Smove Car sharing

Firstly, to clarify, this is not a sponsored post. Just want to share because i find it worthwhile. 

As with my previous post in March 2015 (view it here) , I never liked car sharing because of 2 main reasons, one - the limited free mileage and two - the need to return the vehicle to the same location.

Smove car sharing totally addressed this 2 issues spot on for me.

The company started out as with a pure electric car fleet before switching to the current fleet of hybrid Prius-Cs. Their system is simple. Pay a one-time fee of $19 (See how you can get a rebate to waive it off below) and start driving at $5 per 15 mins. No petrol or mileage or other hidden cost.

One of Smove Prius-C 

(Image taken from smove.sg)

So $20 per hour isn't exactly cheap...I hear you but it does offer you the flexibility of renting for less than an hour. Say half an hour or 2 hours 15 mins and you are really paying for the time you are in the car and not for time when the car is parked at the carpark.

I'll be honest with you, having joined a few previously, the above reason isn't enough to make me want to join another car sharing scheme. What's alluring me to join is this:

You can collect a car at a location and return it at another location. 

WOW! That makes sense for me. Let me tell you a place which I like to go but am always put off by taking public transport there > IKEA Alexandra. It's nowhere near a train station and for bus services only 2 comes from Redhill mrt and 1 comes from Queenstown mrt and they are not really frequent.

Now I can spend $5, take the car at Commonwealth MRT (one of their locations) and return it at Anchorpoint (another of their location). Then I just cross the road. I can even take up to 4 friends with me and I don't have to pay a single cent for parking. That's what I called flexible.

And, what's more I checked with Smove, as they are using very fuel efficient hybrid cars, the Prius C,

They does not have mileage limits on their cars

So no matter how far i drive,  my cost is fixed at $20 per hour.

Yes, I hear you say that how far can I drive in half an hour or an hour? But what about their 'package deals':

Weekdays (Mon till Fri): 10am to 5pm at $60. That's 7 hours for the price of 3 hours. 

Weeknights (Mon till Thu) 6:30pm to 8:30am at $40. Drive off from a station near your office and return next morning you come back to office.

On times like weekends starting from Friday nights and outside the above timings, it's still at an rather affordable $90 per 12 hours or $130 per 24 hours. Remember this is the actual amount you have to spend (except for ERP and carparks). No petrol cost, no hidden cost, no variable cost and comprehensive insurance is covered. 

Check them out their website at Smove.sg. Click on this link and get $20 credit from Smove while promotion lasts. That means its more than enough to offset the one time fee and there is no joining fee.

Something interesting - The whole time you have the car, there is no car key. To unlock the car, you simply tab your pre-registered EZlink card at the device next to the IU and the car will unlock itself. To lock, tab the card again. To end your trip, lock the car and send an SMS to Smove to end your booking.

Tab EZLink card to unlock and lock

(Image taken from smove.sg)

So far they have their locations mainly at the south-western side of Singapore but I was told that they will expand so we look forward to that.

COE Categorisation - is something wrong, LTA?

VW Passat with its 1390cc engine and 122bhp goes into Cat A

in the current LTA COE categorisation system. 

(Image credits to its owner)

CarBuyer Singapore ran this article on Sept 2 "How to 'fool' the LTA" on getting premium cars like Merc and BMW into mainstream 'Cat A' category.

Read:
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/fool-lta-143020130.html

Previously, LTA COE system only factor of consideration is the engine cc. Vehicle at and below 1600cc will fall under Category A while cars more than 1600cc will fall under Category B. Simple as that.

However,  due to improvement in technologies, large cars like VW Passat, Audi A4 all introduced smaller cc engine but with larger power output. Hence more cars can get into Cat A (Cat A price is usually lower) and benefit from the lower COE. LTA reacted to this and recently added an additional criteria - a car has to be equal or less than 1600cc AND equal or less than 130bhp in order to be classified under Cat A.

Yet, within the article car manufacturer Merc and BMW managed to 'fool' LTA by introducing lower cc lower output cars so that their cars are able to fit Cat A criteria once again. And we are taking about cars like Merc C-class and Volkswagen Passat, some are cars that goes head to head with Toyota Camry, a true 2.0litre and above sedan.

A large triggering factor to this trend will be that since manufacturer charge premium prices for their cars, they have the additional profits for the freeplay which could mean changing another engine to developing entirely a new model to suit the criteria, any criteria that LTA sets.

To make Cat A truly 'mainstream' and to have a fairer, LTA should go right into the heart of the question and categorise using the PRICE of the car. Price before COE or even OMV should be used to categories COE (and IMO, road tax as well). If a manufacturer wants to get into Cat A, it will have to drop its price to a certain level which due to the cost of premium cars, they are not likely nor have the motivation to do so unless COE goes sky high for Cat B and rock bottom for Cat A.

“More" COE...Really??

(Source: http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC120712-0000135/More-COEs-for-big-cars-for-next-6-months)

More COE for big cars for the next 6 months is the title of this article by today on 

12 Jul 2012.  Well, is it???

On reading further on the article, below are facts extracted from the above article: 

1239 - 786 = 453 (or 36.6%) reduction in small cars (Cat A) COE supply.

701 - 699 = 2 (or 0.29%) increase in big cars (Cat B) COE supply.

617 - 485 = 132 (or 21.4%) reduction in open category COE supply.

As mentioned in the article too, open category COE are mostly used for large cars.

So my question is why, since there is only 2 or 0.29% increase in COE for large car and likely a (now: 701+485) - (past: 699+617) = -131 >> net decrease in COE for large cars, is the article titled "More COE for big cars"? Even without taking the small car COE demand and supply into consideration, does it give you the impression that COE has presumably increased?   

With the small car category in the picture, it will be (now: 701+485+786) - (past: 699+617+1239) = -583 >> net decrease in COE supplies for car. 

Why do they not just say 'Fewer COE for Cars in the next 6 months'? Isn't that more accurate?  

<<<<Update 13 July 2012: 9.25am>>>>

(Image Source: Today FB page)

Maybe the people at TODAY heard me yesterday, they ran a front page article this morning truly reflecting the COE situation. While print media in Singapore tend to be slightly bias, my kudos to TODAY Papers for its stand to being as objective as possible in its report.

Things you may not know on COE and car ownerships

COE coupled together with import tax becomes a double 'tax' to all buyers. Additional Reg. Fee (or ARF) is 100% of open market value. So even before COE comes in, you are already paying double of what you should be paying. 

COE at $100k means you are paying $10k per year to the authorities. Five years ago, the only people who are paying $10k per year to the authorities are people who own and drives luxurious 5000cc or above cars. 

Singapore hot and humid weather condition contribute significantly to the decision of just sticking to the car no matter what. Because the car comes equipped with this amazing invention called AIR-CON. 

For the money spent A DAY on a $160k 2000cc car, say instalment + petrol + parking (55+20+5 = $80), 

you can: 

- Take public transport with the same amount of money for WHOLE work month based on $4 per day. 

- Dine in a decent restaurant, having decent buffet for 2 with the same amount of money,

- Treat at least 26 person to a $3 chicken rice in hawker centre

- Buy a low end printer or mobile phone, one month you can buy 30 phones or printers. 

- Take the whole family to Singapore flyer or other attractions

- Buy 240 packets of tissue paper from the 3 for $1 tissue auntie

- Feed a person (or family) in India for 66 days. (Not drive for 6 days, you can feed them for 1 year). Some people in India live on less than US$1 per day.

See the point. What's more, I am not talking about a high end high performance luxury or sports car. I am merely taking the figures from an average on-the0-road cars like Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Cefiro which you see many on the roads everyday.

Comments on Sky High COE

I had been reading with much interest the suggestions that people are giving in contrast to the sky-high COE prices today.

As time of writing this post, COE for CAT B 1600cc and above is at $91,000, just marginally shy of the $100k market.

One common suggestion that stands out is the reduce / modify / or even abolish the entire COE system and transfer the cost from owning a car to using a car. That is cars should be priced according to market forces and they should be no government intervention (apart from the import tax) to deter people from buying the car.

However, once the owner of the car drives the car say into town, he/she will need more charges than the current charges now. And since they are paying less in installments, they have a choice of spending the money saved to drive into town or save the money and choose an alternative form of transport.

Thus the rationale should be that the person who parked his/her car most of the time in the carpark should pay the least while the person who drives everyday, especially into congested area should be made to pay the most.

If you observed that people are shunning ERPs for $2 or $3 per time they pass through the gantry, I don't see why a higher charge will not deter the average motorists to drive into town and contribute to congestion.

In Singapore, a $120k (inclusive of COE) Toyota Vios depreciates around $40 a day. Adding up other fixed cost like insurance and road tax to average out to be about $5 per day, making it about $45 a day. Isn't this one significant reason why people cannot not drive each day as whether one drive or not, the $45 is still incurred (obviously you need to pay more than $45 when you drive as the variable costs comes in)
For the same car, less than $60k COE,  it becomes $20 depreciation a day, $25 with all fixed cost, doesn't this figure make it more feasible for one to leave the car at home the whole day or just use the car at night with the option to use the car whenever necessary?

I think that making people give up driving is a far more effective idea than making people giving up their cars. To many, if not all, there will be some occasions where you will need to drive, such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, family gatherings, even just to drive out for suppers etc. As these events happen mainly on weekends and public holidays, out of the peak hours and peak areas, they hardly cause serious congestions.

Another good suggestion that I want to highlight here is to ballot for COE. The argument is that now with the sky high prices, it only allows the rich people to buy 2 or 3 cars while depriving the privileges to those whom really need a car: E.g.: Parents with children or people with elderly parents or people who need to fetch people who are not-so-mobile.

This way, it is a fairer system which does not deprive one of owning a car when you need it

Steep COE prices: Balloting fairer and cheaper

IN THE light of the unhappiness over soaring certificate of entitlement (COE) prices of late, I question the wisdom behind the system of car ownership in Singapore.

The stated purpose of COEs is to limit car ownership and, hence, ease traffic congestion. The outcome has struggled to match the goal.

The high COE prices indicate that the system influences who buys a car - those who can afford it - more than it limits car numbers.

This is obvious from the fact that the Government has to intervene by reducing the annual vehicle growth rate to 0.5 per cent come August, from 1.5 per cent currently and 3 per cent before 2009. ('COE prices up because economy is doing well, says Lui'; Monday)

The number of cars sold can at most match the number of COEs available, regardless of the COE price. This means it is unnecessary to have a price beyond an administrative fee required to run the system, which is meant to control car ownership and not generate revenue.

If important aspects like housing and education can be subject to balloting, surely a system can be designed to ballot for cars.

In hindsight, the unintended knock-on effect of high COE prices outweighs its limited success so far.

For the convenience of owning a car, the average family is saddled with a debt of tens of thousands of dollars - money that can improve its quality of life in many other ways.

Most people pay for their cars in instalments, reducing personal savings and spending power over several years.

If they were to divert a part of that money towards retail, education, health care and such, that would surely do Singapore a lot more good.

Chan Tau Chou

(Taken on straitstimes.com, published 19 Apr 2012)

My comments: 

I agree. I think it makes sense rather than people spending unnecessary money just to buy a piece of paper which depreciates. There are many ways to control vehicle population rather than just making people Pay and Pay (sounds familiar...).Deterrence should also be implemented to people who have access to more than one car (although I believe identifying them will not be easy)

Also found and extracted this below passage from www.tremeritus.com which the writer has, I believe, very accurately described the current situation: 

"The main problem with the COE system it allocates a scarce resource based on a person’s ability to pay rather than his needs. A middle income parent who has to ferry his children to school and take his parents to hospital can be out-bidded by a multi-millionaires’s son who uses the car for dates and clubbing. The disadvantage of such a system is it causes an ever widening gap of unfulfilled demand among those with the greatest need for a car. In Singapore, where the income gap is so wide, over time more and more COEs will just go the rich rather than people who need it."

COE Prices

COE Prices has been climbing and climbing upwards.

It has basically been doubled and tripled and quadruplet.


A few years ago S$50k can buy you a decent car complete with COE.

A few months ago S$50K can merely just buy you the paper without the car.

Now and soon, S$50K cannot even buy you the piece of paper.

WTF??