The last time we bought a car was 5 years ago. We have a little under 5 years left on the COE. Can’t remember how much we ended up paying, must have been somewhere between $40-$50K. The car itself was nothing special. With how congested the roads are getting, I find myself resenting having a car more and more. I will probably end up buying a car when we move back to Florida out of necessity, but I know I won’t be getting another one while we’re still living here. Just out of curiosity, what kind of cars were they? Anything interesting?sundaymorningstaple wrote: ↑Thu, 29 Apr 2021 12:07 pmI owned two cars when the COE system started, (one for comfort and one for playing with). Sold both of them within the 6 month grace period to register the cars into the system and pay the initial COE (which was only around $1,600 for the smaller car for playing with). I knew, with the Asian penchant of being willing to sell your grandmother to buy a car, that it would sky rocket (to the point it reached $104,000 for a 1600cc car in August & Sept of 1994 (1994 dollars converted into todays dollars made it well over $135,000 in todays dollars. I only had a car for around 5 years since 1988 and that was during the period of 2006~2019 when I had a friends car in my care for 3 years until I scrapped it for him and a company car for around 2 years up till I retired. I agree with Lisa on this. With the public transport infrastructure here, unless you are an outdoor salesman, you don't really need a car at all, and I come from the country where having a car at 16 years of age is a birthright!
Agree. The insane cost of living has been a huge wake up call. I went from having 3 cars at one point in Florida to owning one in Singapore, and when the COE expires, that number will become 0.malcontent wrote: ↑Fri, 30 Apr 2021 11:10 amI have to say, living in Singapore for the past 24 years has made me less materialistic, simply because you don’t get your money’s worth for a lot of things here.
I think it’s more about getting your money’s worth. Coming from Florida, I will always have a point of comparison. So spending $150-$200K on a car here seems absurd when I am used to spending $20-$30K in the US. You pay to own it, and once you do you can drive it virtually forever, not like here where you spend an additional $50K, only to drive it for 10 years. To me, it’s not so much a question of affording it. Rather, it’s about financial prudence.midlet2013 wrote: ↑Fri, 30 Apr 2021 10:52 amThe main issue here is cost. However we choose to find reasons like inconsiderate drivers , great public transport, affordable taxis etc. If it made any sense , no one would need a car here , def not expensive cars given the speed limit of 90 and short drives.
One could argue the same way about hdb or condo. Are they worth the premium. I think they r as long as u can afford it.
And to mock asians for being materialistic is bullshit. They r but who isn’t.
The same folks here who think cars r a liability are discussing about buying a Tesla in a different thread.
For me having a car is definitely better as long as I can afford it.
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