I was recently in Singapore and spoke to a buddy who was in the automotive publication industry regarding buying cars in Singapore. He is shared his dilemma with me on buying a new car. The cost of COE (certificate of entitlement) has shot up to S$94,000. This is just a permit to allow you to buy a car. It does not include the cost of the car! Unofficially Singapore has the highest price for cars in the world. This scheme that was introduces decades ago by the Govt was mainly used to control the car population so that it wouldn't burden the public road system. Having seen the COE prices fluctuate from S$30,000 and to S$94,000, it is little wonder how anyone would want to buy a car in Singapore.
In Malaysia, the high import duties and excise duties are already high enough but it still equates to less than half the price of cars in Singapore. With S$94,000, a person living in the Australia could buy himself / herself a BMW 3 series, or a person living in US could buy a 5 series BMW or a Porsche Cayman!!
The cost of COE is not expected to drop any time soon, in fact it is expected to go beyond S$100,000. At this price only the truly rich will want to buy a car.
Even at S$94,000, a person could take a taxi every day twice for 8 years. They wouldn't have to worry about car maintenance, insurance, road registration renewal, buying new tyres, parking and running costs. Suddenly taking public transport just became appealing.
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