SINGAPORE: A recent video wherein Singaporeans were asked to answer “How expensive are cars in Singapore?” got over 177,000 views in less than a day. One respondent’s answer included a variety of factors such as COE, insurance, maintenance, and petrol.
“Buying a car in Singapore is really expensive. Can you explain how much roughly it costs and why is it so expensive?” was the question an interviewer from Asian Boss Media recently asked Singaporeans on the street.
@asianbossmedia Did you know that Singapore is known for having one of the highest costs associated with owning a car? How expensive is it really and do people even need cars in Singapore? We asked some locals to find out. Follow @asianbossmedia for more authentic insights from Asia! #singapore #car #expensive #wealth #personalfinance #asiancity #asia #asianboss #streetinterview #staycurious
The first respondent featured on the TikTok video listed several factors that contribute to the high cost of having a vehicle in Singapore. “Buying a car involves many things, I think. You have to buy the physical car, which is, for a new car, I think like SGD 100,000,” he said. “You have to get the COE (Certificate of Entitlement). It’s basically a document that you get to drive a car in Singapore. And then that’s excluding road tax, insurance, petrol, and maintenance. I know one friend who got a car and regretted it. She sold it in the end.”
A second respondent was asked, “Can you get a luxury car with SGD 100,000?” Her answer was plain and simple. “Definitely not,” she said. “I believe a luxury car probably costs about SGD 500,000. For SGD 100,000 you can get secondhand cars, like vintage cars.”
A third responded, “There is no logic behind buying a car in Singapore because it’s expensive and public transportation is quite affordable. You can reach any part of Singapore by public transportation.”
The fourth and final interviewee added, “I think they are encouraging Singaporeans to really take public transport to really reduce the carbon emission in Singapore.”
A handful of netizens took to the video’s comments section to share their two cents on the matter.
