Too many motor vehicles today

By Herbert Vego

DRIVING around Iloilo City today this Christmas month may not be fun due to heavy traffic. There are so many new vehicles on the streets – some with temporary, makeshift plate numbers — that the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has found a way to cite them as the biggest reason for its inability to fill the demand for new plates.

Does it follow that anybody who can afford to buy a car inevitably buys one?

I remember my childhood days in Antique in the 1950s when my dad brought home a second-hand jeepney for private use. We were one of the few families with a four-wheel vehicle in our barrio. A jeepney was as much a status symbol as a car in those days. There was only one private car in our neighborhood, a Cadillac owned by a physician.

By then, however, cars made in the United States had been coming to Philippine cities, to be sold to the few who could afford to buy in cash.

Most Filipinos don’t know that the first car dealer in the Philippines was La Estrella del Norte on Calle Real (now J.M. Basa) in Iloilo City.  It brought in the first 2-cylinder Richard Brasier roadster from Paris, France in 1904.

Today, with meteoric increases in the income of the elite and the middle class, a better and newer car always comes along to replace the old one, which in turn is sold at lower price to a second owner, to a third and so forth until “disabled.”

I know a restaurateur who buys a new pick-up truck and sells the old one every year. It’s to ensure that he drives smoothly and transports his goods on time daily.

Next to owning a house, owning a vehicle has become a necessity for those who have seen through the stormy times. It has become more affordable because of “bank financing” via easy-installment terms.

To learn more on that, I arranged an appointment with Rene Tagamolila and Ivan Arriola, general manager and sales manager, respectively, of Isuzu Philippines, Iloilo City branch, which sells Japan-made trucks, pick-ups and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

“All prominent banks,” Tagamolila revealed, “partner with car dealers. Without them, we would not be selling the units by installment terms of one year to five years.”

In other words, it’s the bank that approves installment applicants.  Once an applicant buys a car, the bank pays the dealer its cash price right away while the buyer pays the bank a monthly amortization that includes interest.

“Spot-cash buyers buy directly from us,” Tagamolila revealed. “Most of them are the highly- paid seamen and other overseas Filipino workers.”

A pick-up truck retails from ₱1 million to ₱2 million today, depending on model and quality.

“There are also those who can afford to pay in full but don’t do so,” Arriola butted in. “They would rather pay a low down payment for a truck, use the unit for business and pay monthly installments out of income earned from that business.”

No doubt due to affordability, the number of motor vehicles in the Philippines registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) now number more than 15 million units.

But if I heard it right from a dealer of second-hand cars, “My business is losing.”

The reason is because buyers would prefer the brand-new ones due to low installment, long-term payments.

-oOo-

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM MORE POWER

“It is more blessed to give than to receive,” Jesus Christ said.

The quotation is a verse from the Bible, Acts 20:35.

It is with that in mind that Iloilo City’s distribution utility, MORE Power, is spreading the following Christmas message:

“This Christmas, let’s spread the love and give more to those around us.

“To help make this season brighter, our twin Christmas Trees, adorned with recycled electric reading meters, have once again sprouted in Plaza Libertad and Jaro Plaza.

“And as we celebrate the season of giving, MORE Power has set up a giant gift box at Plaza Libertad, collecting donations daily from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM until December 20, 2024. These generous contributions will benefit a local charity chosen by the Iloilo City Government.

“Let this Christmas be a reminder that the greatest gifts are the ones we give from the heart.”