How Much Do You Need to Earn Before You Even Think of Buying A Car In Singapore?

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There are two parts to tackle this question. First, how much does the cheapest car in Singapore cost to own and operate? Second, to calculate the salary to afford the car costs comfortably, considering other living expenses?

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How Much Do You Need to Earn Before You Even Think of Buying A Car In Singapore? | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore

Can you afford a car in Singapore?

Just ask yourself willing to spend the money or not la. My friend bank exec earn 5-8k every month dare to tell me no money buy car. I show him I earn 2.5k as regular driving Mitsubishi Lancer he jitao shock one good one! No high pay of course get jap car, got money then buy conti. But got money but too stingy to spend on car also no use la. If I earn sergeant pay can buy car still got enough to go blue wave everyone sure can afford de

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just ask yourself willing to spend the money or not la. My friend bank exec earn 5-8k every month dare to tell me no money buy car. I show him I earn 2.5k as regular driving Mitsubishi Lancer he jitao shock one good one! No high pay of course get jap car, got money then buy conti. But got money but too stingy to spend on car also no use la. If I earn sergeant pay can buy car still got enough to go blue wave everyone sure can afford de

Your friend will likely have the last laugh.

[aplover]

Assume buying new car at 100k, car loan is 50k for 5 yrs at 2.6% interest, monthly equals to almost 1k.
Petrol = $200
Road tax/insurance/servicing = $300-400.

So min min also $1500.

Assuming car total costs should be 1/3 of total salary. I would say $4.5k.

Originally Posted by aplover

Assume buying new car at 100k, car loan is 50k for 5 yrs at 2.6% interest, monthly equals to almost 1k.
Petrol = $200
Road tax/insurance/servicing = $300-400.

So min min also $1500.

Assuming car total costs should be 1/3 of total salary. I would say $4.5k.

That is under the assumption that fellow has no other loans (e.g. housing loans) and bills to pay. I would say to be on the safe side, should be 6k per month so that he/she can still have a monthly saving of about 1k minimum.

East to own a car. Just sell your first BTO flat and buy a cheap second BTO flat. Use your profit to buy a new car, pay in full cash. You get new flat and new car. So lucky!!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

East to own a car. Just sell your first BTO flat and buy a cheap second BTO flat. Use your profit to buy a new car, pay in full cash. You get new flat and new car. So lucky!!

Hey,long time no see you idiot!

You use to spam the salary thread until Kenna boo out of it, remember?

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.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

East to own a car. Just sell your first BTO flat and buy a cheap second BTO flat. Use your profit to buy a new car, pay in full cash. You get new flat and new car. So lucky!!

To be really comfortable I would recommend getting a normal Jap sedan car only if your annual income inclusive bonus & allowance is at least 200k. If you want to cringe & save, can push it down to 150k salary, anything less than that is not recommended.

average car cost for a bnb car (100k) is around 2-2.5k per month inclusive of installment (~1k/mth), road tax (~60/mth), insurance (~200/mth), parking (~100/mth), fuel (~300-500/mth), and misc like servicing, fines, erp.

someone earning 5k can afford a car as take home is 4k and minus 2.5k (worse case scenario) you have 1.5k left to spend for the month. or you can take public transport and save almost 2k/mth that you can use for investment/holidays/restaurant meals. however once you drive you wont go back, enjoy your commute to work with nice music and air con, no squeezing with others in trains and buses. no fear of going out during heavy rains, straight a to b instead of waiting for bus and train. able to travel to ulu places without waiting for cab, sometimes call cab also wont come when you are leaving ulu places. buy yourself some time using money and get to enjoy car ownership.

some people will never understand it though, think you are mad for spending 100k on a car and still need to pay petrol and parking. we cannot blame them as everyone likes different things. these people may think nothing of spending 5-10k to go on holiday twice a year to exotic locations like maldives or europe, or 7k on the latest dslr camera. everyone has their weakness which they will spend money on.