Suddenly all is quiet on the COE topic. No matter the argument, COE prices will retreat only if the economy tanks. Right now it does not look like this is happening. While the US has cut off their QE, Japan, China and now the European Central Bank are looking into QEs of their own. With the large amount of cash sloshing around, some of it will reach our shores propping up our property and car prices.

In this forum, I saw mostly one side of the argument of car ownership. That is, why pay so much to own a piece of eventual scrap metal. It seems the forummers here belong to the group that is most affected by the high COE prices. To them, to own a car means they will have to forgo some other big item in their lives, or extend their retirement by many more years. This group has to think and analyse thoroughly before making a decision to buy or not to buy a car.

But let's look at the bigger populace outside. In my social meetings with acquaintances, colleagues, neighbors, friends and others, I gather there are these two other groups of people:

Group 1:- to this group, the question relevant to them is "what car to buy?". It is not whether to buy a car or not. In their conversation, the topic is "wow!, that new BM model looks cool, and it's turbo, but I am still undecided between this or the SLA Merc". Or "I am still deciding between the Accord and the Camry to replace my ageing Ford".

Group 2:- this group, mostly families, is looking for their 2nd family car. Here, I often hear this "I am looking for a cheap 2nd hand car for my son/daughter, haha, I can't bear to see him/her drive my Merc/BM". Another common one is "I need an MPV to ferry my growing family around, but we still need the other car for my wife"

My condo car park is almost full of "SK" series car plates, and so is the car park at my workplace. People just love cars.