Buying a car will make you more free?

It has been nearly a month since I owned my first car. If I were to ask this question now, my answer would be: freedom is relative, and it only depends on which part I value. "Why do you say this? The following are some of the experiences that I have analyzed during this period to share with you. I also hope that it will be of some help to friends who are or will need to buy a car in the future.

1. First talk about the part that makes you feel more free:

1) Going out is not restricted by climate: The weather has been cold for a long time recently. In this weather, riding a motorcycle, waiting for a bus in the cold wind, or walking for a distance will become an obstacle for you to consider whether to go out. As a point-to-point means of transportation that does not need to be exposed to the sun and rain, the car can indeed minimize the obstacles to going out.

2) More items that can be carried: Although you don’t have to carry it yourself when riding a motorcycle, after all, the space for the storage box and pedals is limited, and the volume and weight of the objects that can be carried are limited. As for taking the bus or the MRT, because you have to carry things and move around, plus the crowded carriages, the space you can take is quite limited. Therefore, it is still convenient to have your own car when adding some large items, or when you want to move back home.

3) Your own space: Although riding a motorcycle is also your own means of transportation, its open space does not make you feel in your own space, and you are quite close to the knights around you. When taking public transportation, its shared characteristics are even more obvious. If you pursue your own tranquility after a busy day, driving by yourself does make you feel more free.

4) Increased social scenes: Riding a motorcycle is a leather-wrapped iron, and the number of people that can be carried is also limited, so when riding a passenger, although there will be the feeling of sticking a vest with a loved one in a sudden braking, it is accompanied by the sound of the wind and the engine. sound, not an ideal social scene. When taking public transportation, although you can talk to each other because you don’t pay attention to the road conditions, but like the open space mentioned above, you must also take into account the social etiquette and rules of public places. Podcast, chat volume and laughter need to be moderated, and even the topic sometimes has scruples due to the people around. Driving and moving with three or five friends is also a social scene. Whether it is gossiping, humming songs together, or even playing road trip mini-games, the journey is more interesting.

5) More places to go: After leaving the city, many attractions are indeed places that cannot be reached by rail, passenger, or even taxi (including uber). Reminds me of the scene in "Escape is Shameful But Useful", when Aragaki's aunt Lily drove them on a trip, she said: If you drive, you can reach farther than imagined!

This is probably what it means. Renting a car is also a way, but to be honest, when you go to some places with more rugged routes, when you rent a car in the past, you are always not at ease. Because I am not familiar with the condition of the car and I do not understand the characteristics of this car, I am worried about what kind of situation will happen temporarily, which will make the journey a disaster. After all, if you have your own car, you can master it better and have a relatively high degree of freedom under the premise of being familiar with it.

Now let's talk about the unfree part:

1) It’s easier to buy a car than to keep it: this is a well-known adage. Even though I took over a friend's second-hand car, in the past month, I have spent more than 50,000 on these items, from insurance premiums / major maintenance every 60,000 kilometers / old parts replacement / driving recorder installation. While these are not necessarily monthly or yearly costs (insurance and taxes will), having your own means of transportation does mean relatively costly maintenance. There is no such cost for issuing public transport or renting a car. Locomotives are relatively less expensive.

I have to allocate a fixed budget every year as a maintenance cost. This is indeed a considerable expense for the petty bourgeoisie.

2) Either looking for a parking space, or on the way to find a parking space: choose a destination after driving, and every time a travel companion points to Google Maps and asks me: Shall we go here? I will always ask: Yes! But is there a parking lot over there or where can I park?

Especially in some points in the urban area, I can't imagine it at all. So it seems that driving can make you more active to go out, but in fact, the parking space has limited your options at the beginning. Plus the cost of parking in some popular locations really makes it feel like every hour is bleeding. Would love to hurry up to finish the trip, check out quickly, and get out of the parking lot.

3) Traffic jam actuary: The driver who is responsible for driving the car often starts to be a spoiler in the middle of the journey, reminding everyone: let's go! If you don't leave now, you'll get stuck in traffic later, and it will take you an extra hour to get home. We hurry up and collect it, go to the toilet and set off.

It seems that driving is not limited by the timetable of public transportation, and you can freely arrange your itinerary. But in fact, in order to avoid heavy traffic, or to grab a parking space, drivers will still arrange their trips according to a certain schedule. What appears to be freedom is, in fact, limited freedom.

If "freedom" refers to the more parts you can control, it means "more freedom", I believe that owning your own car does give you more freedom in many aspects, but there are still many invisibly Things are beyond your control, and even these innate limitations make your so-called choices at the beginning less.

We all want more freedom, but freedom is relative and no one is truly completely free. Because there are always too many external variables that I cannot predict and prepare no matter how much I prepare . We still do our best to the part that we can control, so that at least in the mind, we are already relatively free!