Which COE car should I buy?

[Ody_2004]

43 minutes ago, Old-driver said:

I don't believe most of the mileage advertised. If you browse thru a 2010, 11 or 12 vehicles, almost all of them are around 100k plus or minus. How can that be that all these

few hundred cars can clock the same distance over a 10-year period?

Look at the 2015-16 cars, most of them are in the 80k range already....  and i'll say it's likely to be genuine. So for all the 10 year olds,  most of them has to be in at least 150k and above, save a few rare ones.

 

 

 

It is possible to get low mileage car.. just need to wait loh.. my ex cars (bought new) at 6 n 7 years never cross 60k.. current one 2.5 years 24k..

My COE car 90k 11.5 years old as owner is ex red plate.

[Ginyu]

2 hours ago, BobbyTan_74287 said:

There is nothing about bragging of owning a MB. It is just a car. Most of my MB's friends are all very humble. Please note Lexus is not cheap and the parts and servicing is equally expensive as MB.

Some took loan to acquire it so nothing much to brag about 😂 

[Jamesc]

2 hours ago, Fitvip said:

True. especially those with a new coat of paint!

There are exceptional cases as you have mentioned.

My ex boss bought a used Merc for $100K. He change quite a few parts, including rewrapping the steering wheel and gear knob, which cost him $10K. He used the car for more than 1 year. One day, his wife and him walked into a showroom, on impulse, he just traded-in his Merc for $60+K!

Please let him know if that happens again

I will give him a good price.

Cars like this the dealers very happy to buy.

[Macrosszero]

5 minutes ago, Rskc said:

One of my previous is 80k+km for 8.5 years. I am currently on my 8th car. All my cars, previous or current, mileage per year was/is 12k km to max 15k km. Less than 150k km is definitely possible. My own true experience.

Everything is possible, but you are not representative of every car owner out there, you might just use your car for commuting to work and weekend outings. Some might use the car to do sales. Others are ex-PHV cars. It is a broad range of usage patterns. Some may have a second or third car that spreads out the mileage.

But chances of finding a car like that in the used car dealership is obscured because they have a pathological habit of clocking cars' odometers no matter how low it is to begin with. I usually keep an eye of friends and colleagues' cars after they get traded in - if it was 150k km, it gets clocked to 90k km. If it was 50k km, it gets clocked to 30k km. There is a trend. 

Even if you try to buy direct owner, it may be a dealer posing as a private seller, etc. But that's another story for another time.

[Jamesc]

Not all dealers clock mileage lah.

Most do it but I don't.

Some customer have 3 or 4 cars only drive the spot car on weekends.

Wife only drive to Orchard Rd and they stay in Ridley Park.

Husband always fly here fly there so car really low usage.

[Jamesc]

I got some low mileage cars if anyone interested.

Car broke down so often stuck in workshop

owner drive his other cars. 

[Rskc]

6 minutes ago, Macrosszero said:

Everything is possible, but you are not representative of every car owner out there, you might just use your car for commuting to work and weekend outings. Some might use the car to do sales. Others are ex-PHV cars. It is a broad range of usage patterns. Some may have a second or third car that spreads out the mileage.

But chances of finding a car like that in the used car dealership is obscured because they have a pathological habit of clocking cars' odometers no matter how low it is to begin with. I usually keep an eye of friends and colleagues' cars after they get traded in - if it was 150k km, it gets clocked to 90k km. If it was 50k km, it gets clocked to 30k km. There is a trend. 

Even if you try to buy direct owner, it may be a dealer posing as a private seller, etc. But that's another story for another time.

Agree. Just like you said it is possible, I am not saying I am representative. To say that all cars must be at least 150k km is a bit of a sweeping statement. 😊 Just to state that none of my cars hit more than that. I have only 1 car. And my wife does up to 4 trips in a day, doing kid's ferrying duties and drives to work. Not to mention kid's weekend ECAs and outings. Very normal usage of car 😉

[Mkl22]

1 hour ago, Rskc said:

Agree. Just like you said it is possible, I am not saying I am representative. To say that all cars must be at least 150k km is a bit of a sweeping statement. 😊 Just to state that none of my cars hit more than that. I have only 1 car. And my wife does up to 4 trips in a day, doing kid's ferrying duties and drives to work. Not to mention kid's weekend ECAs and outings. Very normal usage of car 😉

 On sgcarmart you do see many 2-5 owner cars with the default “only 100k+ km” at 10years. 😂

Edited January 30, 2021 by Mkl22

[Renegade777]

1 hour ago, Macrosszero said:

For many car buyers:

v

Detour abit......After so long, or very very long......they still have not made contact with earthlings. 

The answer is there regarding their presence. Hahaha......

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by Renegade777

[flat6]

2 hours ago, Macrosszero said:

Everything is possible, but you are not representative of every car owner out there, you might just use your car for commuting to work and weekend outings. Some might use the car to do sales. Others are ex-PHV cars. It is a broad range of usage patterns. Some may have a second or third car that spreads out the mileage.

But chances of finding a car like that in the used car dealership is obscured because they have a pathological habit of clocking cars' odometers no matter how low it is to begin with. I usually keep an eye of friends and colleagues' cars after they get traded in - if it was 150k km, it gets clocked to 90k km. If it was 50k km, it gets clocked to 30k km. There is a trend. 

Even if you try to buy direct owner, it may be a dealer posing as a private seller, etc. But that's another story for another time.

I just traded in my 23 mth old car mileage 12.8k km for a new car.

Checked sgcarmart and found my car listed. No tampering of odometer

 

[TheCarDealer]

3 hours ago, Jamesc said:

Not all dealers clock mileage lah.

Most do it but I don't.

Some customer have 3 or 4 cars only drive the spot car on weekends.

Wife only drive to Orchard Rd and they stay in Ridley Park.

Husband always fly here fly there so car really low usage.

Agree that not all dealers tweak the mileage. Most will definitely but I stand by my principles not to cheat on my customers. I always tell my customers this.

 

Well, I forgot to add that all dealers tell their customer this too. Who will tell their customer that the mileage is tweaked? 

 

😂😂😂

Edited January 30, 2021 by TheCarDealer

[Jamesc]

1 minute ago, TheCarDealer said:

Agree that not all dealers tweak the mileage. Most will definitely but I stand by my principles not to cheat on my customers.

I always tell my customers this.

Simple just don't buy high mileage cars

and can never sell a high mileage car.

Same as badly maintained cars.

If its a wreck don't buy it and can never sell it.

[Newbie26]

17 minutes ago, Jamesc said:

Simple just don't buy high mileage cars

and can never sell a high mileage car.

Same as badly maintained cars.

If its a wreck don't buy it and can never sell it.

odometer tampering should be regulated here

In overseas, eg USA,  buying used cars is so much less stress, all information are usually provided and everything looks open and transparent

would guess most used car dealers here are decent honest folks if one sees the number of used cars getting transacted everyday

There are many unhappy experiences but relative to the large number of transactions, this percentage  appears small

But better regulations to protect customers are needed 

 

[Comage]

5 hours ago, Macrosszero said:

I will never trust the odometer reading without a stack of dated receipts backing it up. 

A single service label on the windscreen is not good enough. The car can be clocked before going back to the AD for a cursory oil change to try to legitimize the mileage. 

I have traded a 250+k km car in before and asked the dealer if he wanted my service receipts which I had meticulously kept. He said no, not necessary, I will throw it away anyway. My guess is as good as yours why he doesn't need them!

Any COE car especially the B&B types will have accumulated their share of scrapes, dings and dents. The easiest way to "low mileage" a car is a quick putty job and an even quicker paint job so it looks good on the shop lot. And that new interior? They won't do it unless the original interior was full of holes and tears. 

Used car dealers try their best to give their customers the buy-new-car feeling for everything they can see, but beauty is only skin-deep. Customers also want to believe they are getting a wonderful deal, so they deserve each other. 

Yeah, agree with this - a "quick putty job" and a fresh coat of paint all round for around $2k (?) (if it REALLY is that bad) and the dealer is ready to mark up the car by +$10-12k above dereg value and sell it to the next unsuspecting customer.

Interior detailing workshops does a pretty decent job of vacuuming the upholstery and/or carpet, but one thing I know for sure is that they NEVER do under the interior panels or unbolt the seats to get at every nook/cranny.

I unbolted the seats to my COE car and found a trove of trash which indicated that it was heavily abused (apart from the usual dust/dirt/hairballs):
- Hairpins (from a girl or woman)
- Small change amounting to a few dollars
- Pre-paid cards
- A fistful of melted and dried-up chocolates, along with a whole colony of cockroaches dug in deep into the sound-proofing foams
- a bunch of colorful beads (like those used by a little kid in their school art lessons)
- and so on...
 

And one day, while loading up stuff into my boot in a basement carpark, lights from a certain angle caught on the rear windscreen and revealed a "watermark" of a PHV label/sticker. All this, with me as the 3rd owner (2 prior owners; I was deceived by the dealer into thinking I was gonna be the 2nd owner), I bought the car right at the end of the 10th year with 98,000+ km. 

Do I believe the mileage? Hell, no!

[Jamesc]

33 minutes ago, Comage said:

Yeah, agree with this - a "quick putty job" and a fresh coat of paint all round for around $2k (?) (if it REALLY is that bad) and the dealer is ready to mark up the car by +$10-12k above dereg value and sell it to the next unsuspecting customer.

Interior detailing workshops does a pretty decent job of vacuuming the upholstery and/or carpet, but one thing I know for sure is that they NEVER do under the interior panels or unbolt the seats to get at every nook/cranny.

I unbolted the seats to my COE car and found a trove of trash which indicated that it was heavily abused (apart from the usual dust/dirt/hairballs):
- Hairpins (from a girl or woman)
- Small change amounting to a few dollars
- Pre-paid cards
- A fistful of melted and dried-up chocolates, along with a whole colony of cockroaches dug in deep into the sound-proofing foams
- a bunch of colorful beads (like those used by a little kid in their school art lessons)
- and so on...
 

And one day, while loading up stuff into my boot in a basement carpark, lights from a certain angle caught on the rear windscreen and revealed a "watermark" of a PHV label/sticker. All this, with me as the 3rd owner (2 prior owners; I was deceived by the dealer into thinking I was gonna be the 2nd owner), I bought the car right at the end of the 10th year with 98,000+ km. 

Do I believe the mileage? Hell, no!

Must share who the dealer is.

I asking because I know this one

not sold by me.

[Macrosszero]

36 minutes ago, Comage said:

Yeah, agree with this - a "quick putty job" and a fresh coat of paint all round for around $2k (?) (if it REALLY is that bad) and the dealer is ready to mark up the car by +$10-12k above dereg value and sell it to the next unsuspecting customer.

$2k is what a walk-in customer would expect to pay for a semi-decent one-off paint job on top of existing paint, same colour. There are paint shops who (my information is 5 years old)) would paint a dealer's car for $700-800 on bulk rates. As you can imagine, you get what you pay - the shiny car you took away deteriorates quite quickly once you start using it and exposing it to the elements. Its not hard to spot such a car - overspray, leftover masking tape, paint runs are all par for course for such work. 

[Comage]

35 minutes ago, Jamesc said:

Must share who the dealer is.

I asking because I know this one

not sold by me.

I must've been the lunch-time joke between you and the dealer right?

Oh - there's the idiot who paid the premium for my lousy, beat-up COE car! It was even in a car crash before!

Edited January 30, 2021 by Comage

[Jamesc]

8 minutes ago, Comage said:

I must've been the lunch-time joke between you and the dealer right?

Oh - there's the idiot who paid the premium for my lousy, beat-up COE car! It was even in a car crash before!

No lah they don't like me because I refuse to sell lousy cars.

They think I am better than them.