Covid-19 has changed the way that we live and work. The forced Work From Home (WFH) experiment has shown that it is not impossible for employees to WFH and be productive. Once we get over this unexpected chapter in our lives, there will no doubt be a 'new normal'.
Impact on Working Life
We wouldn't be surprised if companies decide to save on expenses by downsizing their office space and adopting hybrid work policies, that is getting employees to work half the time from home and half the time in the office. Employees will only come in only for important meetings and team building activities. Gone will be the days of having your personal workspace in the office and it will be hotdesking whenever you are required to be in office.
Car Owners' Dilemma?
With these changes expected, we wonder if car owners will be in a dilemma whether or not to keep their cars. For example, when the country is under lockdown, my car was gathering dust in the carpark when my children were on Home-Based Learning (HBL). Now that they are back to school, the only time my car moves is when I become their 'Taxi Uncle', ferrying them to and from school.
With the technology that we have nowadays, everything can be settled by whipping out the mobile phone. Hungry? A few clicks and the food is delivered. Groceries? Again a few clicks and you can have the whole week's stock delivered.
In fact, you can just stay at home and the world comes to you.
With that in mind, we decided to breakdown the costs and savings of owning a car vs taking public transport when living in a hybrid work life situation.
Estimate Costs of Owning a Car
Car Instalment - Can be a huge range but we'll just put it as $800 monthly (annually $9,600)
Petrol - Probably pump twice in a month due to less travelling, let's put it as $200 monthly (annually $2,400)
Parking - Home $120 and Office/Leisure another $150 so a total $270 monthly (annually $3,240)
Annual Road Tax - $1,000 (estimate for 1600c-1800cc cars)
Motor Insurance - $1,500 annually
ERP - $100 monthly (annually $1,200)
Maintenance - $1,000 annually (oil change every 6 months and the occasional filters, brake pads. tyres etc.)
Repairs - We'll put a modest sum of $500 annually
This brings us to a whopping $20,440 per year!
Taking Taxis and Ride Hailing Services
We will use a scenario that you are not MRT or Bus-friendly and will only travel by Taxi or ride hailing services.
Taxi fares to work - $25 per trip , to and fro makes it $50 per day. 3 days per week is $150 x 4 weeks = $600 per month
Taxi fares during weekends - $100 per weekend x 4 = $400 per month
Total estimate - $1,000 per month and $12,000 per year
Savings
Even if you choose to be driven by a driver every time you are out, it will cost $12,000 a year.
We are still talking about savings of more than $8k per year if you do not own a car.
If you choose to mix it up with MRT and buses, we believe you can easily save more than $12k per year!
Verdict
With these amount of savings, it may make sense to give up the car, especially if you are working from home and do not have a large family or young kids to ferry around.
However, will current car owners give up their cars? Even now during Covid-19, we are hearing car owners upgrading to luxury cars because they are unable to spend their money on holidays!
At the end of the day, we believe that every car owner will have their own reasons either to keep or to give up. It really depends on an individual's situation.
If you are currently considering buying a car, please read our detailed article here.
I have many friends from overseas who asked me why I choose to spend so much owning a car when Singapore has a world class transport system that can bring us from one point to another easily.
Well, for me, it is not easy to take one taxi being a family of five . I'll need 2 taxis or a ride-hailing MPV for a family outing. At the same time, I am still enjoying spending time and being the 'Taxi Uncle' to my children when they are still young.
It is just an expensive price to pay for convenience.
With car ownership costs expected to go up even more in the future, owning a car in Singapore will truly become a luxury.
Another question that I gave my reasons is.. Will I continue to own a car when my children turn into young adults in a few years and I not have to ferry them around? My honest answer is...... probably not. If I continue working from home most of the time, why do I have to spend so much only for my car to gather dust in the carpark? I'd rather save more than $10k per year and do other things with it like investments and holidays.
How about you?
We are interested to know how much you are spending annually to own your car.
How does it compare with the estimates we have stated?
Also, are you prepared to give your car up in the 'new normal'?
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