Owning a car

Well if we figure that taking care of a child till they're of age to earn their own income is going to cost $1 million, what about owning a car?  Some people blindly refer to their car as an asset.  It almost certainly is not.  Have you ever heard of anyone making money from buying and selling their cars?  Since it does not, it cannot be an asset, nevermind whatever the accountant friend of yours may say.

Let's exercise this further by enumerating the cost items involved:

- Purchase price of car, inclusive COE
- Interest on car loan
- Annual road tax
- Annual car insurance
- Fuel
- Routine preventive maintenance
- Car wash
(and less the eventual scrap value)

And finally, how long would you actually use that car before you get itchy for an upgrade?  3 years?  5 years? 10 years till scrap?

Go figure.  I've guesstimated that a car is an expense that's beyond $1,000 per month.  Would it therefore be cheaper to just take a cab?  25 days of taxi rides at a cost of $40 per day would work out to $1,000.  Looks like a break even point.