Change car every 3 year? Think again !

[Magfocus]

Have to admit its hard to keep for that long..am guilty

[Acemundo]

actually buying car is worse than house...cos house got chance to appreicate......the definite thing about car is depreciate.

 

house may look worse than car in certain circumstances when sentiments are negative. that is because a bigger ticket item suffers 20% discount always lose more than a smaller ticket item.

[Hoppie24]

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if a car don't give much problem, I don't see why the need to change.

 

How come we don't change fridge, change house, change renovation, change TV every 3 years?

 

Why only on car?

 

It is a very strange mentality.

 

Because this is a Chinese majority country, and chinese is very face conscious group of people especially in the Tiny dot. China is already very you know wat. Singapore worst somemore so small island.

 

When i was in Aussie, the cars there "log" until CMI still driving and still got people buy, they got this mindset "don't change unless it's broken and cannot be fix", same goes to their Handphone, we dun see weekend queues at Handphone shop there and people are stiil using handphones with antenna now!!

[Typhoonz]

Loan on loan lor... Unless can break even or high downpayment... Anyway, owning a car in Xinkarpor is ...

[Zxcvb]

one reason why ppl change car around 3 years mark is because 3 years back the COE or car price was relatively higher than compared to now. so if one were to sell and get a new car today, the higher paper value of the old car can easily offset the new car purchase, no need to come out with extra cash. just re-loan from the bank, and you continue driving but a NEW car!

 

but of coz, if you work the sum properly, it's still a big lugi. but driving over 10 years with a high coe of about $28k back in 2004 means every year lugi $2.8k on paper. compared to now in the low $10ks, it's still a valid consideration.

 

on top of that, with friends around you all driving newer cars, 1 just gotta keep up. singaporean herd mentality indeed.

[Throttle2]

i use to change cars every year becos i get bored easily.

thats why i didnt get new car otherwise would have lost a lot more.

 

then one day i finally bot a new Volvo $126k but still after less than 3 years got bored and sold. Lost $51k.

 

So, i decided i wont buy new car anymore unless it is $60-70k category and for someone else to drive.

 

aiyah bottomline, change cars sure to lose money, it's only whether you lose less or more. Just try to minimise and make sure that you dont bite off more than you can chew.

[Jl1500k]

5 Years is equally bad as still lost a lot of money ? may not lost alot for those pp want to change car every 5 years must put aleast 25K downpayment and loan 5/6 years for 60K car.

[Veryfree]

change car every 3 years? i rather change house every 3 years.

i lost my pants for selling a 3 yrs old commodity cars

[Mrlau]

That happen when few years back, the PARF value is higher than COE.

 

So, one of my friend got a brand new car, without need to spend single cent, by scrapping his barely 3 years old Nissan. At that time, many did that too.

 

After that, dont know how it become every 3 years got to change car....

[Silver_blade]

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basically, i am amazed lor...

 

even supposedly educated managerial level friends i meet also think car is worthless after 5 years hence best to sell it before 5 years old.

 

now i finally understand if a myth gets perpetuated by a sufficiently big volume of people, it seemingly becomes the "truth"

Sometimes it take events such recession, huge pay cut, etc to wake these people up and start to understand how the car system work.

 

A similar case would be the buying of petrol that has a higher octane level than what the car really need. If not for the raising fuel cost over the years...many would still buy ron98 or premium ron98 (when their car requires only ron91) without much thinking and understand how petrol and car work.

[Kenneve888]

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In Mar 2004, i paid 74k for my old Jazz. Today i can buy a stream or wish with this price. Drove the Jazz for 4 years plus and decided to change to a stream when my 2nd kid arrived. With 4 adults(including my mother and maid) and 2 children really hard to squeeze in the small Jazz. Sometimes really bo pian, need to change car to suit the family needs.

 

I got my Wish in Nov 2003 for over $95k. Today this price can get easily get a Camry, MarkX or Ody.

I am even tampted for a Prius at $90k before my 5th yr.

But the cold-hard fact on financial prudence and my ride's relatively good condition plus low maint cost pulled me back.

 

Sometimes, we need to sit down and THINK before signing on another new set of loan.

 

I got my Stream 1.7l in May 2002 for $104,000!!!! My friend bought his Spacewagon for $165,000.

Edited July 18, 2008 by Kenneve888

[Ahyoo2002]

Look like many people lost a lot of money changing car after 3 years of usage and yet many people is doing it

[Ahyoo2002]

Yah, my humble Jap 1.6 also cost me > $80k

[Route88]

Those were the dayz

[Sporadic]

This thread brings me back to my young and foolish past!

 

Desperately craving a car when I first graduated... so paid $74 k for a new 660 cc car!

Despite driving it for 5.5 years, I still lost 50,000 when I sold it. Almost 10k depre per year (for a small car!)

 

Worse was, I sold it to buy a Jazz for about 77k (which I thought was a great deal, since my first car cost alomost the same!) Trouble is, I had an overseas posting and had to sell the car 6 months later - losing $13k! For 6 months!

 

Now, I've been driving my current car for 3.5 years, and am getting sick of it. But I tell myself, "Do you never learn?"

 

If I were to sell now, I'd easily would lose 40k for 3.5 years... for a 1.3l car!

So I'm just trying to hang in there....

 

The only good thing that has come out of my car buying escapades is during my one year overseas stint, I bought a second-hand car for $2000 (cash!) and even sold it for $500 when I left -- best depre I ever had!

 

I was young and foolish! Don't be like me! 3 years, 5 years... either way, you lose big time! Either buy a new car and drive all the way , or get a second-hand one, if you can't drive the same car for 10 years!

[Kb27]

When you buy a car, you should drive it for as long as possible.

Learn some basic maintenance skills and where to do your servicings cheaply.

Assuming you do not have complicated electronically controlled car, you can avoid AD.

 

The longer you own the car, the lower the depreciation over the years.

 

Before you changed that car, think about what you are using the car for?

Most of us just wants the car to bring you from point A to B. As long as it is working, it has served that purpose.

It doesn't matter how new or old it is. It may not be as comfortable or state-of-the-art latest model, but think about all the extra money you can saved in the bank, instead of getting another loan...unless you are cash-rich.

[Kelpie]

1. Yap, I suppose no one forces anyone to change car every 3 years. It is a matter of willing buyers to fulfill their whatever needs in various form. Just take it that you're contributing to the Singapore economy .

 

2. It seems like cars are just going to get cheaper if the trend is towards lower one-time cost with higher usage based cost. This means more opportunities for people to buy and change cars, good for anyone from the top till the middle to milk the end point i.e consumers will always be the cow here .

 

3. Overseas hor, even in cash rich middle east countries, people are still driving 20 years old cars and they don't worship their cars like the Singaporean here. To them, it is just a daily and basic form of transportation.

 

4. As for me, changing car is based on the following factors and should be reviewed every 3-5years:

a) Decent performance (Performance 3 years ago is different from today).

b) Fuel economy (Anything alot lower than 10Km/L is no good. FC tends to suffer as the car aged too. May be car will be HHO powered by then.)

c) Family needs (Children grow leh, so space and comfort need to be reviewed. As they grow older, they don't even want to take your car. So I may end up with a coupe when I aged ) Perhaps thats why you get to see old folks driving flashy fast car like Porsche in SG.

d) Money (No money no talk. Who will know, one of these day, the only viable form of transportation in SG is BMW?)

 

Regards,

[Throttle2]

Hehehe, but for most Singaporeans , a car is not Point A to Point B lah, dude.