{"id":3565,"date":"2016-09-02T03:43:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T03:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.carro.sg\/?p=3565"},"modified":"2025-11-18T17:22:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T09:22:41","slug":"when-is-the-optimal-time-to-purchase-a-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/when-is-the-optimal-time-to-purchase-a-car\/","title":{"rendered":"When is the Optimal Time to Purchase a Car?"},"content":{"rendered":"With the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently\u00a0easing car loan restrictions<\/a>\u00a0and the sudden boom in the private-hire industry<\/a>, tactics to obtain the best car deal for your money have to be re-evaluated.\u00a0When, then, is the optimal time to purchase a car? With the latest trends in the automotive market, it seems like COE prices are likely to remain buoyant<\/a> for the rest of the\u00a02016, despite the significantly larger quantity of cars reaching their de-registration deadline this year.\u00a0Hence, if you were looking forward to purchasing that shiny new car in the near future, by now you would be reconsidering your available options.\r\n\r\nAccording to an analysis<\/a>\u00a0done on the cost of purchasing a new car in Singapore, the\u00a0total cost<\/strong> of owning an average car in Singapore for its entire 10-year lifespan would add up to approximately $200,000<\/strong> (assuming a reasonable $60,000 spent on fuel, parking and maintenance across its lifespan).\r\n\r\nUsing the indicative COE price of\u00a0$47,889<\/strong> (May 2016), this shows that the COE contribution to the total cost of owning a car adds up to about 25%<\/strong>. This begs the question, are we placing too much emphasis on COE prices when determining when to purchase our next vehicle?\r\n\r\nWhen deciding whether it is prime time to purchase your next vehicle, a lot more than the price tag associated with the car has to be taken into consideration. These are some of the following factors to consider before investing in your next vehicle:\r\n
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  1. Current financial situation<\/strong>: Have you assessed your present and future financial situation? Have you saved enough to hedge against future inflation?<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Want or need<\/strong>: Does your schedule require you to travel around a lot? With the rise of convenient ride-hailing apps Uber and Grabcar, will it notably convenience your life and save you much invaluable time?<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Priorities<\/strong>: Is there anything more important that you're putting off in exchange for your next car purchase? Is it really worth the trade off?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nOf course, we do not even need to begin comparing the cost of owning a car versus the cost of taking public transport for the next ten years -- the cost of owning a car\u00a0always prevails. Especially with the government gearing towards turning the nation into a car-lite city, it is becoming even more prohibitively expensive to own a car (for example, the revision in HDB and URA car park charges<\/a>\u00a0and rise in ERP rates<\/a> this year).\r\n\r\nFurthermore, it is extremely\u00a0difficult\u00a0to assign monetary values to the freedom, privacy and comfort of owning\u00a0a car.\u00a0As all these factors varies for each individual, you should be beginning to understand why there will never be a definite answer to the optimal time to purchase a car. Let this be our key advice to all first-time car buyers in the market:\r\n