In your honest view, do you think buying a car is a wise (financially) decision in Singapore ?

Just my few cents:

• Convenience

When one starts a family, the practicality of having a car makes more sense. Grocery/weekend trips, especially with young children, would be way easier. Many parents would appreciate having to just focus on the road; fetching their children from school straight after work feels great to.

However, when single, it may be unneccesary to own a car due to the limited usage. As compared to having more people benefit from it when one has started their own family, does the cost justify the convinience it brings just to one?

• Perceived social status

One of the old "5Cs of Singapore", many pursuit owning a car as a display of their economic wealth and thus social class. It is perfectly fine to do as such, but my worry is that some choose to pursue this image of social status, at the cost of other big-ticket items in the near future (eg. wedding, BTO). While some may be comfortable with paying loan instalments, I would choose to pay the lump sum upfront to avoid debt.

• Hefty price tag (with "extra" fees)

COE prices this month are at $47.8k (below 1600cc) & $56k (above 1600cc). This amount could be better utilised, such as paying off student debt & contributing to the purchase of a BTO.

Apart from the value of your car depreciating by the year, there are other tax & maintenance fees (road tax, servicing, fuel costs, parking etc) that are not reflected upon the initial purchase.

• Other options

1. Public transport. Extensive bus routes & MRT lines provide accessibility to most places of the country. The rise of vehicle-for-hire services such as Grab have further made transport affordable & hassle-free.

2. Renting instead of buying. Pay-per-day usage allows one to enjoy the convenience for some time, while not costing a bomb.

It's still your call. Just make sure to do your due dilligience before making any moves. Cheers​​​

Depends on the nature of your work, I will say

Depends on the value of the incremental convenience in having a car.

I have 6 family members (2 elderly parents, 4 adults, 1 kid) and also friends that I meet regularly so for me it would be extremely worth it as my family would benefit from a car through so many ways but the problem is the COE is so high it is difficult to get past that first barrier.