Project: Total Cost of Ownership

There are many fellow motorists who may have bought a car without fully understanding the total cost of car ownership over its lifecycle. This project aims to develop a spreadsheet tool for buyers to get a clear illustration of total cost of ownership after entering parameters of the desired car and also having answered questions about the expected usage pattern.

The primary goal is to educate the buyer of the initial cash outlay and the running cost on a monthly basis over the ten years of the car's life span. The issue of affordability should be tackled confidently before one commits to such a big ticket item especially if the car is going to be financed with a stretched motor loan. Failure to keep up with the monthly loan instalments may lead to a painful repossession of the car by the finance company and also residual financial woes.

I want to apply good and fair methods to estimate the cost of fuel consumption, parking, maintenance, ERP charges, etc. I believe that many of you can provide good ideas and opinion on suggested methods to make the tool a comprehensive and creditable one. I am targetting to complete it by end 2007. Click here to the WordPress project site - the end product should look somewhat like this, with an instruction page and also an input page:

KPE Underground - Cool Flash

I received a "CD" from LTA today and is pleasantly surprised by the excellent marketing effort for the launch of KPE Underground - Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway. The "CD" is just a decal but the information pack is very nicely done.

The website www.kpeunderground.sg is even better - a full-feature flash website! The corny part is the MP3 songs that can be downloaded .... haha! I take my hat off to the Design team that put the project together. I will send the link to the Adobe newsletter team ...

COE Prediction - November 1st Bidding Exercise

Source: http://www.mycarforum.com/coe/coe.pl?cat=A

Category A COEs fell by about $4,500 - the price slashing by dealers will certainly attract buyers to refresh their cars although it was reported in the local papers that many owners are burdened with large outstanding loan from the surge in refreshes over the last few years and may not have the appetite to roll into another loan.

I was at Ngee Ann City on Saturday and visited the Motorimage roadshow featuring the launch of the 2008 Impreza - a hatch-back model with 4 different power plants - 1.5 Auto, 1.5 Manual, 2.0 S-GT Auto and 2.5 WRX Manual. One interesting fact was that the WRX's trunk space is shallower than the other models ... I wonder what lies beneath?

Was I tempted to book the WRX? You bet, but my wife's driving license is for class 3A. So, I can only choose an Automatic transmission car ... the S-GT looks appealing but I have committed to keep my reliable MPV for another few years. So what is the damage at the roadshow? Ha, just $14 to buy the Subaru bear for my little girl. My kids named all their soft toys so what did they decide on this one? Cross Subaru with Polar Bear and they agreed to name it Polaru!

Now, back to the COE prediction - another important factor that will influence the next bidding is TIME! There is a 3-week gap to the next exercise so orders will pile up and so will the eventual quota premium:

Prediction on October 22:
Category A: $16,000-17,000
Category B: $18,000-19,000

Verdict on November 7:
Category A: $16,839
Category B: $18,001

Wow! Spot ON.

Carrots for Giving Way to Buses

Oct 16 Straits Times: Give way, save others time

SBS Transit launched a campaign to encourage motorists to give way to buses exiting bus bays after a survey conducted over almost two years, found that the average waiting time for buses dropped by between 38 per cent and 80 per cent when motorists gave way. Land Transport Authority and SBS Transit officers will be handing out $10 petrol voucher to motorists who give way to buses exiting from bus bays during the campaign (ending December 15).

I was pleasantly surprised to find that carrots are being handed out this time compared to errant motorists being fined for obstructing in bus lane. It is usually during the peak hours that everyone is rushing and the willingness to give way is hard to cultivate. Will the LTA or SBS Transit officer stop the kind motorist on the spot? Hopefully not as that may cause more delays .....

There were earlier discussions to scrap bus bays since buses have to wait for the left lane to be clear before they can resume the journey - I strongly support this proposal because travel time is critical to those who use public transport. LTA has invested a lot of money, though I do not agree to a few of them such as:
1. Centre Divider in a bus bay - just to ensure that bus drivers pull in properly? It is too even narrow for any pedestrian to stand.
2. Concrete half-height posts to provide any vehicle from running up to the bus stop? It is an overkill just because of one or two accidents recorded. But I think the contractor who was awarded the job appreciated such a safety measure.

Motorists will just have to get used to being intermittently delayed on the left lane when a bus stops for passenger boarding or alighting. It is such a simple solution and the improved flow for public buses can easily be simulated through all the data that LTA collects to prove the case.

So, what are we waiting for?

COE Prediction - October 2nd Bidding Exercise

Source: http://www.mycarforum.com/coe/coe.pl?cat=A

Allthough the quota premium for Category A COEs has fallen by $942, I was surprised by the strong demand. The only driver of the demand that has crossed my mind as I reflected on my under-estimation is the Hari Raya holiday ... our Malay friends may have taken the opportunity to get a new car for their "New Year". I have read in the local papers that one dealer had set up a stall at Kampong Glam to sell cars beside others who were hawking festive ware and food.

My apology to the regular readers as I am quite late in posting the latest prediction; I was busy with work having spent the week at Kuala Lumpur. As I have not read our local papers for the week, I do not know of any notable news on motoring except for a major advertising campaign from Motor Image on the Subaru brand - is it the launch of the new Impreza model? If you have gone to see what the "queue" is about, please share with this blog. I may attempt to find out in the next few days.

My prediction for the latest bidding exercise that the quota premium will soften marginally.

Prediction on October 14:
Category A: $15,000-16,000
Category B: $16,000-17,000

Verdict on October 17:
Category A: $12,401
Category B: $17,589

Update on Oct 18: The hype at Motor Image is the annual Subaru Challenge! So who will have the stamina to last through the multi-days "palm on the car" race to emerge as the winners?