Advice for buying used car

[wenber]

For 2nd hand car, send to STA to check and screen thru first. Also take note of the odometer

[MayDay5]

that depends on you, maybe buy a new one can be cheaper than a second hand one

[wenber]

Depends on luck ...some previous owners hardly drive so 2nd hand car can be quite a bargain

[lucassmith]

good way to see it will be via calculating the annual depreciation.

trust me, I just bought a new car

nowadays in the second hand car market most cars are depreciating at 11-13k sgd per annum.
I got a new car with only 9.5k sgd depre per annum.

though, you can only see the monetary benefits in the long run...

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[taxico]

i was about to buy a replacement car for my wife just a few weeks ago.

$35.5k for an SUV with 1 year left. parf+body=$29k (conservative). $6.5k for 12 months...

i could live with that...!

[bunstobabies]

Any advice appreciated. With baby #2 due in three weeks and after much consideration we have decided to buy a used car. This is after having traveled comfortably on the MRT for over the year we have been here and only taking taxis when totally necessary with my 1 year old. I just can't fathom the extreme anxiety I will have with a baby and toddler in a taxi (but that's another story).

I have been looking at sgcarmart and am trying to figure out if it's best to purchase from a car yard (read up on plenty of horror stories!) or someone selling a consignment car, or from someone selling their car themselves privately. Both husband and I are far from legal scholars and are fairly trusting people....so i'm totally terrified of going through the purchasing process.

We are looking at a car that expires in Dec or Jan this year or the following year so as not to commit an outstanding amount of cash if we need to leave / sell on short notice and hopefully it affords the most cost effective (oxymoron) way to purchase a car in Singapore.

If anyone has any advice, or more to add it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

I'm not really knowledgeable about cars but my husband bought his first car, which is a second hand, from a direct owner. I guess he doesn't want to deal with car dealers either but with the latter, you don't have to handle the paperwork, you just need to do a thorough research about the dealers.

There's also a new app called Carousell Motors, it's basically like the Carousell app but for cars, they seem to have a decent car listing plus you can compare the cars, you might want to check it out.

[Strong Eagle]

I have read through the whole post so wondering if contacting a used car dealer online would be correct or not.

Look online to see if there is anything in the dealer's inventory that interests you. If yes, then check it out in person. Also use websites like sgcarmart to compare prices to ensure that the vehicle you have in mind is competitively priced and to give yourself some haggle power.

[Girl_Next_Door]

I am currently debating internally on whether to buy a new car or rent a car, and wonder if anyone has experiences towards renting a car.

My current job does not requires me to have a car, and my place is a 10 mins cab ride away from work. I may take up a new job, whereby I would need to travel between Changi and Raffles City (maybe a few times in a day depending on meetings), and a car might unfortunately be the sensible way to go for me.

I have a regular guy whom I rent car to run errands or whenever I have visitors around. He shared that I can rent a car on a monthly basis, and he offered a BMW 2series (7 seaters) for $2.4K per month. I am wondering if anyone has a view if this is reasonable, and it makes more sense to rent a car than to buy.

I am aware that renting a car is going to be more expensive than buying a car (I estimate $500 more per month?) but these are the benefits I had in mind
- I don't have to sort out the car insurance and road tax.
- If the car is broken or need maintenance, they will provide an alternate car to drive. I don't even need to find a service center, and being a female, I am terrible in such things.
- I don't have to put up the large sum (50%) upfront.
- I can terminate the contract any time I want.

Any views?

[PNGMK]

If the lease can be broken without penalty (some cannot) it sounds reasonable although expensive. The reason I own rather than lease is I have a long term view. If I had a short term view (as your situation appears to be) leasing would be more sensible.

[bgd]

Have you considered Uber or Grab as an alternative? It's a chauffer driven car on call with none of the hassles of car ownership, e.g parking.

Do the maths and see if it makes sense.

[Girl_Next_Door]

Have you considered Uber or Grab as an alternative? It's a chauffer driven car on call with none of the hassles of car ownership, e.g parking.

Do the maths and see if it makes sense.

I'm currently using Uber and Grab, but it make sense now, since I don't need to get around so much. For the distance and frequency, it's better to have more control. Peak period are the worst as everyone are using Uber and Grab. There are many times when it takes 20-30 mins to get a ride, and I have to pay $30 for a 10 min ride (usual is $8).

The new job will pay me more than enough to have the car as well, so I'm going for the simplest option (in my view).

[bgd]

I guess we aren't quite there yet, but the current model of car ownership is going to be replaced by an uber type model, but without drivers. If the predictions are to be believed.

30 mins is too long to wait. I guess I've never hired in rush hour.

[Girl_Next_Door]

I guess we aren't quite there yet, but the current model of car ownership is going to be replaced by an uber type model, but without drivers. If the predictions are to be believed.

30 mins is too long to wait. I guess I've never hired in rush hour.

Honestly, I am not sure if car ownership is the solution as well. Hence, I am trying car renting on monthly basis, to see if it make sense. Uber/Grab are good, when it works. It is perfect if you don't have to rely on them excessively. I spent about $500/monthly on Uber/Grab but I simply goes from home to office, and back plus a few trips on weekends. And this amount is based on the fact that I live 10 mins away from office. I am not sure how much it will cost if I have to travel between home, Changi and Raffles City.

Does anyone here rent car on a monthly basis, and can share their thoughts on cons (beside the price) or something I should pay attention?

[zonemelt]

I own a car, rather than long term rent - an advantage not discussed yet is if you own the car and have kids who damage the interior, or if you damage the exterior then you can decide if you would like to repair. I am sure if a rental is damaged a full repair will be needed regardless and that could be $$ but if money isn't an issue, it would certainly be hassle and stress

[Tiguanowner88]

If you are considering buying a used car in Singapore (compared to leasing) be very careful when dealing with used car dealers. That's advice that could apply to any country in the world but in Singapore the industry is very lightly regulated and seems even more shady than you may be used to, so buyer beware. There is a 'Lemon Law' regulation that offers some protection to buyers but I've read various accounts of dealers simply ignoring legal letters related to bad purchases or even closing down their business and opening under a new name a few weeks later!

A specific issue to be aware of is tampering of odometers to reduce the mileage on used cars which seems very common. Make sure you get the mileage recorded on the sales agreement and if at all possible, avoid buying cars without a full service history where you can verify the mileage and accident history of the car with the service company independently.

You will also discover other bad elements to the buying experience, like surprise admin fees and pressure to sign up to whichever insurance and finance company pays the biggest commissions. Not a lot of fun really. With uber and Grab driving down the price and making travel more convenient, its really worth considering the value in having a car of your own. Or just pay a bit more and lease.

My own 'bad experience' was with a dealer called Motor Universe at the Grandstand Turf City, but I think the advice applies to many in the industry.