I Could Car-less

Julie sold her car in California last weekend.  We gave away our 19-year-old SUV (with only 120k miles) to the daughter of friends and who also who grew up with Patrick.  (When her dad texted her to see if she was interested in the car, she asked “Is that the same one we used for field trips in elementary school?  The answer was “Yes”.)  We have one car left, “The Village Truck”, a 21-year-old Ford Ranger with only 60k miles—and that one we are “donating” to The Village to care for.

So in a couple of weeks I will be, for the first time in 42 years, car-less.  And I can’t wait.  People who know only a little about Singapore have asked “Are you going to have a car there?”.  NO!  Let me tell you why.

The major reason is that there is no reason.  The transportation system here is wonderful.  MTR trains and busses go everywhere with new, clean, and cool equipment.  And very cheaply.  My train ride to work is S$0.77 (about $0.50 USD).  Compared to what a similar ride would cost in in San Francisco and you realize what a deal it is.  And if you want to go by car, a “chauffeured”   Grab Car is only a few minutes away (from my current apartment it is about $8 USD to get to work--about 12 minute drive).  Driving would also mean learning to drive on the left in an urban setting, something that I would not want to do on a regular basis.

It would also be damn expensive.  Let me list the requirements and costs to showhow expensive it would be.

1.       You need a Certificate of Entitlement to be able to just buy/own a car.  These are used to limit the number of cars in the country.  The last auction they went for S$52,000 and are good for 10 years.

2.       Cars are expensive here.  One of the most popular cards here is the Honda HR-V, noting fancy, that sells for S$113,000—UGH!

So that translates into ~$119,000 USD just for the car (and the right to have a car)

3.       Road Tax—about S$700/year

4.       Insurance – About S$1300/year

Plus gas, repairs, etc.  And you can’t have a car older than 10 years old in Singapore.  So no car for us—AND I LOVE IT!