Thursday, December 9, 2010

Wait! Are We Paying for the Government?

Okay, I am at least disappointed to say that Singaporeans who are intending to buy a new car as their Christmas gifts will be deeply saddened at how the price for a COE bid has increased recently (December 2010, Round 1) to its highest record since the year 2000.

So, is it worth to buy a new car now?

Toyota Corolla Altis, taken from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50915680@N08/4796839344/
Okay, let's take a look at the pricing of a popular, budget priced Toyota Corolla Altis 1.6. According to SGCarMart as of 9 December 2010, the model cost $98,488, inclusive of the COE priced at $47,604. Okay, there may be COE rebates or other offers when you buy a new car, but for this post I shall keep things simple and omit other factors. A simple calculation of the percentage of the COE price over the price of the model gives you 48.3%. In other words, if you intend to buy this model, expect around half of your money paid to enter the government's pockets!

My conclusion? Standing in as one of the majority of the Singaporeans with limited monthly income in the entire family, I will say that it is not worth to pay an ultra inflated price for a budget model. However, if you are one of the Singaporeans that draws in many Ks of monthly income in the entire family, looking for a high end car such as BMW 5 Series, I will say that money is not an issue for you, so by all means, go ahead and get one.

Alternatively, you may want to
  • Buy a used car. (Do beware of the relevant charges and taxes)
  • Take public transport. (Yeah I know that the efficiency of public transport is a tad disappointing, but it is still much better than paying inflated price.)
  • Car pool. (If you have a lot of friends or colleagues going to work together.)

Alright, that's all I have for today. But hopefully I wish to see the Ministry of Transport step up to make full use of their government funds to upgrade the standard of public transport. I swear they have more than sufficient government funds to contribute to the society =)
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 9, 2010 at 10:28 PM

    This is a very important issue to young adults who wants to invest on buying a car. If COE price increase, I amm afraid young adults will have to work extra harder to be able to afford it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sherwin.LDecember 9, 2010 at 10:39 PM

    The issue here is that I do not think the government will use the funds in the appropriate areas. There has been a trend on what the government spends on, and it's obviously not in the civil sector

    ReplyDelete
  3. Low Wei JieDecember 9, 2010 at 10:42 PM

    I have a plan for young,single people who just cannot afford the car.Its called "take the public transport plan".the plan is simple: just take the public transport.Singapore's carpark is crowded as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ann Ann ChinDecember 9, 2010 at 11:32 PM

    Duhh Weijie xD. The government has already been promoting the public transport since long ago. But the problem is that some Singaporeans are dissatisfied by the standard of public transport. And that is why government are planning to invest their government funds in upgrading public transport system to improve travelling time between places.

    ReplyDelete

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