If you have to resort to such tactics to own a car then you can't afford it. This will probably be the only car you will ever own.

Singapore is a small city state well served by public transportation - mrt, buses and taxis. They are relatively cheap too. Unless your job or family circumstance requires it, there is little reason for anyone to own a car here.

What about my case? When I entered the workforce 30 years ago, there was no mrt, and bus services were provided sbs and a few private operators. The buses were in bad condition, and service timings were bad. I stayed in the east and was working in Jurong. Every day I spent 4 hours commuting, 2 hrs to go to work and 2 to return to home. Needless to say when I reached home each day it was already 8:30 - 9pm. I had to leave home at 6am each day. On days when there was accident or bus breakdown, half a day would be wasted. No time for dating.

So I decided to buy a 2nd hand car after 2 years of work and disciplined saving. The 5 yo manual car costed me $27k, and I took a $10k loan. My quality of life improved by leaps and I started going out on dates and got married one year thereafter. I kept that car for 14 years! I paid a 5 year COE extension when the COE was implemented. My wife also needed a car as she needed it for her job. So we bought another 2nd car one year after we got married. That 3 yo manual car costed us $42k.

Fast forward to today (30 years later), we have owned a total of 10 cars (both 2nd and brand new) as we both continued to have our own cars. We bought our first brand new car in 1998 when COE was quite high (at $46k at that time for Cat A). After that, all our other cars were bought brand new.

Now that our children are grown up, we are thinking of downgrading to one car, but it is hard to give up the comfort and convenience that a car brings. I tried public transport a few times and found that the peak crowd was too much for me as a mid 50 person, otherwise at non peak periods, public transportation was actually very good.

Anyway, our current 2 cars are still quite new, one is 2.5 yo and the other is 4.5 yo. Got some way still to go.