Re: alfa-digest V6 #28

[Johnny <johnquek@sni.com.sg>]

> Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 10:51:59 +0100
> From: Kai Pijpstra <kaip@rcg.nl>
> Subject: A whine about Bezine prices and taxes.
>
> Fellow Alfisti,=20
>
> A friend came back from a visit to Australia a couple of days ago and
> brougt me a fluoresent boomerang. We discussed the Differences of living
> there and here in Holland. He liked the "Relaxed" Australians and to his
> surprise driving on the wrong side off the road was fun too. But when he
> mentioned benzine prices=85 I immediately was tempted to immigrate, 70 Aussi=
> e
> Cents for a liter!=20
> One Australian Dollar is about 1.3 Dutch Guilder so one liter is about 90
> Dutch cents !! (In US Currency this is about 45 Cents). One liter of
> Unleaded costs almost 2.2 Guilder here in The Netherlands (=3DUS$1.1).=20
>
> Taxes in Holland are a function of weight, fuel-type and regional upcosts.=
> =20
> My 75TS weighs about 1200Kg and running on normal petrol the tax would be
> about 280 Guilders every 3 Months. My car runs on "gas" which only costs
> about 60 Dutch cents per liter, but tax is 510 Guilders every 3 months!=20
> Still, running on "gas" is cheaper. You only have to drive more K's to
> reach the break-even point. It also helps that the car is less economic on
> "gas".
>
> Now, try to imagine having more than one car in The Netherlands..
> You bloody foreigners are soo lucky !!
>
> Kai
> 75TS
>
> ------------------------------

Since Kai brought up this issue, would like to let you guys know how expensive it is to own a car in Singapore, the 'FINE' city.

Firstly, before you can buy a car, you'll have to bid for a Certificate Of Entitlement (C.O.E) in order to buy a car. The govt. implement this to control the number of newly register cars on the road. Every month the govt will decided on how many C.O.E to be released and each C.O.E is valid for only 10-years and you must register the new car/vehicle within 3 months after a sucessful bidding. After 10 years, you can extend for another 5 or 10 years base on average of 12 months bidding prices, else you'll have to scrape or export the car. The car dealers will do the bidding work for you and will package theirs cars together with the bidding price.

The C.O.E is divided into 7 categories:
1) Small cars:         1000cc & less
2) Medium cars:     1001 to 1600cc & Taxis
3) Large cars:        1601 to 2000cc
4) Luxury cars:      2001 & above
5) Goods vehicles & buses
6) Motorcycles
7) Open categories

You'll have to bid in the category base on the type of vehicle you want or you can bid under open categories which can be use for all type of vehicle and is also ownership transferable.
Sucessful bidding prices for cars (cat 1 to 4) for the past 12 months is from as low of S$50.00 to S$76,000.00. Open cat from S$36,000.00 to S$76,000.00. Most of the sucessful bidding prices is more then 2 times the price of the car prior to import tax.

Taxes:

1) Import or custom tax for cars is at 150% on the base price of the car (the price the Dealers pay to the Manufacturers). It was at 175% before the implementation of the C.O.E.

2) Petrol (98 Octane unleaded) is about S$1.20

3) Road tax per year is also divided into catergories:

    1000cc & less is at        S$0.70 per cc
    1001 to 1600cc   at        S$0.90 per cc
    1601 to 2000cc   at        S$1.05 per cc
    2001 to 3000cc   at        S$1.25 per cc
    3000cc & above at        S$1.75 per cc

So for this month if I were to buy a 146 2.0 ti, it will cost me S$136,000.00 on the road with a vaild 1/2 year road tax (excluding insurance) and a C.O.E. As for Spider 2.0 16V, it is S$176,000.00. Road tax per year is at $2068.50 (base on 1970cc) for both cars.

Others, - BMW 328iA will be S$203,000.00 excluding the C.O.E. & insurance,
              road tax at S$3491.25 per year.
            - Porsche Boxster at S$293,800.00 excluding the C.O.E. & insurance,
              road tax at S$3100.00 per year.
            - Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe at S$503,000.00 excluding the C.O.E. & insurance,
              road tax at S$6300.00 per year.

Beside all this, there are car park fees from S$0.90 to S$2.00 per hour for hourly and S$60.00 to S$200.00 per monthly depending on locality. S$2.00 to S$3.00 to enter the Central Business District during the day & S$2.00 to use the Highway.

So, only the very rich in Singapore can afford more than 1 cars.

Sorry for the long mail!!

Johnny Quek, Singapore

90' 33 Boxer 16V