I would never suggest that someone takes this advice. If you don't have a car and a business asks you this and you tell them I would be happy to purchase one... well there are so many red flags raised here I am sure 90%+ hiring managers would just weed you out. This is kind of like someone asks you if you pick your nose - which you should answer "no" not "truth is your friend". Sorry for negativity here but this answer encapsulates online feel good advice vs real-world advice. The fact that there are 30 upvotes show almost no answers can be trusted.

@blankip: Yeah well ... some hiring practices are just unfair and there's nothing reasonable you can do.

@Joshua - I am a very very very reasonable person. If someone over 18 does not have a car (save for metro areas) I would think they have a list of other issues and not time to do the job correctly nor the means to get to the job. They can honestly not have a car for a good reason but being a hiring manager I am not going to assume they are in the 10-15% of people who don't have a car "for the right reasons". Hiring managers aren't looking to save someone, they want someone who can get to work.

@blankip Cars can be very expensive to own and maintain depending on the region. Not everyone above 18 can afford one.

Also, country/place is relevant: the USA has a "everywhere by car" mentality (except in very dense cities such as New York). In other places (e.g. Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Europe?) it is normal to use public transport most of the time.

@blankip, ...note that you've got blinders created by very local norms. I'm writing this from a high-rise condominium in downtown Chicago, and private vehicle ownership for people who live in the city proper (and have single-location-centered or WFH jobs) is more like boat ownership -- a luxury someone might want to undertake as a hobby/lifestyle expense, but certainly not a baseline expectation of any reasonable type.

@CharlesDuffy - I totally agree with you. But I am assuming that anyone who asks that question has the same blinders on. You don't ask someone if they have a car to get to work if they are working in downtown Chicago... or care.

@blankip: I've known employers who have a requirement for a car used on company time to be of a specific type of car - and there are employers that will reimburse the purchase of a car if you do not have one. So I can see reason for why the answer should be truthful - "I don't have one, but I can buy one if necessary" is slightly different than "I don't have one, and I would not be able to buy one with my own money", which implies it's an employer's expense to provide as part of the on-boarding of the job.

@AlexanderThe1st - yea that makes sense. Answer it so you satisfy 2-5% of the reason someone would ask the question and not the 90%+ reason. Sounds reasonable.

@blankip: I mean, the immediate thought to that is that the more important underlying question is "Can you drive a <Vehicle> in <Region>?" If I have a car, and not a driver's license, that could be an issue. Whereas, this question could easily come up in a Taxi-company situation where they can provide a car, and probably will if a car is part of the job.

@blankip: ...So your advice is to say "yes", even if you don't own a car?

@AlexanderThe1st - there isn't an underlying question. it is "do you have a car?" This whole question should be closed. This is awful advice without discussing repercussions and the accepted answer doesn't even answer it. I didn't comment to disagree, I commented so that someone reading the upvotes here would understand that most companies would just throw your resume away after you said no.

@NickBarnes - You say "I have a car". You don't have to own a car. You can go buy one or rent one but you tell the guy "I have a car" clearly without the buts or mights.

@blankip - so you lie, since you don't have a car.

@JoeStrazzere - I own two cars. But if I didn't own a car "I have a car" is still true. I have a car from at least two friends, two different family members, and many rental companies that can get me to a job. It really is none of their business. But if asked it is for sure to weed out people that don't have a car. Seriously what has this site gotten itself to where a "nice" answer that has horrible implications on people who listen has this many upvotes. Well I will say this... These truthful people, being jobless will have more time to upvote these types of answers. :)

@blankip - LOL! I have three mansions, two yachts, and $1B dollars, too. I guess you can parse a question any way you like.

@JoeStrazzere - you gave an answer that people may listen to and got 50 upvotes. If 50 people say the truth and don't have cars 48 at least will not get the job and part of that would be on your advice. I have never left an answer up that could cause that much damage.

@blankip - (shrug) Feel free to provide your own Answer here, presumably one that you think will help 50 people in this situation land a job.. I don't lie. I don't encourage others to lie. When I was a hiring manager, I didn't hire anyone who I thought was lying.

@JoeStrazzere (shrug) - we know providing the best answer in the world is useless on this site when there are already that many votes. (shrug) But you know that and act the innocent (shrug)

@blankip: You can say "I have licence to practice dentistry". You don't actually need a licence in order to say this. And if they're asking, saying "yes" will definitely improve your chances of landing the job. But I don't think that makes it good advice.