Need Car buying advice!

SeraphimX SG

Hi all,

I am thinking of getting a car v soon. I am an NSF serving off his liability before going off overseas, hence I only need the car for 1-1.5 years.

Most people I speak too straight away tell me that buying 1st hand is a sound choice as opposed to second hand. I am not so convinced as I feel that depreciation decreases exponentially after the first year before reverting to a straight line depreciation of sorts. ie wouldn't buying a 2nd hand car mean that I would suffer less depreciation?

I don't want to splurge and so I am targetting for something cheap 30-50k...

*edit* looking at previous replies to other threads would also add these info..
-not my money, paying outright
-priority is F/C and Value for money

Would appreciate if the forumites can offer sound advice on these 2 issues.

1. 1st or 2nd hand
2. What car would be most economical to run, service and insure for a 23 year old (age is a concern for insurance no?)

I am not sure whether I should consider a parallel importer, their prices are much better but I have heard a lot of horror stories related to that (ie they wait for months until cannot get the coe)

Car must have the following prerequisites:

1. Preferably don't want Korean cars..., don't flame I have my reasons
2. Must be able to fit 5 ppl (not comfortably also acceptable)
3. Can fit 1-2 golf bags in the boot (at least 1)

Anyway I will be trawling the forums for more info, just thought I'd post this first to get some replies (kiasu a bit hor)

Thanks!

NB. also posted this on HWZ

LH83 SG

If priority is FC and value for money.. try a 2nd hand Honda Jazz/Fit… since you’re only going to use it for 1 to 1.5 years… not really worth getting a 1st hand… A one or two year old one should do fine..

T.Ryousuke SG

U travel alot? Now 1ltr petrol $2, 40L is $80, so consider this b4 wat car u buy.
Old car high depreciation -depand on age, car with higher OMV/COE cost more.

nightsky87 SG

Agree with LH83. Or if you want something slightly bigger but still have good FC and value for money, why not the Toyota Vios as well.

nOrmalbOi SG

Approx 2 yr old Toyota Vios or Honda City/Jazz would be more or less ideal in your case. 1st hand would prolly be out, you will lose a lot when you sell the car later on.

Since your going overseas in only 1-1.5 yrs, why not take cab for this time first? Come back then buy car?

n0x SG

dude.... a car depreciates exponentially for the first 3 years of its life..... the first year is not spared... so u absorbed the full blown effect of depreciation should u sell ur car after 1.5yrs...

so my advice is also to get a second hand car....

if u insists on getting a first hand car.. then this requirment along with ur other 3 prerequisites will not get u any other car within ur budget range...

u want to fit 5 pple with space for golf bags.. then u are left with sedans.... u do not want korean brands... so a cheap jap sedan is already beyond ur budget of 50k....

so either u compromise a bit or get a chinese sedan which i dun think u will want since u already ruled out korean cars....

ultimately i think u r better off taking cab everyday... u r not ready for a car... and dun put extra financial strain on ur family...

LH83 SG

Cab pricing also going up... My friend cabs around quite often and he's also considering getting a cheap 2nd hand car... might even be cheaper per day for him.. lol...

SeraphimX SG

Good advice all, thanks for all the comments, appreciate it! Regarding the petrol prices and car prices, I am well aware of it, financial strain and all, my original budget was actually quite a bit higher, but I since I am the only one using the car I felt that a lower budget was in order... And after trawling the forums for a while (a long while) I have sort of narrowed the choice to:

1. honda fit
2. toyota vios
3. nissan sunny
4. suzuki swift

all 2nd hand of course, you guys are right!

Regarding golf sets, max there will be 2 sets of clubs in it.

I would like to expand my questions further at this juncture...

Regarding all these cute little cars, I had a gander at sg carmart at it seems that the second hand values of these cars are quite high! A 2005 vios for 42k?? I thought they only cost 50k brand new sometime this year, and that was the new shape..

Are the prices a true reflection of value here or are we expected to bargain (I used to live in australia before coming back for NS and that's the way the used car market is over there)

Am I better off buying form an "owner" or a dealer??

LH83 SG

You can strike the sunny off your list… underpowered engine with a heavy body… it won’t be a very good drive.. FC also not as good as the fit..

nOrmalbOi SG

You can also strike the Swift off, unless you wanna put your 2 golf sets in the back seat.

Toyotas and Hondas tend to keep their value well in our local context. That, and dealers charge higher for them than normal. If you wanna get a "good buy", you need to trawl sgcarmart everyday. You also need to know what kinda tricks them dealers use to try to get you to part with a few dollars more. Basically you need to know your stuff.

nOrmalbOi SG

Was comparing that to the depreciation of a 1st hand car mah. I think take cab still cheaper than swallowing the depreciation of a 1st hand car. 2nd hand one, diff story lah!

Laughing

mystee SG

if i were u, i will get toyota vios.. cos when u gng to sell the car, the value is “higher”