Yushui Village in Lijiang, Yunnan, with snow mountain backdrop and cascading waterfalls.
2/01/2007
Car collection - A new heartlander's hobby
Car collection - A new heartlander's hobby
When COE prices shot to the sky, Singaporeans bemoaned the high prices of cars and the inability to own one. So the govt changes tact and allow COE prices to fall so that more Singaporeans can now afford to own their cars. What a great relief. Now all the heartlanders are scrambling to buy cars.
For heartlanders who work in town, the privilege of driving to work is $500 a month, including parking, ERP and petrol. And this excludes parking in HDB car park, additional parking in shopping centres etc, monthly instalment, insurance, maintenance, summons...
What could happen is that many will buy a car to appreciate on weekends, cleaning it and sitting inside the car in the car park to listen to radio. Taking the car out for a spin is not going to be cheap. HDB carparks can be turned into a car hobbyist playground to meet up with other car owners for chit chat and admiring all the brand new and hardly used cars.
Are you jealous Redbean? Are you begrudging a little joy in the hardlanders' lives? The economy is good, so why can't you be compassionate and allow the hardlanders to enjoy a little creature comfort and show off in a small way?
ReplyDeleteAnon above, if you don't already know, this loser spends all his time turning anything positive into a negative.
ReplyDeleteam i jealous? there are 3 cars in my family.
ReplyDeletewith my income i can even afford to pay you to do nothing.
Yeah, right. On the internet, you can pretend to have anything. Big deal.
ReplyDeletelet me guess, your salary is $1,400 or $1,600 pm? with that kind of pay, if you call me ah kong i may consider giving you for free. and no need to waste time here. you can then go and take up a more respectable job that will give you more self respect as a human being.
ReplyDeleteYou may have 3 cars in your family. what does that prove? you may be earning more than me but you must not look down on ppl from the hardlands. you may be in a landedproperty but what is wrong with being in the hdb carpark? wah redbean, you are beginning to be a snob. maybe soon you will tell us to get out of your uncaring elite face.
ReplyDeletewhen i talk down to people, they deserve it. look at all my posts here to all the bloggers, i welcome everyone without being rude to anyone.
ReplyDeleteonly people are rude to me.
In any high density city, car ownership is expensive. That's logical, since land is priced at a premium. S'pore is different in a way, because of the high taxes levied on car owners.
ReplyDeleteEverytime I've moved to Hotel Singapore, I resist the urge to buy a set of wheels. Instead of living far away from work, I choose to live close by — no more than 20mins away.
I don't miss driving at all in Hotel Singapore. In Oz I drive 30-50,000Km a year — mainly because distances are FAR. And of course car ownership is considerably cheaper because land is abundant.
The average working person owning a car is paying a lot in tax, and many take out car loans — most of the cases the money borrowed is substantial.
Still, if not for a vibrant economy, lowered taxes, and cheaper cars (thank you once again China), ordinary working folk could not afford private vehicles.
"A Rising tide floats all boats" The situation you've described is the free market at work. You know the market is doing its job when the "middle/working class" have increased wealth and standard of living.
Regardless, I still won't buy a car in S'pore — because I do just fine without one. And I like to keep my tax rate as low as possible. If I don't, it is hardly worth my while visiting Hotel Singapore. I may as well stay in Oz.
i am thinking of switching to an opc. no need to waste money parking in town, erps, and petrol.
ReplyDelete