What Is The Cost Of Owning A Car In Singapore?

Weighing the cost of owning a car in Singapore





With increasing use of third party taxi services, is it more cost efficient to own a car in Singapore or to use Grab for transport? While owning a car may signal affluence, status, wealth, prestige and the like, these are psychological barriers compared to actual concerns such as cost, convenience and time constraints. However, what if you Grab instead of taking public transportation or drive? Will it make more financial sense? Let's weigh the costs. 

Owning a Car and Driving Costs

There are a few ways of calculating car ownership cost in Singapore. You can possibly look at the cost price of the car while others may calculate how much it cost them on a monthly basis.

In Singapore, one way of finding out car ownership cost is to calculate how much you are likely to spend over 10 years. A 10-year period is a good basis to calculate cost, since new cars bought will come with a 10-year Certificate of Entitlement (COE). However, for a shorter term cost analysis of owning a car, let's stick with 1 year.

In general, there are 6 main cost areas you should look at before owning a car in Singapore;

  • What is the cost of a car?
  • How about the interest cost?
  • How much is road tax for different cars?
  • Which car insurance plan?
  • Miscellaneous parking, servicing, ERP
  • Monthly or yearly servicing

To further explain the cost of ERP, Singaporean drivers are additionally required to pay road tolls every day. Through Singapore's Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) framework, drivers are required to pay for driving on exceedingly congested streets amid very congested occasions. 

Singapore controls activity clog in the city through this computerized, electronic toll framework, which charges drivers all the more amid crest hours and in zones that have a tendency to end up profoundly congested. 

This urges drivers to drive at less very trafficked occasions and to take less exceptionally trafficked courses, and by and large debilitates superfluous driving. 

It additionally supports utilization of open transport and enables Singapore to oversee contamination levels. Driving to the CBD and out on a work day can cost up to $10 per day, on top of excessive parking fees and petrol. 

Not forgetting the cost of a driving license, if you want to drive the car you’re planning to buy.
No matter if you plan to buy a car or not, earning a driving license is a very useful asset. You would have the ability to rent a car, or borrow it from someone you know, or even possibly may need it to drive a company car for work purposes.


cost of owning a car in singapore

According to Channel NewsAsia; how much it really costs to own a car in singapore, they sum it up pretty nicely in this graphic. 

looking at the cost of owning a car in singapore

Considering the annual costs of car ownership in Singapore, it adds up to $19,020 + parking fees outside + ERP estimated around $2,000 ~ $20,000 per year. Assuming a 30% deposit on a $100,000 car. Spreading the 30% deposit over the loan tenure of 7 years, it comes up to an additional $4,286 per year. Total cost of owning a car over a period of 7 years ~ $24,300. 

Grabbing everywhere

                                         Grab or own a car in singapore
Looking at Grab Singapore, JustGrab has a base fare of $2.50, and additional $0.50 per km + $0.16 per minute. Peak hour fees may cause prices to rise. 

Base fare of Grab would come up to $10, and assuming peak hour charges for 2 rides a day to and fro work, plus 8 weekend rides and night out rides, it will come up to 18 rides a week ~ 18 * $20 = $360.
Annually, it will cost about $18,720.

If you Grab everywhere as compared to owning a car, you can save up to $5,580 per year or $465 per month! 

Not to mention the time saved finding a parking space, actual driving time, environmental costs...

Of course, after paying off the instalments and looking at a time period of 10 years, the difference may not add up to much. However, renewing your COE or buying a new car will be an added cost, and car insurance/accidents are sometimes inevitable. Ultimately, priorities and personal preference come into play, but that's it for looking at the costs of owning a car in Singapore.

To conclude, in any case, your cost of owning a car will be considerably more costly than that! Especially since this costing does exclude any future increment in COE, street charge, vacillations in fuel cost, fines, mishaps, rising support expenses and ERP/stopping rate climbs.

In the event that all the above expenses haven't discouraged from you from thinking about purchasing a car, you can allude to Dollars and Sense point by point cost assessments of owning different classes of cars, beginning from the humble Mitsubishi Attrage at the low-end, to a Porsche or a Ferrari, lastly speculatively a Tesla 3.

At last, purchasing an auto is a genuine budgetary responsibility that requires watchful figuring that measures moderateness with Cost Of Owning A Car in Singapore

On a side not, for more information about getting a driving license in Singapore or buying/owning cars in Singapore, the following links will guide you:








What Is The Cost Of Getting A Driving License In Singapore?

Singapore Driving License Cost Breakdown

In spite of the high cost of owning a car in Singapore (read; other blog post), the demand for getting a driving license is still very high. Personally, I got mine because it is a useful skill to have, but it is definitely costly. Here's the cost breakdown for getting a driving license in Singapore, featuring the cheapest option.


Owning an car is costly in Singapore. Indeed, even outsiders living in different countries realize that. 

The cost of getting a driving license in Singapore isn't shoddy either. In the event that you select for a Class 3 driving course with schools, it could undoubtedly set you back S$2,000. 
Even among the three driving schools, the cost of getting a driving license could shift due to the non-institutionalized expenses charged by each school. 

To compare between each school, these are the rundown of charges that you need to pay keeping in mind the end goal to get your driving license in Singapore.

Just keep in mind that additional transport cost of travelling to the driving school is not included, and it is definitely ideal to choose the driving centre that is nearest to your work, school or home in order for you to minimise the transport fare and travel time for you to travel to the driving centre for your tests or practical lessons, since this may take up to a year to get your driving license. 

Another thing to keep in mine; driving competency is key

Although the cost per practical lesson may not be much lower, private students will rush to call attention to the fact that they don't need to satisfy the base number of lessons, which is usually 25, that school candidates need to satisfy. For whatever length of time that your driving ability is sufficiently skilled to breeze through the practical test, your private driving instructor would be more than willing to send you for the practical test.
Cost Of Getting A Driving License In Singapore
Cost Of Getting A Driving License In Singapore

Before getting your driving license, there are a few decisions to make. While cost is definitely a factor for every decision, here's a little breakdown.

First Decision...

There are 3 driving schools in Singapore: Singapore Safety Driving Center (SSDCL) in Woodlands, ComfortDelgro Driving Center in Ubi and Bukit Batok Driving Center (BBDC) in Bukit Batok. At all locations, there will have private instructors available. Note: difference in cost of getting an auto or manual driving license in Singapore is negligible. 

1. School or Private


cost of getting a driving license in singapore
Driving School


Cost of Passing Your Theory Tests

The choice to be a school candidate requires you to go to for 4 theory lessons before being permitted to take the theory test.
The cost of the theory lessons for the 3 schools are summarised as follows:

From that point forward, schools would require you go for a pre-test before you can sign up for the real theory tests. Keeping in mind the end goal to pass the assessment, it is imperative to go for some practice sessions that contain questions similar to the actual test. It’s not worth it to fail the Basic Theory Test (BTT) and Final Theory Test (FTT). In my experience, the pre-test is intentionally way harder than the actual theory tests.

Actual theory test costs:





                                                
Private candidates can buy the BTT and FTT books from Popular at about $7 together and self study. You are not required to have compulsory theory lessons and evaluations. 

cost of getting a driving license in singapore

Cost of Practical Lessons for School Candidates

Once you pass your BTT, you must apply for a Provisional Driving License (PDL) at a cost of $25. It is only valid for 6 months, so do aim to pass your driving test by then.


Costs of practical lessons differ greatly for peak and non-peak timings:


Typically, school students have to attend around 25 lessons, depending on how fast they learn, the average cost of which will add up to around $1,888 just for practical lessons alone.
Having the same instructor taking you through all your lessons will require you to pay extra. SSDCL and BBDC charge an extra $8.56 per session if you request for a specific instructor. CDC charges $10.70 for that. 
After your instructor deems you ready for the test, the actual Practical Test costs are as such: 

Cost of Practical Lessons for Private Candidates

Private candidates can hope to save more than school applicants. Enrolment costs range from $50 to $80. 
Practical lessons cost $30-$40/hour and may be more costly on during peak period. Be that as it may, expect to pay more to book circuit trainings in school. 
The quantity of lessons required contrasts broadly among private students. While some are prepared to step through the test with just 10 exercises, others may have up to 30 lessons. It truly relies upon your teacher.
Finally, the last fee to pay is $50 for your driving license.

SUMMARY



In conclusion, it may seem like private will save you more money, however passing rates may not be as high and quality various from instructor to instructor. Benefits of private includes flexibility, but trade off may be quality. Personally, I feel that it depends on your aptitude, and if time is a constraint, private may be a better option. So here is the cost of getting a driving license in Singapore.


What Is The Cost Of Owning A Car In Singapore?

Weighing the cost of owning a car in Singapore With increasing use of third party taxi services, is it more cost efficient to own a ...