My CNG conversion

[Acemundo]

i think ur concerns are valid. my view is that if it is so easy to do the CNG conversion, you can definitely reverse the process easily as well.

 

the other concern about the resale value, i think that is also a valid concern as the market for such cars are still untested at this stage.

[Jwho]

Hi, i went to the PIs at Ubi automart yesterday to check out the CNG conversion for my new ride.

 

What they mentioned are not too encouraging even though they are willing to help me do the CNG conversion and provide the warranty.

 

1. They mentioned that the car will have no body value as exporters dont want CNG cars. so I end up losing my car body value. I am getting SUV, so lose out quite a fair bit

 

2. CNG conversion confirmed cannot be reversed unless car is de-registered.

 

3. Resale value will definitely dropped unless CNG picked up a lot over the next 3 years, else no market demand, will go back to 1.

 

Looking at the existing market for CNG, i m still taking a passive step backwards.

 

Just wondering if I get my car, drive for a couple of months to 1 year, then do the conversion, do i have the flexibility to dekit when I need to sell my ride? No PI can give me the answer. any knows?

 

thanks for all the precious and invaluable advice.

 

I think at the end of the day, we just want to save some $$ on the ever rising cost of owning private transport in SG...

 

have a great year ahead.

[Ahyoo2002]

Your car is still a normal car with CNG kit install only.

 

So I think you can always remove the CNG kit later on when de-registered, so I do not see why the car is not a "normal" car

 

Anyway, I done some maths here:

http://www.mycarforum.com/forum/gforum.cgi...2175677#2175677

[Ahyoo2002]

u think KM is interested in protecting customers? i don't think so, the way they price their car is just how they react to market conditions to maximise their profits.

 

K*

[Ahyoo2002]

I talk to one PI yesterday, he said definitely can reverse the process easily, but I think if you enjoy the tax rebate, you can not remove the kit unless you de-registered it.

[Acemundo]

yeah that my guess as well.

 

meaning if u registered and enjoy the rebate, it is permanent.

 

if you did it after registration (ie you don't enjoy the rebate) probably can dekit it easily.

 

i think the justification is still, you must drive the CNG car longer than 5 years to enjoy any real benefit.

[Ahyoo2002]

meaning if u registered and enjoy the rebate, it is permanent. permanent till the day you re-degistered it, so the car body value should not be affected.

[Acemundo]

of course, but hv u check if u deregister it, you get the same paper value? not all LTA transactions are totally reversible hor....

 

a lot of OPC owners think their car paper value will be reinstated to similar to a normal car after they top back the pro-rated OPC rebate they enjoyed at registration. According to another MCF friend who checked with the LTA, is not the case that most people thought.

[Ahyoo2002]

I think as long as you de-kit only after de-registered, you should get back the full paper value as I mentioned in another thread.

 

OPC rebate is very different. It is way too complicated for normal folk to understand. Bc OPC rebate can use to offset COE and ARF, which complicated the matter a lot.

[Acemundo]

ok as long as ur research is properly supporter it should be ok.

 

not like some opc owners who happily still think they can get the full paper value when they do the pro-rated refund to convert back to normal plate cars

[Ahyoo2002]

Al long as COE is below $17k, OPC owner will never get the same paper value as normal car when de-registered.

 

So the saving is never $17k, just like the saving for CNG is never 40% as stated.

[Acemundo]

actually the OPC rebate may not be as per what you understood as well, unless this MCF friend misunderstood as well or i misunderstood him.

 

but still my point is that, never make assumptions with such non-maintstream LTA transactions.

[Perrier]

Your PARF rebate is based on the ARF paid at point of registration. Once you understand this point, you will get the full picture.

 

You can't have the best of both worlds. Thats why you need to send your car for inspection yearly so that you cannot simply install it to enjoy the 40% rebate and remove it the next minute to enjoy the original boot space.

[Ahyoo2002]

too lazy to illustrate but a simple one will be said COE is $10k, OMV is $10k.

 

Normal car pay ARF of $11k. So he get back $5.5k (PARF) upon de-registration on 10 years.

 

OPC car pay ARF of $4k (due to $17k rebate can use to offset COE $10k, ARF $7k). So the PARF is only $2k.

 

So in actual case, OPC only save $13.5K.

[Ahyoo2002]

Yah, ARF paid is the key for car registered after March/April 2002.

[Acemundo]

erh, no, that is not the scenario about opc i referring to.

[Perrier]

I, for one, will be interested to buy a CNG Picnic off the resale market. perferable those that is 2.5 years old. 6 mths to confirm serviceability of the car before conversion.

[Fels]

I have maintained a CNG fleet before. And written a Volvo CNG tech guide for workshop use before. Interested parties can PM me, I can send to you. Take it as a swop pointers session.

 

This is a photo of the CNG gas tank compartment.