that the cost of running a car to the chosen resort and back will be less than second-class railway fares, and if the whole of the available car accommodation is filled, the saving, of course, is proportionately greater. The car makes a cheap holiday possible, especially if the party travelling is prepared to camp. At week-ends and in spare time a car makes it possible for workers who are forced to spend most of their time indoors to get well away in the country and enjoy the sunshine to the full. These advantages cannot be Reckoned in hard terms of cash, but they do he!]) to justify the purchase of a ear, even when the purchaser cannot pay cash in advance. In any case, there are two ways of looking at the luxury side of the question. If everyone maintained a Spartan self-discipline and refused all luxuries, it would be a much poorer world, and many thousands of people engaged in so-called luxury trades would be out of employment. The man who hoards his money, or lives miserably and puts it all out on careful investments, does far less for his generation than the man who makes and spends, provided he spends wisely. The prosperity of any country can be gauged largely from the luxuries available to the majority of its people. Many things start oil by being luxuries and end up by becoming necessities, and the motor car can almost be rc-

yarded .is being one of this category. Originally the telephone, electric lighting, the electric range and the radio set were all absolute luxuries. As more and more people have bought them, the price has been lowered by mass production and they have become m^v-sities. There are many people in good positions whose standard of living is fairly high, who cannot alford the total purchase price of a car in cash. They are making provision for old age in the form of heavy insurances, wlich arc a regular drain on their annual income, and to save the purchase price in advance would necessitate several years of saving. It is ridiculous to suggest that these people should deny themselves the pleasures of car ownership. "Buying out of income" for them is a perfectly safe and a perfectly legitimate procedure, and it may well be that the ownership of a car will lead to economies in other directions, which will make it a very inexpensive item. Time payment was never devised for the man who could hardly scratch together_ the initial payment, and very few linns encourage this type of person to make a car purchase. Economists are altogether too dogmatic oil this question, which depends solely on the factors involved in each individual case.