Nowadays, when you de-registered a car in Singapore, The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will give you the PARF/COE rebate for you to either sell to a dealer or use to off-set your new car. In an effort to get people to give up his or her car, Transport Minister Raymond Lim said today that the LTA to work on a study with the Finance Ministry to see if the PARF/COE rebates can be given out in cash instead.
If the idea is to get people to give up their car, you can forget about this idea! Can someone tell me how would giving cash get a motorist to give up his car? What is to stop the motorist from using the cash rebate to buy another vehicle?
If you really are interested in lowering the car population in Singapore, here's a suggestion: "Increased the cost of owning and maintaining a car." In money-minded Singapore, taking money from Singaporeans' pocket is the best way to lower the car population. Increase Road Tax, increase parking prices, and there will be a drop in the population.
That's what the government should be doing.
5 comments:
Dear Ghost,
The answer to your question is simple, i.e., so that people can say they can afford to own a car. Owning a car is a symbol of well-to-do in Singapore, so people wants it. So to keep people happy, it is never wise to put the bar to own a car too high. However, it is fine to raise the cost of using a car, e.g. high parking fee, and ERP everywhere. As for the cash back, I guess sometimes people do want to let go of the idea of having car, so it is helpful.
"The answer to your question is simple, i.e., so that people can say they can afford to own a car. Owning a car is a symbol of well-to-do in Singapore, so people wants it."
I disagree. Cars also got so many types. Owning a Cherry QQ or Hyundai is hardly a symbol of well-to-do. So actually the real reason why people want to own cars is the convenience over public transport. Singapore's public transport is nowhere near world class and is overpriced.
I see that all comments so far has agree on one thing...this idea of cash rebate will not work!
The PARF/COE rebate can ONLY be used to buy another car - if you want to get cash, you will be penalized by dealers who will take a margin from the value. The only way to realize the full value of the rebate is to apply it against the purchase of another car!
As someone who gave up his car recently, a direct cash back is definitely more useful that the rebate.
Yes, but the question still remain doesn't it: "What's to stop someone from using the direct cash back to buy a new car?" In fact, I think that with more cash on hand, the owner will buy a bigger car than he otherwise would. Would that not be worse than it is now?
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