Motives underlying intentions to buy a car: Simultaneous probit selection - Multinomial logit choice model

Prior research on vehicle holdings has typically tried to understand vehicle purchase decisions as a function of the interplay of level of service, environmental conditions and socio-demographic variables. This paper applies a different approach by directly focusing on the motives underlying vehicle holdings. The data of a sample of 999 respondents, residing in the Xián area, China, was used for the analysis. A multinomial logit model is embedded in a probit selection model because the motives were only collected among those respondents who have a car or intended to buy one. Results indicate that the main motive for buying a car is comfort. In turn, the decision to buy a car is significantly influenced by the age of the male spouse, the job of the female spouse, their education level, household income, family size, and register type, size and height of their house and parking space.