Make sense to downgrade my car to Cat A now?

[Ct3833]

8 hours ago, clickb8 said:

@yishunite yep I think I have to change for family reasons sometime down the road. There isn’t an urgent need to do so right now (still only 1 kid), but the large price gap between Cat A and Cat B/E got me tempted and I wonder if this is the best time. I’m a first time car owner and haven’t changed to a second car before, so wondering if downgrading from Cat B/E to A during large price gap is a good strategy generally speaking.

Dont look at price gap between Cat A and Cat E, you should be comparing  Cat A against Cat B instead. 

Ideally, you dont want to buy a car with high COE, because if you will to sell it when when COE is low, you will get back paper value only .

In your case, you should go get  a quote from a few dealers on the car you intend to buy and the price they could offer for your existing car, with that you could have a clearer comparison, otherwise there will be a lot of guess work. 

So go get  some quotes and come back here to have a more realistic discussion.

Since you are not an experienced buyer , remember not to bring your credit card and check book along, in case you get sweet talked  or pressured into buying one on the spot.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Ct3833

[shrjun]

9 hours ago, clickb8 said:

I bought Cat E car at 33k COE in 2018 (Cat A was 25k at the time), does it make sense to downgrade from Cat B to Cat A car now?

Cat E is now 98k while Cat A is now 68k, so the price gap has grown from 7k in 2018 to 30k now.

Does this mean I make 23k profit (before adjusting for COE depreciation)?

I don't even understand this question . Its a 3 - 4 year old car . Now prices are through the roof . How is there any profit happening ? 

 

P.S Didn't you ask the same question on hwz 🤭

Edited March 10, 2022 by shrjun

[Mkl22]

Not sure what catB car you trying to sell? Some cars have lousy resale. Even though coe goes up, the used selling prices don’t go up that much. 
so you might not reap the full benefits of a higher coe now. 

Just head to sgcarmart and check out the prices of the same car for sale to have a gauge of the price. Take 10k off if  bread and butter car and maybe even 15-20k for a higher end catB. That would roughly be your dealer take in price. 

[Watwheels]

What? Facepalm. "Profit" siah.

Maths fail. Next!

Do you even know how CatE works?

Quote

 

Though Open CAT E usually costs more than CAT A/B, your car’s actual COE value is pegged to the prices of the successful CAT A/B COE bid in the same bidding window, or CAT E, whichever is lower. For example,

 

July 2021 Second COE Bid

CAT A

$47,010

CAT E (Open Cat)

$60,001

 

If your CAT A car was registered with CAT E COE, your COE rebate would be based on $47,010, not $60,001!

 

 

March 2020 First COE Bid

CAT A

$32,699

CAT E (Open Cat)

$32,500

 

In this example, if your CAT A car has been registered with CAT E COE at $32,500, though the successful COE bid for CAT A in the same window was higher at $32,699, your COE rebate will be based on $32,500. Always remember, it will be based on the lower of the 2 figures in the corresponding categories.

 

Some unethical dealers might claim you stand to gain a larger rebate from the higher CAT E COE, and get you to top up exorbitant amounts when in fact, you do not stand to gain anything at all. Always do your research before committing to a deal.

 

You will only choose CatE if you are in need of a car immediately. If you can wait you will not choose it especially when there is a huge gap like in the first example.

Once you know how CatE works, whatever sum you have got there in your first post it is irrelevant.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Watwheels

[Ct3833]

be kind lah, he is trying to see if he could make use of this window of huge price gap between the two CATs to change to a car that will more suits his needs. Nothing wrong with this thoughts but thinking of making money from COE cycle is no no because buy  low sell high may happen but buy high will end up selling low most of the time. 

Edited March 10, 2022 by Ct3833

[Mkl22]

27 minutes ago, shrjun said:

I don't even understand this question . Its a 3 - 4 year old car . Now prices are through the roof . How is there any profit happening ? 

Some people alibaba the figures to suit whatever justification they need. 

[Mkl22]

1 minute ago, Ct3833 said:

be kind lah, he is trying to see if he could make use of this window of huge price gap between the two CATs to change to a car that will more suits his needs. Nothing wrong with this thoughts but thinking of making money from COE cycle is no no because buy  low sell high may happen but buy high will end up selling low most of the time. 

But common sense would be to go to sgcarmart to see what his car can fetch right? If nothing else. 

[Watwheels]

11 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

But common sense would be to go to sgcarmart to see what his car can fetch right? If nothing else. 

There are plenty of clueless car buyers. That's why SE can sell cars even when COE is so high. They will use the sale pitch, "now it is the best time to buy!". "Not enough coe nevermind, take the CatE coe". But they dont tell ppl the downsides. There are also so many rules that a noob will not know where to start.

[shrjun]

Maybe TS could put down the purchase price of his current and future car with the respective COEs here and let someone do the figures.

 

[Volvobrick]

58 minutes ago, Ct3833 said:

Dont look at price gap between Cat A and Cat E, you should be comparing  Cat A against Cat B instead. 

Ideally, you dont want to buy a car with high COE, because if you will to sell it when when COE is low, you will get back paper value only .

In your case, you should go get  a quote from a few dealers on the car you intend to buy and the price they could offer for your existing car, with that you could have a clearer comparison, otherwise there will be a lot of guess work. 

So go get  some quotes and come back here to have a more realistic discussion.

Since you are not an experienced buyer , remember not to bring your credit card and check book along, in case you get sweet talked  or pressured into buying one on the spot.

Can't even bring phone. Now is paynow paylah era already! 

[Scion]

9 hours ago, clickb8 said:

Understood. The reason I’m asking is also that my family has become bigger so I’m tempted to switch from my current sedan to a Cat A mini MPV (Sienta or Freed). My depreciation will remain about the same and since I’m getting a new 10-year COE, I get to lock in this depreciation rate for a longer period. Also the Cat A car is more fuel efficient, I could probably save $1.5k in petrol + road tax a year based on current fuel prices. Does that make more sense now?

Sienta is now 140k 

u sure it's worth it ah

 

[Scion]

the only profit one can make is if he sells his car now and dun drive

eg Cerato is about 82k exactly one year ago... it's probably can be resold for 90++ to 100k now given a new one cost 115k

but one has to not buy another car (new or resale) in order to pocket the profit

[Mkl22]

i also find the reason of having 1 child to change car weak. unless its a 2 seater or coupe 2+2, any 4 dr car can put the kid in.

any car can fit a child seat.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Mkl22

[Fitmugen]

Change to Suzuki Every. New one $55k only. That one then I say you can profit and still got car to drive

[Tkseah]

Ideally, u would not want to buy a high COE car and hold it till year 10... either hold onto the low COE car and change car when COE is low... or if u do change to a high COE car, plan to let it go and change car when COE is low.

[Tkseah]

2 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

i also find the reason of having 1 child to change car. unless its a 2 seater or coupe 2+2, any 4 dr car can put the kid in.

any car can fit a child seat.

Maybe he wanna bring along helper and parents also..

[Ct3833]

1 hour ago, Mkl22 said:

But common sense would be to go to sgcarmart to see what his car can fetch right? If nothing else. 

SGcarmart is sell price, if his car is a non-mainstream Euro brand, the offer price from dealers may be 10k or 20k lower. 🤣  But you have a point, it is also good to know the price so that he is prepared before seeing dealer.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Ct3833

[Daniu82]

TS, I think you better wait until COE prices come down then think to change ba. Now COE high, new or 2nd hand cars confirm expensive, no point to change. Even got profit also throw into your 2nd car DP already. I also intending to change to 7 seater or bigger 5 seater car as my parents get older or I have 1 more kid, but I think now is not the time. Better enjoy your current car for another 3 years then see the market then. If you are billionaire or millionaire then I won't stop you from changing lar.