How Much Does a Tesla Cost in Singapore

Tesla, a company that manufactures electric cars and energy storage systems, is an American multinational corporation. Tesla’s products are electric and use lithium ion battery technology.

Tesla was founded in 2003 by Elon Musk with the goal of creating a sustainable transportation system. The company's first vehicle was the Tesla Roadster, which was the first production EV car to use lithium-ion battery cells and to be able to travel 200 miles on a single charge.

Tesla has been in business for more than 15 years now. They have had their fair share of ups and downs, but they are still one of the most innovative car companies in the world today.

Have been seeing lots of Teslas around Singapore lately.  So how much does a Tesla cost in Singpaore?

Tesla's Model Y is available in Singapore.  

Based on article in Jul 2022 - Model Y without COE:

1. $142,471 for rear-wheel drive version
2. $190,195 for all-wheel-drive Performance version

Model 3 without COE:

1. $114,655 for rear-wheel drive
2. $164,398 for all-wheel-drive

Car Ownership Cost in Singapore - Parking

Of the many car ownership costs in Singapore, the cost of parking probably varies the most.

How much does parking cost in Singapore? Well it really depends. 

Firstly, it depends on where you are staying. If you are staying in  landed property, there is zero parking costs involved. If you are stay in a condo/private apartment, probably no parking costs incurred too (if you keep within the limits of the number of cars).  

Car Insurance Money Saving Tips

If you drive a car, you will need car insurance or motor insurance. While there are many insurance companies out there, you will be amazed at the different quotes that each insurer will actually give you. Recently, I went to get some quotations to renew my insurance for my car and was surprised that the quotes given varied from $1200 to $1600. I spoke briefly to a general insurer and found out why these quotes vary. Here are some tips on how you can save on your car insurance.

Shop Around For the Cheapest Car Insurance

Each insurer will give different quotes due to different claims experience. Another reason why there are different quotes is also likely due to the fact that these companies have certain "quotas" on the number of vehicles of a certain model that they are willing to insure. For example, Insurance Company A might decide that the risk it can take for insuring Toyota cars is only maximum 1000 cars this year. As such, they might give high quotes especially when their quota is filled so as to price themselves out of the competition. So do shop around and get as many quotes as you can. You will be surprised at the different prices.

Increase Your Excess

Another method to reduce your car insurance is to actually increase your excess (simply put as the amount that you will have to pay first during an accident before you can claim any money from the insurance company). I learnt this trick from an insurance agent some time back. The intial quote I got then was around $1400 based on a $500 excess. By increasing my excess to $2000, I was able to get a quote that was cheaper. Of course, the reason why I was willing to take the extra risk was because I wasn't accident prone and I also had the means to pay the $2000 excess. Weighing the probability, I figured that the increase in excess was something that I could afford to risk.

Buy the Correct Car

Yes. You guessed it. Certain car brands/models are more expensive to insure than others. Generally, Toyotas will be cheaper to insure than a Honda or a Mitsubishi. This is due to the claims experience. Cars that are popular amongst younger male drivers tend to have a higher accident rate and thus will have a worst claims experience. Insurers will thus charge a higher cost for certain models and brands of car. If you want cheap car insurance, go for Toyota and Nissan. They are among the cheapest. Avoid Honda and Mitsubishi. If you are driving a sports car...Good Luck!


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Aston Martin V12 Vantage

Top Gear tests drives the Aston Martin V12 Vantage.  It goes from 0 to 60 miles in 4 seconds.  While it looks like the V8 Vantage, it is really a lot more powerful.

 

Overview for January 2012

The first month of 2012 is over.  January has been pretty uneventful for me except for quite a few large ticket items that I have spent on.  Passive income and dividends were $0 but I am expecting a bumper crop in the month of February since that will be when all the dividends from my REITs will most probably come in.

Expenditure wise, I have probably burnt some holes in my pocket from some large ticket items:

• Car Servicing.  Sent my car for servicing and maintenance during the weekend.  It was long overdue and so, since I was free, decided that it will be a good time to spruce the car up a bit.  The costs added up quite a fair bit - over $560++. That was for a 36 point check (normal servicing, don't ask me what the checks were), changing a new  battery, change of transmission oil and new wipers to go along with it.

• Term Insurance.  Just made annual payment of S$347.50 for my wife's coverage. Necessary expenditure but expensive nonetheless.

Investments wise:

• Invested in First REIT mainly for dividend income.  First REIT is listed on the Singapore stock exchange and holds hospitals and nursing homes in various countries.  It gives a quarterly distribution of around 1.9 cents per unit.
• Invested in Gamco Global Gold &Natural Resource Trust (GGN) - provides US$14 monthly dividends. Yet to receive the first batch of dividends for January since it usually takes some time before the cheque is posted.  Expecting this to come in for the month of Feb 2012.

Blogging wise:

• Started an ad campaign and have spent close to US$100 on advertisements and promotional costs for this site.  
• Also exploring new ways to generate content (either by hiring a freelance writer or through other means).

Some reasons not to buy a car

There are many good reasons to buy a car. Convenience is definitely one of them. Some might however view a car as a status symbol or fashion accessory. These are the people who are willing to splurge on a more expensive car. When one is thinking of buying car, the reasons that one can come up with are plentiful.

There are however also many reasons not to buy car. And I wished that someone had told me this before I bought my car.

A car is expensive to upkeep. For a fresh graduate working in Singapore, buying a car can easily cost you up to 1000 dollars per month. Do not be fooled by the monthly installments alone. You still have to take into account petrol, insurance, parking, repairs. And all these add up to easily 1k per month. Think about what you can do with 1k extra cash every month! Even if you do not save it, you can use it to go for a short holiday trip. That is a serious tradeoff you would like to consider.

A car is like a drug. Once u own a car, you will most probably be addicted to it and will keep on driving for the rest of your life. Driving is a habit that is hard to kick. And it is a very expensive habit to maintain.

People are not impressed by the car you drive. Stop thinking that people are going to be impressed by the car that you drive. Seriously, most people are not even envious and do not even take note if you change a new car. Spending so much money to impress people is also not worth it. You could use that money to treat them to expensive meals every month if you really want to impress them. That includes impressing potential girlfriends.

Time to Buy a Car?

With the recent announcement last Thursday that the number of COE available in Singapore will drop sharply, is it time to buy a car?

Afterall, if a person has $50,000 in spare cash now, he could easily afford a Jap car. After the rise in COE prices, he might not be able to afford the same car one or two years down the road.

The Straits Times reported that Singaporeans are most probably still not in a hurry to buy cars before the rise in COE prices as most will probably adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

The rush to buy cars will take place once people see that COE prices keep increasing. That is when the panic will set in.

Are you planning to buy a car in the near future? It might be wise to actually bring forward your decision now before COE prices rise.

Bus Trip Cost Only 91cents

I have been travelling on buses quite frequently recently and realised that bus fares are actually quite reasonable.

A single trip costs me only $0.91 . So a two way trip adds up to about $1.80. That is pretty affordable for my trips when I give tuition.

While travelling by car would be much faster, I get to save on the carparking. This adds up over the long haul.

It makes me wonder whether I should just sell my car away. Afterall, maintaining a car in Singapore is a costly thing to do. I reckon that it costs me about $1100 per month based on all the charges. Yikes!!!!

If you can resist the urge, you should not buy a car especially if you are single.

Think of all the things you can do with $1100 per month in EXTRA cash. You could literally eat at restaurants every single day.

Money and Marriage

I was reading the Straits Times today on Money and Marriage and how the writer felt that it takes two to tango.

He suggests couples could ask each other these questions:

1. Do you know what insurance policies or investments you have?
2. Do you have the ability to manage money well?
3. Do you have absolute trust in the other person?

Taking the cue from the author, I picked up a conversation with the wife regarding the remaining car loan that we had of $23K ++

I started off: "So we still have a car loan of $23K++"

Wife: "Yup, want me to pay off? I got money in my bank."

Me: "Chey..I also have."

Wife: "Then you pay la"

Me: "I am making my money work hard. So as long as I can earn more than the car loan interest rate, it does not make sense to pay it off. Your one is sitting in the bank and if it is not working harder than the car loan interest, then maybe should use it to pay off."

Wife: "Yah lor. That's why I say use my money to pay off"

Me: " But we can invest it to get better returns."

Wife: "Then you help me invest."

Me: " Of course I can, but it is better you participate. Two heads are better than one. Always good to have a second opinion to make my investment strategy better."

Wife: "My investment knowledge is zero... that's why I leave it in the bank. My brain is used for other things."

Me: ""

Wife: "I don't know la. My only financial goal is to make sure my bank account stays above $78K"

Me: "..............................."

S$90 Parking Per Month is Too Expensive

Parking at a covered multi-storey carpark costs me a whopping $90 a month!

I know that is not a lot of money to some of you out there but it is to me.

Considering that over 12 months, that adds up to be $1080... I can only imagine the kind of things that I can buy with that money. I could easily subscribe to StarHub HBO channel and stuff with money to spare!

Why do I need to pay for carparking when there is so much carparking space available?

Where does the money collected go to? To pay HDB to hire carpark attendants?

Why not give us free parking? Surely I am entitled to free parking at my "home" right? Unless you are telling me that it is not my home afterall.....

Shucks...I know I am getting nowhere with this ranting but just felt that I needed to let some hot air out regarding parking fees.

I know it is not expensive compared to other countries but other countries...people own their houses and park free of charge there. Why penalise me if land is scarce in Singapore? I live in a HDB. Surely that is enough? Aren't conservancy charges enough to cover whatever costs that is needed.

Paying $90 a month for parking is equivalent to $3 a day.... Can eat 1 pack of chicken rice everyday.

Anyone feels the same pain that I do?

Anyway, I wrote about the decline of the US dollar in this article over here and I really wish to hear some views (especially from those who are more experienced in this matter). Hope to see all the comments rolling in soon!

Buying a Car : The Hidden Costs

Buying a car is like cutting a hole in your wallet. The upfront downpayment for the car and the cost of monthly maintenance is seriously high.

Let's not talk about the monthly installments that one has to pay for the car loan. Let's just explore the cost of maintenance alone:

Road Tax ($700 to $1000)
Road tax that you pay depends on the type of car you are driving. In Singapore, expect to pay around $700 per year for a 1.6L car.
Carparking ($2400 - estimated $200 per month)

At the cheapest, car parking will cost you easily $200 per month. This includes parking for both work and home. If you work in town and drive there, the costs will be much more.

Motor Insurance ($500 to $1600)

This depends on a whole host of factors such as the age of driver, model of car and whether you have been involved in an accident before. One should expect to pay in the region of $800 to $1200 if you have never been involved in an accident. (See how you can save money on insurance)
Petrol ($3600 - estimated $300 per month)
This depends on how much you drive per week. But you can roughly expect to be filling up at the station every week. Depending on the grade of petrol that you pump, you can expect to pay $70 to $100 for a full tank.

Car Washing ($100)

Let's say you only wash your car like once a month, it will still cost you easily $100 per year.

Maintenace ($500)

Changing tyres, aircon filters, etc , etc.. Everything seems to need replacing after a few years. Expect to be paying up to $200 to $300 for each servicing trip you make.


THE HIDDEN COSTS

Adding up all these hidden costs, you will see that owning a car involves paying up to $8000 per year. This does not include your monthly installment payments and also other charges like ERP. That is close to 2 months salary for most people!!!

Good luck if you intend to buy a car anytime soon.

No Income Tax to Pay but must pay for Carpark

No Income Tax to Pay
Just finished filing my family's income tax.

After accounting for all the tax reliefs, rebates and stuff, my family has $0 in taxes to pay for the year! Perhaps its also because we don't earn that much in the first place.

Carparking
The only downside to the start of April 09 was the need to renew my carparking.

I renewed it for 3 months at a price of $270. Very expensive. That is equivalent to $3 a day!

Perhaps it is time to get a landed property so that I do not need to pay for parking.

Stock Purchases

Added 6,000 shares of Hongguo @0.125
Hope the bull market does not return too soon so that I can collect more stocks/REITs on the cheap.

P.S : To the team at SG Dividends, I have included a link to your site.

Cheers,
Financial Freedom

Spent $215 Servicing My Car

My car a Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6A was way overdue for servicing so I brought it to a workshop for servicing today.

It is still way under 80,000km and is only around 2.5 years old so rightfully I should have brought it back to the original distribute (Cycle & Carriage) for repairs/servicing as the 3 year warranty would be void if I went elsewhere.

Problem is: Cycle and Carriage servicing is abit slow and tends to be quite expensive.

So after asking around abit, I decided to go to one of the workshops which my friend uses. He said it was pretty cheap.

The total cost was $215 all inclusive and it took about 1.5 hrs. The works included:

1. Replacing engine oil - Voltronic semi synthetic oil 10W40
2. Replacing air filter
3. Replacing spark plugs - volker iridium (last for 2 years/160,000km)
4. A minor improvement to the dent on my bonnet. He tried "sucking" the dent out 3 times but it only got slightly better

Was it worth it?

A Jap Car In My Parking Lot is worth 2 Ferraris in Someone else's Parking Lot

It is amazing what all these bad news are doing to my mind (and of course my stock portfolio too).

The global financial crisis is making me afraid and I have been thinking of liquidating my portfolio. Surely the stock market will go lower and I can buy back all the stocks I own now at a better price..

This is so typical. When the stock market is good, I tell myself that I will wait for the crash to start buying into stocks. Now that the crash is here, I lack the guts to walk the talk and to continue buying stocks.

So.. I took a few days off blogging, a few days off thinking about investments, and asked myself this: "Am i addicted to money?" "Do I really want money so much?"

And the answer was " NO". I would rather spend my time with family and friends then be earning money or working. I would rather have a cheap Japanese car to drive NOW than to save up that money, invest it and be able to buy a Bugatti or Ferrari only 10-20 years down the road. As the proverb goes: " A jap car in my parking lot is worth 2 x Ferraris in someone else's parking lot." Why save up money that you can spend today?

So what should one do in this financial crisis?

Of course, the answer is to buy low sell high. That is the obvious answer, but do I have the guts to do it?

Should I spend $4000 to invest in stock that will give me 10 per cent yield per annum ($400 per annum) or should I just take that $4000 and spend it now? Why do I want to delay my gratification?

Hmmm.. stuff worth thinking about.....before i continue on my financial freedom journey..