Total Cost of Ownership

Current Version: 1.0 dated February 27, 2009

This worksheet helps you to estimate the Total Cost of Ownership for your motor vehicle over its lifespan. You should read the following post for more information:

• Can I afford a car? posted on February 28

You can download the file SMTotalCostOfOwnershipV10.xls (MS Excel format, 115 KB) from my Shared DropBox folder https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4kwkgarn1qw0bej/AAAd-NqSxLxoVw6g2u7WXL6Ta?dl=0

Fuel Consumption

This is now added as a tool after the frequent hits to the original post.

Here is the method to get a good estimate of your ride's actual fuel consumption:
Step 1. Fill your tank completely.
Step 2. Reset your trip meter.
Step 3. Drive till your fuel guage is low.
Step 4. Read your trip meter when you arrive at the pump for the refuel.
Step 5. Fill your tank completely.
Step 6. Write your distance travelled on your fuel receipt and you can compute the fuel consumption on the previous tank of petrol by dividing the distance travelled (km) with the volume of petrol added (l).
Step 7. Go to step 2.

You should do this continuously or at least several times in a cycle to get a good estimate because pump attendants practise personal approach to fill your tank - some rely on the auto-stop, some continue to add till the nearest dollar value, some continue to add to the brim, etc. The variability of the auto-stop also introduces some difference to the actual fuel added.

You can download the file SMFuelConsumptionV11.xls (MS Excel format, 136 KB) from my Shared DropBox folder https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4kwkgarn1qw0bej/AAAd-NqSxLxoVw6g2u7WXL6Ta?dl=0

Vehicle Registration Suffix

Current Version: 1.1 dated February 27, 2009

This worksheet helps you to compute the Suffix alphabet in the Vehicle Registration Plate. You should read the following post for more information:

• The Number Games

You can download the file SMVehicleRegistrationSuffixV11.xls (MS Excel format, 43 KB) from my Shared DropBox folder https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4kwkgarn1qw0bej/AAAd-NqSxLxoVw6g2u7WXL6Ta?dl=0

What about Vehicle Registration Prefix? Here is the listing from LTA.

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:

Private Settlement of Minor Accident

My colleague is an easy-going fellow and it is too bad that he was involved in a minor accident which he was at fault. Since the damages to both vehicles were not major, he offered and the other party accepted a private settlement. Both of them exchanged their personal particulars and he thought the inconvenience was over after his car was repaired.

When his insurance company called to inform of a claim against him for the accident, he was flabbergasted that the other party had not honoured the private settlement. He could not prove that the private settlement had taken place as they did not sign any agreement in black and white. It turned out to be an expensive lesson as his No Claim Bonus on his insurance premium was affected.

These days, our group are equipped with a private settlement form in our cars so as to prevent such an unpleasant experience from recurring. I like this one (130 kB PDF) better than the current A4-size form on Income website https://income.com.sg/forms/claims/.

Do be prepared as you do not know what kind of people you may bump into ... or conversely, may bump into you ....

Update - Effective June 1st 2008, the Motor Claims Framework (MCF) will require motorists to report the accident to the insurer within 24 hours or by the next working day regardless of any private settlement arrangement. Motorists may indicate in the report that a private settlement was reached.

Effective Interest Rate and Compound Interest Rate

Current Version: 1.2 dated December 9, 2008
This worksheet helps you to compute the effective interest rate and the compound interest rate for your motor loan. You should read the following post for more information:

• How to Compute Effective Interest Rate?

You can download the file SMEffectiveInterestRateV12.xls (MS Excel format, 290 KB) from my Shared DropBox folder https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4kwkgarn1qw0bej/AAAd-NqSxLxoVw6g2u7WXL6Ta?dl=0

Cash Rebate

Current Version: 1.1 dated March 11, 2007
This worksheet helps you to analyze the total cash outlay when you want to prematurely pay up the motor loan. You should read the following posts for more information:

• How attractive is Cash Rebate from Motor Loans?
• A Deep Dive into the Cash Rebate Scheme

You can download the file SMCashRebateV11.xls (MS Excel format, 153 KB) from my Shared DropBox folder https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4kwkgarn1qw0bej/AAAd-NqSxLxoVw6g2u7WXL6Ta?dl=0

Cost of Ownership

This worksheet helps you to compute the Cost of Ownership for your motor vehicle. You should read the following posts for more information:

• Cost of Ownership migrated over from my Wordpress blog
• When is your Ride Breaking-Even? migrated over from my Wordpress blog
• Costly Frequent Car Refresh? posted on August 3, 2007
• Financial Cost of Ownership for Used Car posted on January 7, 2008
• Overtrade for a New Ride? posted on June 15, 2008

There are two versions of the tool available in the DropBox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4kwkgarn1qw0bej/AAAd-NqSxLxoVw6g2u7WXL6Ta?dl=0

• Financial Cost of Ownership for New Car, Version 2.6 Release Date December 14, 2008 (MS Excel format, 118 KB).


• Financial Cost of Ownership for Used Car, Version 1.2 Release Date December 14, 2008 (MS Excel format, 118 KB).