LTA to explore easing tight COE supply

[Maroon5]

Why must need new car? Has to do with aspirations. Only reason why people drag themselves out of bed to go to work everyday.

 

Govt must recognise that even in lower income brackets the show that one can afford a new car for the family is important for personal, and national, progress. I believe that used top-of-line car always beats a new entry-level box, but most average car buyers don't see it that way.

 

aspirations is very very intangible. say i earn 5k but my aspiration is to live in condo, even a mass mkt condo also can.

can any govt intervene to this extent? i thk not, a govt's min duties would b to ensure u can own a home and thats where hdb comes in. jus like how the 2nd hand cars are available at fair prices for pple who really need them.

[Maroon5]

Ppl can go ahead to complain lack of car park. But have they consider where to keep their car before purchase?

 

For selfish reason, i have no issue with car park. If my estate got no space, i juz park in the office loh. The most i ride bicycle to collect my car [laugh]

 

right now w coe, pple wld not need to do tat becos the carpark issue is managed from the macro point of view.

but i thk for selfish reasons, u backside itchy wan to change car alr rite

[inlinesix]

right now w coe, pple wld not need to do tat becos the carpark issue is managed from the macro point of view.

but i thk for selfish reasons, u backside itchy wan to change car alr rite

FYI, I m driving B.M.W.

 

Waiting to upgrade to Toyota Hachiroku.

[Maroon5]

FYI, I m driving B.M.W.

 

Waiting to upgrade to Toyota Hachiroku.

 

ya i rem u drive which car. when coe ending btw?

[Maroon5]

Intangible yes, but govt have to recognise that the hope to better one's standard of living and to be seen to provide more comfort for oneself or one's family is the driver for motivated workers and the stuff that moves communities to improve themselves. Being able to buy private transportation is central to this. And govt is trying all to show it does have the EQ to see this.

 

And to show that they "see" it, various forms of regulatory and fiscal policy will be enacted to distribute resources/services. But it cannot be overt encouragement of private car ownership.

 

People have right to buy a new car. They have to educate themselves if they can afford it given the options available, and the govt uses regulations and legislation like the COE to control when and how many can be bought because of national development agenda.

 

then it goes back to the question how much is considered affordable? i see u brought in policies, of cos our gahmen has more than enuff ammo to do grants to new cars like they do for first time hdb buyers. but on wat basis and wat merits? like i say aspiration is intangible and subjective. if its one's aspirations to own a new car then in merit based singapore, its open and possible for all to achieve it. in short, u determine your own aspirations and your own path to achieve it, tats not the gahmen's job n would b wasteful allocation of taxpayer's moneys.

[inlinesix]

ya i rem u drive which car. when coe ending btw?

My BMW uplorry last year.

[Gee]

Cars are not hdb and not considered as necessities, grant is out of the question lah.

 

[Mustank]

Just playing devil's advocate. Don't downplay politicians' need to provide sweeteners. And if sweeteners given to average joe/family man/working man voters, who will complain or refuse? This segment of voters will complain about a cut in their living costs?

 

ever pondered why when going to office everyday, the e-way is almost empty on the opposite side? when going home, the same?

 

To solve congestion, we will have decentralise city centre. City centre needs to have a lot more residences. heartlands needs a lot more office.

 

Funny thing is this idea is not mentioned by any politician. wonder why

Edited May 24, 2012 by Mustank

[Maroon5]

What basis and merits to award grants/subsidies? If I think like a politician: Re-categorise COE categories into "Low OMV" and "High OMV" only. Then when elections near, offer those who bought "Low OMV" cat new cars in the past year or two a income tax rebate for those with family, those with seniors living under same roof, those with two or more school-going children. (Can do means testing by cross-reference annual income through IRAS) On top of this, change to flat road tax in each category and cut a bit just before elections.

 

All those who bid and buy in "High OMV" category are obviously affluent enough.

 

recategorise by OMV seems more equitable but the election carrot is nonsense. u go do n cost benefit analysis on the no of cars w low omv vs the usual ang pows they give to everyone, which would give them more mileage or brownie points?

[Maroon5]

I will never support a policy that offers explicit grants to any income group so that they can afford a private passenger vehicle in Singapore. That is wrong and any political party that offers this to voters must be run out of town. Wrong for any of us to even demand one-family-one car balloting.

 

However we do have to fix the seeming collusion between car dealers and loans finance companies and the men in authority. Citizens' well-being and commercial profit motive/growth for certain businesses do not sit well together.

 

seriously i stil dun see why the need to ensure citizens get to buy new car should b one of their key objectives. there is public transport and its going thru major upgrade now. there are 2nd hand cars and pretty affordable. unless u say i hv cash but i am not entitled to buy new cars as it has been reserved for a select inner circle pple then yes i say u hv every right to call and shout for changes.

 

like i say for you is your grouse abt that new car. wat if for me, it is that mass mkt condo selling at 1000psf? i complain cos i m priced out of the mkt and i thk the govt shd also take care of my aspirations.

[Princey_anne]

Cars are not hdb and not considered as necessities, grant is out of the question lah.

Yes ppl have forgotten their needs

[Maroon5]

RE: allow certain income segment to buy new car is key objective. On the surface it cannot be seen as such. But if regulations can be constructed that a lower income group can reach for a lifestyle improvement goal and get it, while keeping the richies out of the way, it will be construed as a "caring" act and a govt looking out for their "well-being". Used car will always have stigma for majority of car buyers.

 

RE: my grouse abt being crowded out from affording new car.

No lah, my whole life have been buying used cars with 3-4 years left on COE. Key is to have a damn good mechanic and be polite to him.

 

RE: priced out of mass mkt condo

HDB new or used are the equivalent of bread-and-butter cars in "Low OMV" category. You have to jostle with the seemingly wealthy because private housing is that shelter category with the status signalling, bragging rights etc. Or maybe it was a case of not enough cash in the crash of '03-'06?

 

haha u know u are jus going in circles. its like this, u wan new cars and i wan new condos. so why issit ur aspirations are more impt and deserve higher priority than mine?

 

anyw im talking generally, a govt is to take care of the pple's essential subsistence needs, period. a new car for normal pple like u and me i really dun see how it shd b a govt's job.

 

like i said in sg, everyone is given opportunities to improve his life. u wan a new car, u work hard im sure u can get it. unless ur complaints r its too exp n cant afford well then mayb saving another 1-2 yrs shd help. but u stil can get one. tats my point.

 

frankly the only wrong i see in our COE situation is their so called "mistake" in giving out 100k coes every yr from 05-09 and now the late comers have to bear the costs.

[X3mblack]

Hmm...end of the month liao. Any update from ah Lui?

[COEuniquelySG]

no sound still... i doubt they will come up with any measure, maybe it was just to give people some expectations until after the hougang election is over.

[Fastfive1]

Wow this debate on COE is still going on!

Simple cannot afford to pay 90+k for COE, don't buy car lor.

Why is it that people who don't need to buy a car are grumbling?

COE is a very efficient system in fact.

 

However it's the availability of credit that is the problem.

The fact that people can get 100% loan clearly shows that "purchasing" a car is very easy.

It is because it is so easy that's why people don't realise what they're getting themselves into til it is too late. Isn't that why there are repossessed cars on SGCarmart? Actually there might be another reason why there are cars which are less than 1 year old ending up for sale. The owner cannot afford the installments.....

For example, they might not feel that paying 90+k for a COE is expensive because they pay by installments and their monthly installments may not seem like a lot when they barely have enough leftover cash to save for the miscellaneous expenses, etc.

 

What the MAS should do is to go back to a maximum of 70% loan. In addition, Financial institutions should not lend huge amounts of money to people with bad credit ratings. This should make purchasing a car not so easy which will drive down demand for cars. Consumers may not welcome it because they're unable to feed their material desires and car dealers may not welcome it because it will mean a drop in sales which means less commission for car dealers. But that's their problem. Right now car dealers are benefiting from the high COE while consumers are at the losing end. Why are we letting these dealers benefit?

 

Most of the suggestions seem to be advocating making purchasing a car more difficult by revamping the system without targeting the root cause of the problem(easy credit). Why not modify the existing system? For example financial institutions are only to grant a maximum of 60% loan on the car. If the person can't do a downpayment of 40%, then too bad, no loan. Most of the suggestions also fail to factor in companies who need vehicles to transport their goods around.

 

What also amazes me is the fact that people still cannot afford to pay for a COE Car in full cash.

 

 

[X3mblack]

That's true, cannot afford to pay 92k (cat B) coe shouldn't bother to buy car. Poor people like me, even Coe at 30k also cannot afford to buy.

 

But we humble people are worried that all the towkay running their business will increase price because their luxury toys now cost more. They need to pass the cost to the common people.

 

So we are grumbling because of inflation, not because we want to buy car. Poor people worry when rich man toys become more expensive.

 

If cat a Coe go to high, even luxury things like taxi rides will be increased.

Edited May 29, 2012 by X3mblack

[Maroon5]

Right now car dealers are benefiting from the high COE while consumers are at the losing end. Why are we letting these dealers benefit?

 

Most of the suggestions seem to be advocating making purchasing a car more difficult by revamping the system without targeting the root cause of the problem(easy credit). Why not modify the existing system? For example financial institutions are only to grant a maximum of 60% loan on the car. If the person can't do a downpayment of 40%, then too bad, no loan. Most of the suggestions also fail to factor in companies who need vehicles to transport their goods around.

 

What also amazes me is the fact that people still cannot afford to pay for a COE Car in full cash.

 

act car dealers are not benefitting from the high coe. their margins are hit, their volume too.

 

frankly look at the cost of living, its really not surprisingly tat most average pple do not have much in savings.

[Fastfive1]

act car dealers are not benefitting from the high coe. their margins are hit, their volume too.

 

frankly look at the cost of living, its really not surprisingly tat most average pple do not have much in savings.

 

Hmm maybe marginally but just look at BMW and Mercedes. I'm pretty sure that despite the high price of cars, they're still getting sales and quite possibly more than what they may have gotten before. Both BMW and Mercedes are the top 10 most bought cars in SG. Most people who buy these new BMWs or Mercedes take a heavy loan. Go speak to the PML sales rep. One told me that it's very uncommon for someone not to take a loan to buy any of their cars.

 

Used car dealers stand to gain more. To them what matters is that they can make profit from the car they're selling. They don't really bother how you pay as long as they can earn profit and perhaps commission when you take a loan. I'm sure you've noticed that used car dealers have put in their ads 100% loan/ $0 drive away available. Just look at a certain car dealer who has moved from katong to ubi. Almost all of their ads have "100% loan/ $0 drive away available" This makes it even easier to buy cars.

 

For a COE car that costs 30k.... Come on..... Besides it's very difficult to secure a loan for a COE car and the interest can kill.