Cars - High Margin Business

Date:  May 25, 2013

We switch the new car plate to the old car.  And we say good bye to her.  She will not go far, as she will be driven by my sister. :)

We bought this car when my wife is carrying Jay Jay.  So, it is slightly more than 7 years old.  So, it is time for my wife to change car.

Today, I am going to share a story about the COE in Singapore and the car dealers.

So, few weeks ago, when the government decided to change the law of owning a car, I placed an order to a new car.

Thinking that the COE will drop tremendously after the first 10 weeks after the announcement.

So, AutoFrance was offering a non-guarantee COE of S$48,000 for the new car.  So, I told him, NO, I want to have the non-guarantee COE of S$40,000 instead.  So, they granted me that, so, I placed S$5K for the deposit, and wait.

And guess what?  The COE did not drop at all.

We are not in a hurry to get a car, so we can wait.  So, it is a waiting game.  If we cannot get the COE < 40K, then, we will drive the old car for another 3 years until 10 years. 

So, two weeks ago, the Open Categories for cars < 1600CC is S$62,301.  

You look at this latest COE, it went up again to S$66,701.

 

So, after 4 rounds of failed COE.  The 5th round COE is at S$62,301 (May 13).  AutoFrance called me, and asked if I would like to get the car if I can top up S$5K.  I make a simple calculation.

   S$62,301 - S$40,000 (the agreed COE) - S$5,000 (the top up) = S$62,301 - S$45,000 = S$17,301 savings on the COE.

So, my questions is how much margin more that the car dealer actually made???

If any time, they can agreed to my S$45,000 COE while the actual COE is S$62,301, and yet, is it not they are losing S$17,301 of margin?

Yet, if they agree to the price to sell me the car at that price, they must make a lot too.

So I did a quick check.

The OMV (Open Market Value?) is about S$23,972.  So, they have to pay government import tax and so on.  

I bought the car at S$127,000 (after the $5K top up).  So, you can roughly guess and have an idea of how much these car dealers will make.  :)

Anyway.  I got the car.

Say hello to my 5th Peugeot???  

I change the car plate to have all my kids name on it.  They are happy.  Remember, you can ask your car dealer to change it.  What for to advertise AutoFrance for them.  hahaha 

And of course, my wife is happy!