The Singapore Motorshow 2017 is happening from 12 – 15 January 2017 at Levels 3 and 4, Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre. Ticket price ranges from $6 to $10. More information can be found on their official website.
Here, Geeky Auntie presents 5 main tips on buying your new car during the motorshow.
Do proper due diligence of the trade in value of your old car
Car dealers have a tendency to price your old car much lower than what is actually worth. Hence, make sure you go prepared by finding out the estimated trade-in value of your old car first. You can do so by getting quotes from car showrooms or second hand dealers beforehand. In addition, do not discuss the trade-in value of your old car early with the salesperson until you have settled the price of the new car.
The packaged price is still negotiable
Car dealers typically sell cars with packaged price and claim that these are non-negotiable. I visited the Toyota, Mazda and Honda showroom last week and realized that while the packaged prices were already stated on the brochure, the salesperson was still able to shave off a few hundred dollars – only if you put in the extra effort to negotiate.
Ask for freebies if you are unable to negotiate on the price
Salespersons are willing to throw in freebies such as solar window films, front and back car dash cameras (with powerbank to continue recording when car is stationary), reverse sensors and even petrol vouchers.
Be clear on the cost price of the new car
There are 5 major components that make up the cost of a new car. They are Certificate of Entitlement (“COE”), Open Market Value (“OMV”), the Additional Registration Fee (“ARF”), Excise Duty and Goods and Service taxes (“GST”).
COE: Certificate of Entitlement represents the right to vehicle ownership for tenor of 10 years. For the last bidding in Dec 2016, the COE prices are SGD49,751 for small cars (engine size 1,600cc and below) and SGD51,109 for large cars (engine size above 1,600cc).
OMV: OMV takes into consideration the purchase price, freight, insurance and other miscellaneous cost incurred during the sale and delivery of the car from the country of manufacture to Singapore. The OMV for cars sold by parallel importers may differ from local authorised distributors. You are able to estimate the OMV of any car on LTA website here.
ARF: This fee is a percentage-based tiered rate that increases with the OMV of the car. ARF is 100% of OMV for the first $20,000 of OMV, 140% of incremental OMV for the next $30,000 of OMV, and 180% of incremental OMV for OMV above $50,000.
Excise Duty: This is 20% of the OMV.
GST: 7% of the OMV and Excise Duty
These cost components are also explained on LTA’s One Motoring website here.
Before you crack your head to add your sums, I present you this super useful guide on LTA website. The PDF details the breakdown of 283 car models and their respective cost components as of Nov 2016. You are even able to determine the cost to the dealers and their respective selling prices. If I were you, I will print this out for reference before the motorshow!
Be prepared to walk away
Listen to a few dealers pitch before committing yourself and be prepared to walk away if you are uncomfortable. Dealers can also profit from marking up the interest rates for financing of the car. Mazda quoted me 2.38% p.a. for financing of 7-year car loan, while Honda and Toyota quoted 2.18% p.a. for the same tenor at their showrooms. Remember, there is no such thing as too good a deal to walk away from.
Good luck in finding your dream car at the motorshow!