I found out what happens when you have a global policy for expats, you could
end up with stupid results. Like me. I am from Singapore, where the cost
of running a car is very high. I am now in the USA, where the cost of
running a car is lower. Well, the company leases a car for free for one
month. Thereafter I have to contribute, the contribution being based on
this "notional man" running a car in Singapore. Well, my first month
finished...and as I haven't bought a car yet, I had to extend my rental.
It then worked out that my contribution to the lease charges would be more
than the lease charge itself! The rental per month was about USD860. The
lease contribution? About USD1,300. Not surprisingly, I declined the
benefit of the company rental and opted to pay the car rental out of my own
pocket.
In the meantime, news on my new car....? Well. I just applied my usual
illogical decision-making process, and narrowed it down to a choice of 1.
So that sort of made things easy... I wanted an all wheel drive car because
of the snow and ice, but the company gave me a rather low budget (I think
they expect everyone will want one of those yank tanks everyone drives..).
So I will in all probability end up with an un-sexy Subaru Legacy. It's the
only AWD in the budget.. I could fork out money myself and top-up the
company loan, but I don't really want to spend more money than I have to.
The company is giving me an interest-free loan, and I get depreciation
protection of up to 14% a year, so I want to keep the amounts small. I
suppose unlike most people, I've always viewed driving as a necessary evil
that gets me from A to B. That coupled with the fact that I only use the
car at weekends means really, I'm looking for a utility that keeps me
safe. And as this un-sexy car tops its class in the safety tests run by
insurers, plus an AWD, well.. it works for me.
I was also debating whether or not to buy an automatic or revert back to
driving a manual car. One test drive with the manual test car has convinced
me that the automatic is the way to go: most of Cincinnati's roads have
traffic lights every 100 metres, (or more likely, yards!) and that gave my
under-used left leg a workout just using the clutch! Okay. So Subaru it
is. And no, not a station wagon - for some reason everyone in the office
thinks that Subaru only produces station wagons...
http://www.subaru-global.com/lineup/legacy/sedan/
This Hobson's choice means I avoid the whole thinking process. So in
theory, I should have a car in about a week or two - as soon as I can
get payroll to process the loan application...
Well. While waiting for the arrival of my things this Friday (yippee!!)
I've been trying to envision what my place would look like, and what other
furniture I need. After mulling over it a little, I went online and bought
some of the stuff that I would need once the rental furniture provided for
me by the company is removed on Thursday. So a dinner set and a sofa set is
now on order from Ikea. Love the stuff from there - most of my bookcases
come from them. No time to keep debating... I suppose the difference is
that instead of "settling" into a new home I am always in a transient mode:
so it's more what works, as opposed to buying to keep... I still have to get
a few other things, but they can wait until I am a bit more settled.