Driving into Malaysia

[Lisafuller]

Seems you can buy both types of the cards from places like carousell and lazada.

Owning a TnG card is pretty useless unless you can get ringgit onto the card and keep it from going dormant/invalid after 12 months.

I would definitely get the enhanced one. There are YouTube videos proving it can be topped up with NFC on your phone, but it can take several attempts.

Also, thought you were in the states, Mal! When did you get back?

[malcontent]

Seems you can buy both types of the cards from places like carousell and lazada.

Owning a TnG card is pretty useless unless you can get ringgit onto the card and keep it from going dormant/invalid after 12 months.

I would definitely get the enhanced one. There are YouTube videos proving it can be topped up with NFC on your phone, but it can take several attempts.

Also, thought you were in the states, Mal! When did you get back?

I got back about two weeks ago. Will be flying back to the US again in two more weeks, this time for business.

Nice to be traveling again after all of the lockdown nonsense these past years… somehow I avoided going stir crazy.

[x9200]

Seems you can buy both types of the cards from places like carousell and lazada.

Yup, but from what I understand you can’t get them preloaded with money Which essentially defeats the purpose.

Yes you can.
Just go to carousel, search for touch and go card and check. Most of them are even with the carousel purchase protection. Typical pre-loaded value is RM50.

[malcontent]

Seems you can buy both types of the cards from places like carousell and lazada.

Yup, but from what I understand you can’t get them preloaded with money Which essentially defeats the purpose.

Yes you can.
Just go to carousel, search for touch and go card and check. Most of them are even with the carousel purchase protection. Typical pre-loaded value is RM50.

That is something we might consider for next time, if we can’t find any other way. I would definitely look for the enhanced version though… such a pain to keep the thing going and avoid becoming invalid after 12 months, and then the RM5 fee kicks in for every 6 months, sucking dry whatever balance you have.

I have to believe they purposely did it this way for maximum odds of ripping people off. Whoever schemed it up is a real piece of work.

I always use a small post it note stuck to the card to record the balance and the date of last use. My invalid one is from Sep 2019 and had RM53 balance… probably won’t be getting any of that back.

[Lisafuller]

Owning a TnG card is pretty useless unless you can get ringgit onto the card and keep it from going dormant/invalid after 12 months.

I would definitely get the enhanced one. There are YouTube videos proving it can be topped up with NFC on your phone, but it can take several attempts.

Also, thought you were in the states, Mal! When did you get back?

I got back about two weeks ago. Will be flying back to the US again in two more weeks, this time for business.

Nice to be traveling again after all of the lockdown nonsense these past years… somehow I avoided going stir crazy.

So lucky, I still have yet to even cross the causeway, so I am planning a short day trip there soon. Wanted to drive in but after seeing all the horror stories about cars getting stolen I’m thinking about taking the train instead. Seems like tickets are hard to get though.

[Lisafuller]

Seems you can buy both types of the cards from places like carousell and lazada.

Yup, but from what I understand you can’t get them preloaded with money Which essentially defeats the purpose.

Yes you can.
Just go to carousel, search for touch and go card and check. Most of them are even with the carousel purchase protection. Typical pre-loaded value is RM50.

Do they charge a lot for the card itself? I imagine they wouldn’t bother selling them if they couldn’t turn some sort of profit.

[Lisafuller]

Yup, but from what I understand you can’t get them preloaded with money Which essentially defeats the purpose.

Yes you can.
Just go to carousel, search for touch and go card and check. Most of them are even with the carousel purchase protection. Typical pre-loaded value is RM50.

That is something we might consider for next time, if we can’t find any other way. I would definitely look for the enhanced version though… such a pain to keep the thing going and avoid becoming invalid after 12 months, and then the RM5 fee kicks in for every 6 months, sucking dry whatever balance you have.

I have to believe they purposely did it this way for maximum odds of ripping people off. Whoever schemed it up is a real piece of work.

I always use a small post it note stuck to the card to record the balance and the date of last use. My invalid one is from Sep 2019 and had RM53 balance… probably won’t be getting any of that back.

Definitely did it with the goal of scamming as many people as possible. The good thing for us though is that it doesn’t hurt as bad because of the exchange rate.

[x9200]

Yup, but from what I understand you can’t get them preloaded with money Which essentially defeats the purpose.

Yes you can.
Just go to carousel, search for touch and go card and check. Most of them are even with the carousel purchase protection. Typical pre-loaded value is RM50.

Do they charge a lot for the card itself? I imagine they wouldn’t bother selling them if they couldn’t turn some sort of profit.

Anything between SGD15 to over SGD60, so a lot. The NFC versions starts at around SGD30 with no value included.
I just ordered one. Will report what kind of animal is it once I get it (and find an NFC enabled mobile).

[Lisafuller]

Yes you can.
Just go to carousel, search for touch and go card and check. Most of them are even with the carousel purchase protection. Typical pre-loaded value is RM50.

Do they charge a lot for the card itself? I imagine they wouldn’t bother selling them if they couldn’t turn some sort of profit.

Anything between SGD15 to over SGD60, so a lot. The NFC versions starts at around SGD30 with no value included.
I just ordered one. Will report what kind of animal is it once I get it (and find an NFC enabled mobile).

$60? That’s ridiculous. Please do update. I was hoping to take a trip to JB via the KTM but getting tickets is proving to be quite difficult.

[malcontent]

Do they charge a lot for the card itself? I imagine they wouldn’t bother selling them if they couldn’t turn some sort of profit.

Anything between SGD15 to over SGD60, so a lot. The NFC versions starts at around SGD30 with no value included.
I just ordered one. Will report what kind of animal is it once I get it (and find an NFC enabled mobile).

$60? That’s ridiculous. Please do update. I was hoping to take a trip to JB via the KTM but getting tickets is proving to be quite difficult.

Someone told me taking the KTM can be quite convenient, if you time it right you can zip across and the whole process is over in 5 mins. I haven’t tried it yet.

[malcontent]

So lucky, I still have yet to even cross the causeway, so I am planning a short day trip there soon. Wanted to drive in but after seeing all the horror stories about cars getting stolen I’m thinking about taking the train instead. Seems like tickets are hard to get though.

Regarding stolen vehicles, I think they typically target bigger vehicles for theft (bigger family size over there), last I heard, the bigger minivans were the top target.

This is one reason not to get too nice of a car here. My wife has a well used Toyota, so it’s not a big worry — and NTUC insurance does cover us in Malaysia.

[Lisafuller]

Anything between SGD15 to over SGD60, so a lot. The NFC versions starts at around SGD30 with no value included.
I just ordered one. Will report what kind of animal is it once I get it (and find an NFC enabled mobile).

$60? That’s ridiculous. Please do update. I was hoping to take a trip to JB via the KTM but getting tickets is proving to be quite difficult.

Someone told me taking the KTM can be quite convenient, if you time it right you can zip across and the whole process is over in 5 mins. I haven’t tried it yet.

Yup, you book online, you can clear immigration in under 30 minutes and the ride is only five minutes long. By far the fastest way to get in.

[Lisafuller]

So lucky, I still have yet to even cross the causeway, so I am planning a short day trip there soon. Wanted to drive in but after seeing all the horror stories about cars getting stolen I’m thinking about taking the train instead. Seems like tickets are hard to get though.

Regarding stolen vehicles, I think they typically target bigger vehicles for theft (bigger family size over there), last I heard, the bigger minivans were the top target.

This is one reason not to get too nice of a car here. My wife has a well used Toyota, so it’s not a big worry — and NTUC insurance does cover us in Malaysia.

Have you seen the story about the $200,000 Honda Civic that got stolen? It was recently recovered but with plenty of parts removed.

[x9200]

Do they charge a lot for the card itself? I imagine they wouldn’t bother selling them if they couldn’t turn some sort of profit.

Anything between SGD15 to over SGD60, so a lot. The NFC versions starts at around SGD30 with no value included.
I just ordered one. Will report what kind of animal is it once I get it (and find an NFC enabled mobile).

$60? That’s ridiculous. Please do update. I was hoping to take a trip to JB via the KTM but getting tickets is proving to be quite difficult.

Ok, so here is the update. The card seems to work. The application (TNG eWallet) recognized it with no issue. Topping it up was also eventually successful (or so it seems) but required a few loops as it complained that it could not identify the card in the process. Looked more like a software problem than the card to me but it could also be the old Iphone 7 I used.
To register the eWallet one needs to provide all sort of personal details including a photo of the passport's personal data page, but I guess it is something expected.

[x9200]

BTW, how about this card:
https://www.ezlink.com.sg/ez-link-x-tou ... ring-card/
The official TnG web pages point to the above link as of the solution/replacement for an expired TnG card holders while still in Singapore.