In Singapore, owning a car can get really expensive, yet, most people still decide to buy a car due to the status and perceived convenience that it brings. Have you ever wondered if it's really worth the investment, or if it's more worthwhile to just take a taxi wherever you go?
Well, here are some estimates...
Buying a Small Car
Assuming the purchase price of your car (maybe a Mazda 2, 1.5ltr) is about $100,000, of which the Open Market Value of the car is $17,000. This would mean that the scrap value of the car is $17k x 0.8 = $13.6k
The difference between your purchase price and scrap value (assuming you would not do a resale) is $86,400 which would be depreciated across 10 years ($8.64k each year), thus resulting in a monthly depreciation (or cost) of $720.
With your car, you'll most probably send it for servicing about four times a year spending at least about $100 each time to replace stuff such as brake pads, tires, windscreen wipers, battery, etc. That works out to an additional average of $33 a month.
To prevent your car from becoming a piece of junk, you spend $7 a week getting someone to wash it.
Assuming you don't stay too far from work (14.8km), and that you never have your engine idling while looking for parking, you'll spend at least $37.49 on petrol a week, averaging $150 a month.
Insurance is about $2.1k a year, about $175.00 a month, ERP (road pricing) at $30 a month ($7.5 a week).
Road Tax at about $57 a month ($683 a year).
Thus, summing up the numbers
$720 (car) + $33 (maintenance) + $28 (car wash) + $150 (petrol) + $156(parking) + $175 (insurance) + $30 (ERP) + $57 (road tax) = $1350 (per month)
Annually, you're indirectly paying about $16,200, resulting in the total cost of ownership to be estimated pretty conservatively at $162,000.
Taxi
Assuming you take a taxi to and from work every single day, during the peak hour, for the same distance you would if you have driven, and being too lazy to flag down a cab, you place a phone booking every single time you need a cab, Taxi Fare Calculator estimates that you'll spend about $26.50 a trip.
With an average of 21 working days a month, you'll end up spending $26.50 x 21 x 2 (two ways) = $1,113 monthly, working up to $13,356 annually, ultimately paying $133,560 over ten years.
Conclusion
Even though I was especially conservative with estimating car costs, and decently liberal regarding hiring a taxi, you can still save about $28.5k by taking a cab.
Of course you can argue that cars provide a different level of convenience, but I think that is quickly negated considering how hard it is to find parking, and considering the amount of stress required to navigate though traffic while you could be snoozing in a cab, or prepping for your next activity.
However, getting a cab sometimes require planning and patience, but seriously, the level of convenience is almost similar to having a dedicated driver. So, what's to lose? I'm sticking to public transport.