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Carsharing vs Car ownership: Our secret guide to saving hundreds every month

12/10/2021

4.8 min read

Feature image credits: @yingxuantaan

Thinking of buying a car? We totally feel you. The accessibility to a car is not just a practical need — many things are made possible and much easier with the #FreedomToDrive. Whether you’re driving your partner out for a nice dinner, going on an adventure to explore new places, or fetching a family member for a routine checkup, the convenience and comfort of a car is something we can all appreciate.

PSA: Singapore is the world’s most expensive place to own a car 😱

However, with Singapore being the world’s most expensive place to buy and maintain a car, many are reconsidering the idea of car ownership due to the huge financial commitment. Not only would you have to bear the cost of maintenance fees, road tax, insurance, parking, you would also have to spend time on taking care of all these different car related-tasks.

So, let us help you break down the cost of owning a car in Singapore. In our example below, we will use the costs associated with owning a $70,000, 3-year-old Japanese car and driving it for 800km every month:

Vehicle depreciation	This is particularly high in Singapore due to government fees and taxes such as the COE, ARF, and custom duties. It’s as high as $10,000 a year for a new economy Japanese car. For our 3-year-old car, we will use an estimate of $9,000 a year, which is $750 a month.
Parking, Road Tax, & ERP	A typical HDB season parking lot costs $120 a month. Road tax is around $600 a year or $50 a month. In addition, if you travel during peak hours, ERP fees can be as high as $6. We will use $30 a month as an estimate. This totals up to $200 a month.
Insurance	The cost of insurance varies, depending on your driving experience and accident history. Let’s use $1,800 a year or $150 a month.
Maintenance	Maintenance cost depends on how much you drive. In our example, we will use $600 a year or $50 a month.
Petrol	800km of fuel will cost around $150 a month.
Interest (and downpayment)	Most people finance 70% of the car, and assuming a 3 year old car that costs $65,000, the monthly interest is about $100. This is after you fork out an upfront downpayment of $21,000!
Total cost of ownership and usage	~$1,400 monthly

Because of the high cost that comes with buying and maintaining a car, car owners may feel obligated to drive the car more to get their money’s worth — which will ultimately incur more variable costs such as petrol and maintenance fees. 😥

So, how do we escape this never-ending cycle?

Thankfully, with the rise of carsharing in Singapore, we now have other means of accessing a car without the financial commitment of owning one. 🚙✨

#LetsGetGo: A simple, flexible, accessible (or some say affordable) alternative to owning a car!

With GetGo, accessing a car is as easy as 1, 2, 3! It takes only 3 minutes to sign up and make your first booking – no deposit or membership fees required.

Simple

We cover the cost of season parking, insurance, maintenance, and even petrol, so you never have to worry about the responsibility and time spent on all car-related things (such as renewing season parking, road tax, insurance, car maintenance & etc.).

Simply pay for the amount of time and mileage driven – we’ll take care of the rest. 💪

Flexible

Instead of worrying about getting your money’s worth when buying a car, carsharing also allows you to have the flexibility of choosing how much you spend based on how long you use the car for. Bookings can be as short as 1 hour, and can even be made up to 30 days in advance!

Plus, you get to pick from a variety of car models for different occasions! Going to IKEA for a furniture haul? A spacious car like a Toyota Sienta would be perfect to fit your items. Looking to impress your date? Take them out on a romantic picnic — the boot of a Ssangyong Tivoli would be able to store all your picnic necessities! 🤩

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Accessible

With over 1,100 locations (and counting!), simply find a car near you and you’ll be able to enjoy the #FreedomToDrive. We’re always working on expanding our fleet, so if you have any location requests, you can submit them through our Location Request Form and we’ll do our best to get a car near you!

Save with carsharing

Remember our example above? We used 800km driven each month as an estimate for our calculations. If you were to drive with GetGo, that would be equivalent to around 20 typical GetGo trips, which would only cost you $700, saving you 50% off your driving needs! What’s more, if you drive less (for e.g., once a week), you would save even more money.

Conversely, $1,400 a month would allow you to drive for 4 hours and 50km daily with GetGo.

TL;DR:

Save 50% on average or more with carsharing.
Use carsharing unless you drive more than 1,600km every month.
Enjoy the #FreedomToDrive with GetGo Carsharing, at a fraction of the cost of ownership.

Looking for more alternatives to get access to a car? Check out our blog post on the difference between carsharing and car rental to find the best option for you!

If carsharing seems like something up your alley, check out our blog post on getting started with GetGo! You can also click on the video below to learn more about how GetGo works.