Sorry if there's been a thread on this before, I didn't see one.

I live in Bangkok. I ride a motorcycle to work, about 6 km, 5 days a week. I'm getting a little old to be doing that much longer.

In terms of total cost over, say, several years, what would be more efficient, buying a car or taking taxis everywhere?

I should mention that my wife and I already have one car, which she (who must be obeyed) lets me use when I really need it.

So, considering how cheap and plentiful BKK taxis are, what is your take on the question?

Rather than make this a false dilemma, are there other alternatives? Buses are okay at times, often not.

Well how much do you spend on taxi's pr day, 100 bath each way that is 200, okay maybe 300. 300X5X52= 78000 bath Okay lets say 100k pr year which is quite a lot.

A 1/2 decent car will cost say at least 4-500k plus fuel, maintenance, insurance and so on, and will maybe lose 50-75k in value pr year.

As you said your wife have one car, so I will assume that you use that for a holiday now and then?

Hmm that a bit hard to say, but if you want your independence/freedom go for buying a car, I would , taxi's every day must be a pain in the arse unless you have the same driver picking you up at certain times morning/evening.

Alternative: retire

A 6 km taxi journey will cost about 60 baht, lets say 150 baht per day.

150 x 5 x 52 equals 39,000 baht.

Cost of wrapping you money up in a car, plus depreciation, plus insurance, plus petrol, plus servicings etc etc.

A no brainer, take the taxi every time.

Also agree with previous poster, retire.

Cheaper than I thought, if that's the case, yes taxi's a much cheaper way of transport. Another advantage: go out for beers on Fridays with your collages and not worry about getting shit-faced

You already have wheels when you need them and the wife "allows" you use use them. The taxi is the way to go unless the company has some sort of transport or you live close to the BTS or something. You don't need the hassle and cost of a second car at this stage of life.

You already have wheels when you need them and the wife "allows" you use use them. The taxi is the way to go unless the company has some sort of transport or you live close to the BTS or something. You don't need the hassle and cost of a second car at this stage of life.

Taxi.

Whenever I m in BKK with my car, I leave it in the hotel and use taxis. Cheaper, faster and no parkingproblems

You already have wheels when you need them and the wife "allows" you use use them. The taxi is the way to go unless the company has some sort of transport or you live close to the BTS or something. You don't need the hassle and cost of a second car at this stage of life.

Taxi.

Whenever I m in BKK with my car, I leave it in the hotel and use taxis. Cheaper, faster and no parkingproblems

Same Same

i can tell you only this ,,, cars are bloody expensive in thailand even 2nd hand cars.

Well, if I'd thought I was going to live this long, I would have planned better for retirement, not an option at the present

A friend of mine who has just retired finds more time on his hands for going out and about, so I'm not sure retirement is a solution.

dmax, what's up with second hand car prices? Seems like they'd rather sit on them and watch them depreciate rather than settle.

Kata, I agree, except with the faster notion. One good thing about taxis is that I can get out and take a motorcycle taxi when roads are gridlocked.

You should consider all options in life, not just taxi vs car cost. Retiring was the best example of this. If you are always living and working in the same place, doing 6km/day to work, then taxi's are cheaper and probably always will be. But will you? Fully comprehensive insurance may be 20,000baht per year for a family car - only insurance! - that's half your' annual taxi fare right there.

On the other hand, having a car 'for work' becomes more attractive the futher you have to commute; if you change jobs for example, travel 20km/day then running a car may break even with taxis in the long term (8 years) and you'd have wheels for weekend and holiday trips. If you moved further away from Bangkok to the suburbs you could buy more home for your money, have a better environment, cleaner air, more options etc.

The final argument for buying a car vs running the bike is the risk of having an accident, unless you have income protection insurance. If a 600,000baht car seems expensive but saves you from a serious non-fatal injury only once, vs the bike where you may have been off work for months - well, the car will have paid for itself.