SINGAPORE: A man in his 40s has found himself staring at Singapore’s car market in disbelief, wondering how anyone is still managing to afford a vehicle these days.
In a post on the r/singaporefi forum, he shared that his family does own a car, but it is already showing its age. The vehicle, bought back in 2018 for S$90,000, was largely paid for in cash and came with a huge helping hand from his father-in-law, who gifted it to the family.
Fast-forward to now, and the search for a replacement has left him shell-shocked. After browsing listings and crunching the numbers, he said the prices everywhere felt wildly out of reach, even for households that are doing relatively well on paper.
“Everywhere I turn, the prices are just ridiculous,” he said. “After doing some calculations, we simply can’t afford it, even though our combined income is at the HDB ceiling already. I thought of doing some of those 0 downpayment, driveaway deals. But the monthly payments are INSANE. We have to pay for ABCDEFG, tuition, bills, etc… There’s nothing left to pay for car.”
He then asked the online community, “How do y’all afford a car in SG on a regular white collar salary? It’s like a mystery to me.”
“Don’t worry, most people are like you.”
In the comments, many users chimed in to say the man’s struggle felt painfully familiar.
One person shared their own situation: “Can’t do it lol. Two kiddos. Probably about the same household income as yours. Just use Grab Family, Gojek Family, or CDG to travel to further places. If it’s relatively near, use public transport. Young kiddo tuition and enrichment classes easily cost around 1k per kid. Two kiddos = one car.”
Another told him not to stress too much, as most people are probably in the same boat: “Don’t worry, most people are like you. Car expiring liao, cannot afford to get a new one. Or buy one with one year left, hoping the price drops next year. The truth is, unless your salary has increased as much as car prices from 2018 until now, you probably cannot afford it anymore.”
A third user agreed, writing: “A lot of people who bought their cars in 2018-2020 pretty much accepted that they won’t be getting a new one once coe ends.”
A fourth, meanwhile, advised, “If you have a household income of S$14k but you have no spare cash, it sounds like you’re overspending every month or you just have many kids. Best to downpay as much as possible or full cash, that way you’re left with just parking, road tax, petrol, etc. to pay for.”
As for how some people are still affording cars today, one user said, “Simple. Either they’re filthy rich (or family), they work hard and scrimp and save for one, or they get into debt trying to look rich.”
In other news, a computer science graduate has turned to Reddit to crowdsource insights on how other job seekers are coping in today’s job market.
In a post shared on Tuesday (Feb 3), the graduate opened up about his own struggles, saying he has been searching for work for the past eight months. During two of those months, he said he did not receive a single response from employers, describing the experience as “pure radio silence.”
