Pakistan is a land of opportunities. That being said, whenever someone gets an opportunity in Pakistan he/she immediately seizes it and leave the country for greener pastures of UK or Australia. I, like many other Pakistanis, personally love Australia because of two reasons: 1) Margot Robbie and 2) their joint vehicle ownership laws.
Cars in Pakistan are getting abnormally expensive and blokes like me are forced to buy out-of-market-flop-cars to meet our vehicular needs. In a situation like this, buying a second/hobby/project car is out of the question.
I am a car enthusiast for as long as I can remember and I drive a jalopy of a Mitsubishi Lancer from the times when Nawaz Sharif first became the Prime Minister. The car is good and fulfills my not so unconventional needs. It is pretty cheap to buy, affordable to run, and surprisingly comfortable to travel in with ample space, but it ends there. I’ve always wanted a capable and reliable 4×4 that can take me to places where my car cannot take me. I can get a 4×4 by selling my car and adding a couple of hundred thousand rupees to the sum, which I am currently short of.
This morning, out of frustration, I posted a rant on Facebook which received comments ranging from, “get an XLi and install spacers” to “buy a car on sharing with someone on 50-50 basis”.
The 50-50 (joint ownership of vehicle) comment made me recall Baber’s suggestion #4 from his 7 pointers about the upcoming auto policy, in which he proposed the government to introduce joint ownership of vehicles owning to the exuberant prices of cars in Pakistan.
Currently, there is no law pertaining to joint ownership of cars in Pakistan, which leaves you with 2 options:
1. Register a company or association of partnership then buy the car under that company or AOP
2. Jointly buy the car with your friend or relative and leave every thing on trust because on an individual level, there can be only one legal owner of the vehicle.
The option 1 is not feasible for many people as it requires a lot of hassle and paperwork, as for the option 2, frankly speaking, I am not in favor of that because when money matters are involved friendships usually suffer, and God forbid if the car or the person in possession of the car gets involved in a fatal accident or a crime, then the one who is the legal owner on paper gets in trouble.
Coming back to my point about Australia, or any developed nation for that matter, they have proper laws governing the joint ownership of cars, where two or more individual owners (depending on the country) can posses a vehicle without going into batshit paper work.
Pakistan is home to thousands of auto enthusiasts and apart from a few privileged ones, not all can afford their dream cars. But if the government introduces this joint ownership of car law in Pakistan then hundreds of these auto enthusiasts can buy their favorite project/hobby cars with friends or relatives with an ease of mind that their investments of time and money are at least secured under the law.
Do you think joint ownership of vehicles on individual level should be introduced in Pakistan? What would be the pros and cons of it? Let us know in the comments what you think.
I think something like zip car would be appropriate http://www.zipcar.com. what you think ?
I used zipcar and loved it. And technically, it could work in Pakistan. Insurance costs would be tremendous though.
lets chalk out a plan and introduce.. Keep 20% on side , you know how things work 😉
Yeah let’s draw up the 20% deposit invoice, and then draw up the invoice for the remaining 100%.
The math will always add up to 100%, don’t worry!
Technically it should work as Rent-A-Car-To-Show-Off-And-Pickup-Girls is a very common thing here, so even if the right people do not avail it, we have thousands of shodas who will.
Most cars in Pakistan are already jointly owned. Maybe not officially but definitely practically. There is usually one car and it is shared by a father, two brothers and a sister.
Well you are right technically, but it is not usually the case in project cars or weekend rides.
Is it just to remain a theory like many of discussion I see everyday, a dilemma of our nation… we keep things in the books. Let’s figure out somebody who can influence at government level and then somehow get the bill passed in assembly.. What do you suggest?