Is owning a car in SG even worth it now vs Grab/taxi?

Question

COE is crazy high. I take Grab maybe 4-5 times a week plus MRT. Family of three. Keep going back and forth on whether a car is worth the total cost or I should just keep grabbing. How did you decide?

Fresh Grad Bro Ryan · Accepted Answer

Ran the numbers properly before buying, so here's the framework. Total car cost = COE + OMV/price + road tax + insurance + parking (home + work) + petrol + ERP + maintenance, spread over 10 years. For a typical car that's easily 2-3k+/month all-in. Then compare to your actual Grab spend. Rule of thumb: if you're spending under ~1.5k/month on transport and mostly need point-to-point occasionally, Grab wins. A car makes sense when you have young kids, ferry elderly parents, do supermarket runs, or travel at odd hours, the convenience and time value is real then. For us with a toddler, the car won not on pure cost but on sanity (no waiting in rain with a crying kid). Be honest about whether it's cost or lifestyle you're buying.

Physio Coach Marcus · Answer

Consider a middle ground before going all-in, because it's not just car versus Grab. Look into a weekend / off-peak car (the red plate ones) if you mostly need a car on weekends and evenings, you get cheaper road tax and rebates in exchange for restricted weekday use, which suits a lot of families with a weekday-MRT, weekend-family-outing pattern. Or use car-sharing services for the occasional Ikea or airport run without owning anything. For a family of three doing supermarket runs and outings, a weekend car might hit the sweet spot between the convenience you want and the cost you're scared of. Price out the off-peak option specifically, most people forget it exists.

Working Mum Denise · Answer

A car in Singapore is a lifestyle purchase, not a financial one, and you need to accept that framing first before you can decide honestly. The moment you stop trying to justify it as 'saving money versus Grab', which it almost never does once you count depreciation, and instead ask 'is the convenience and time worth this premium to me', the decision gets clear. For me the answer was yes, because my elderly mum has frequent hospital and specialist visits and doing those by Grab or bus with her was exhausting and unreliable. The car bought us dignity and reliability for her care, worth every cent. Your answer depends on what your family actually needs, not the spreadsheet.

Startup Founder Nadia · Answer

We gave up our car during the COE madness and honestly don't miss it, so here's the other side. Grab plus MRT plus the occasional car rental for JB trips or Ikea runs works out far cheaper for us, and we redirected the money we'd have sunk into COE into investments that actually grow instead of depreciating to zero. The catch: this only works because we don't have young kids' schedules to juggle, no daily childcare drop-offs, no elderly parent hospital runs. Our lifestyle is flexible so the friction of not owning is low. If your family setup is similarly flexible, do the sums, you might be surprised how much you save going car-lite.

Is owning a car in SG even worth it now vs Grab/taxi?

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