With COE so high, is owning a car in SG still worth it?

Question

COE for a normal car crossed 100k again. My monthly instalment would be crazy. For a family with two young kids, is it still worth owning or should I just Grab and rent occasionally?

Hawker Ah Boy · Accepted Answer

Family with two kids here, we crunched the numbers hard. Owning a mid-range car all-in (COE, depreciation, insurance, road tax, petrol, parking, season parking) works out around 2k plus a month for us over 10 years. Grab everywhere for a family of four, with car seats and weekend trips to grandparents, ranked hires, groceries, was hitting 1.2 to 1.5k some months and the convenience is not the same when a kid suddenly needs to go home or is sick. For us we kept the car, but bought a used one with mid-life COE instead of brand new, which cut the pain. Honest take: if you both work in CBD and rarely travel with the kids at odd hours, car-lite is genuinely fine and cheaper. If your life involves lots of shuttling kids, sick trips, ILP, tuition, grandparents across the island, a car buys back your sanity. It is a lifestyle decision as much as a money one.

IT Support Ah Kow · Answer

Consider a used car with a few years of COE left instead of buying new. You skip the worst of the depreciation and the COE is already paid down. When it runs out you decide again. I bought a 6-year-old Japanese car, cheap to run, and the total cost per month is way less than a new Conti. Don't chase brand new when COE is this high.

Renovation Bro Alvin · Answer

We went car-lite and honestly no regrets. Grab, occasional car rental for weekend Malaysia trips or IKEA runs, and public transport daily. The money we save goes into the kids education and our investments. Singapore public transport is genuinely good. A car is a want not a need here unless you have special circumstances like elderly parents or a disabled family member.

Auntie Lay Hoon Wet Market · Answer

Don't forget the hidden convenience value that money cannot fully capture. When my youngest had high fever at 2am, driving straight to KKH beat waiting for a Grab in the rain. That single night, my wife said the car paid for itself. Not financially rational maybe, but as a parent you understand.

With COE so high, is owning a car in SG still worth it?

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