Purchasing a car in Singapore can come with a hefty price tag. Even though tempting, mid-ranged luxury brands like BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz can cost easily over S$200,000 when purchased brand new.
Just based off affordability, many turn to purchasing second-hand cars instead. But is purchasing a second-hand car really not as good as a brand new one?
Let me bring you through the 10 reasons why purchasing a second-hand car is a pretty great idea!
- Less Financial Burden
This part is simple.
Car A costs $100,000 and can be driven for 10 years.
Car B costs $50,000 and can be driven for 5 years.
Even though the depreciation of the car may be the same at $10,000 a year, how much do you really have in the bank?
Considering you have $30,000 to set aside in down-payment for a car, it is a $20,000 loan VS $70,000 loan.
Depending on the time frame of the loan, interest itself can set you back differences of thousands.
You may think that you will take another loan for another car once your COE expires anyway so it does not make a difference.
However, there is too much uncertainty. You may have saved more money in the bank in this 5 years for your second car.
There may be a scrap value for your first car which you can put into funding for your second car.
Either way, you may not need to take that high of a loan after all. This saves you thousands on loan interests.
2. More Available Information on the Car
If you are purchasing a new car made in the year 2019, you may not be able to find a lot of reviews or information on the car online yet.
However, if it is an older car, there will be lots of reviews on car forums readily available for you to read about.
Fuel consumption, reliability and comfort is something that is best heard first-hand from another person who has already owned and driven the car.
3. Opens Up Options
If you want to purchase a Toyota Altis, you have the option of purchasing different manufactured versions of it.
Same cars from different registration years look different, and may have different specifications as well.
You can choose and pick based off your requirements, budget and preference.
4. No More Worrying About COE!
When buying a first-hand car in Singapore, you will have to bid for your 10-year COE. There are car dealerships that guarantee you COE on your first bid.
However, sometimes the COE is not guaranteed.
The price of COE in Singapore is also not guaranteed and it may fluctuate from month to month.
The price for COE may go up in the month that you are purchasing your new car. This way, you may end up paying up to thousands more just for the same COE.
5. Less Wait Times
As per our previous point on COE, it is not guaranteed.
In this case, you can only bid for COE once a month in Singapore.
If you are unable to get it in your first bid, you will need to wait for the next bidding in the following month.
This will mean delayed wait times for you to actually be able to purchase and collect your vehicle.
6. Lower Depreciation
This is self-explanatory.
We all know that cars depreciate more in the first few years of their lifespan, and less after that.
Buying a second-hand used car basically just means someone else paying off the higher depreciation portion for the lifespan of your car.
Some cars can lose up to half their value in just the first three years.
THE STRAITS TIMES
More dollars for you in your bank, yay!
After all that,
Always remember that a car serves the purpose of bringing you from one point to the other. If you can save money on that, why not?
Clarice @ Carro 