How much must a couple earn to maintain car and maid

poohbear80

New Member
My hubby and I just got married last mth. We are thinking of buying a car. How much must a couple earn in order to own a car? I have also a maid too to take care of my sick father. Her salary + levy + needs already cost abt $800 a month.

We wanted a car cos its easily for us to travel around and for my dad when we bring him out.

Any couple out there has a maid and a car to maintain. Both of us are working but combine salary is about 4k only.

We have already a house which i co-bought with my dad so house is not an issue to us.
 


yewee

Member
Mantainace some time case alot also. I just bought a car and hear that every car after 2 years need to change the Tyres. If you are driving a auto car, every 4 - 5 years you need to change the auto gear box.
 

wjchiang

Member
Consider getting an old car. There are some 15-16 year olds with a few more years to go and u can pick them up at around $7-8k. After u've shopped around a bit, pay a mechanic 50 bucks to go with u for your final viewing to reduce the chance of picking up a lemon.

u'll be paying higher road tax on cars more than 10 years of age. Insurance may be lower since most ins co. will only cover 3rd party, fire and theft for cars this old. Some people are of the opinion that old cars = expensive maintenance, this may not be true, depends on what u pick. If u work out the numbers, it's probably still cheaper to drive these old cars compared to depreciation on newer ones.
 

alcifertoh

New Member
Yep if the sums worked out is still heavy, alternatively wise can consider red plates or even chartering a taxi if you wish to bring your dad out. Working out the cost will still be cheaper. Sometimes, the parking at some places for a few hours is equivilent to one way cab ride.
 

maisie

New Member
erm, not so sure but i believe you will have rebate if the maid is to look after elderly at home??

car you have to consider parking and ERP charges..off peak car is cheaper but you have to work out the period which you will be driving..
parking in a multi storey carpark costs abt $90 and cheaper at open space carpark at your house monthly..
Maintenance of a Car: Servicing, road tax, insurance, erp charges, parking charges, petrol, MISC..
Maintenance of a maid: Salary, levy, her expenses (food & shower foam etc)...
Depends on what kind of employer you are also...if ur maid eats wad u eat in a restaurant, it will be expensive....some employers get their maid to have their cheap meal at home and when the family is at the restaurant, the maid wont get to eat...
 

alcifertoh

New Member
Personally I respect the maid as another human and also part of the family staying together. So the employer should cover her for the living expenses on top of her salary be it necessities or medical. So that would work out roughly around 800 to 1k (Mark up) per month. I always like to mark up than marking down.

Coming to cars yeah theres alot of variables to consider. Those that are more fix would be the monthly parking, servicing, installments, road tax and insurance.

Variables are those parking coupons you tear, erps, and other parkings. A $50 dollar cash card top up last us slightly more than 2 weeks. And I don't frequent town. SM had bundled in the breakdown for you.

Petrol wise depends on how often you would drive. And maybe incidental expenses like summons or speeding tickets hahaha.

TS you have mentioned that your father is sick. Is his medical bills already comfortably taken care off?
 

simpleman

Active Member
1K for car is really not much.. it is conservative..

1.7K for car + maid is really min.. you can buffer a little more to be comfortable.

For my maid, I am paying 600 plus (with subsidy for maid levy) so I round up to 700. It could be 800 for other people.

But with 4k income, it is really tight cos almost half your income will go to maid + car.
 

alcifertoh

New Member
Yep, hence I am more concern with TS's lifestyle expenses if had been properly taken care of and the elderly's medical expenses as healthcare is not cheap. Has to evaluate carefully and be prepared for any sudden need.
 

powder

Active Member
strawberry,

highly suggest u try rental or via co-op for now. your income level and commitments does not allow for having a car without some form of belt tightening and struggling...

it's always nice to have a car, definitely nice... but this Want has to be explored. if really want, then be disciplined and get a really cheap one... just for the ownership... ignore all appeals for e nicer better looking car and just go basic... of cos in this case, rental/co-ops might give u an idea of the costs involved.

u can also try wj's suggestion for those coe-cars with maybe 1-2yrs to go...
 

pink_sapphire

New Member
Car monthly - $1000 + $200(carpark on outgoings and ERP) + $100(for extra things like servicing etc) = $1300 (conservative amount) for a normal 1.6L car

maid - $800

with 4K salary u r left with 1900K
1900K for below:
ulities = about $250
makan =about $500 that is if u guys dun eat gd food
Carpark for office = ?? (free) ??
your dad medical bills = ??
insurance = if u hav any ?

Is your 4K salary take home pay or before deducting CPF ?
 

pink_sapphire

New Member
your question " How much must a couple earn in order to own a car?" varies among indivdiuals. It depends on your financial commitments , personal lifestyle expenses. Perhaps u might wanna first work out how much are your existing monthly expenses first and see wat u have left after that (reverse engineering)
 

tomasulu

Member
just because you can doesn't mean you should. important thing now is to save a little nest egg for those proverbial rainy days.
 

powder

Active Member
strawberry,

this one abit heart-decision, it's a want... BUT instead of getting a car based on what u can now... it would be better to Set a target to have a total household income of X-amount before u can get a 50k car or something like that. a car can be a form of motivation to do better in terms of income, BUT in many instances many pple just give in to their Wants, and end up living poorly in order to hold on to their cars...

even assuming a modest Instalment of $600... u have monthly ERP $50, home parking $90, Office parking $300 (shenton), outside parking $50, petrol+carwash $200... And broken down to monthly - Insurance $150, Maintenance $50, road tax $80... that's extra 1k liao... so total Realistic figure is $1.6k. even if u dun park at shenton, u can knock off $200 and it'll still be $1.4k... tyres if u stretch to change every 2yrs will cost u $500, battery $140 etc etc... u need at least a take home of 6k to be comfortable owning a 1.6litre 50k car.

anyway now is a bad time to buy a car... the prices are inflated again... so much so that the car i bought in jan this year, can be sold at 3k above wat i paid for it.

i HIGHLY suggest u dun buy now, wait for abit first... u know some 2nd hand cars - the price has risen by as much as 10-15k compared with Q1 this year.

seriously, rent or join a co-op first... the joy of owning a car might wear off very fast if u are struggling to keep it. the novelty also wears off once u have maintenance issues that cost u $1-1.5k each time.

hope u think twice...
 

alcifertoh

New Member
Not to mention... later suay suay accident... Touchwood but possible. You knock ppl or ppl knock you. Back then in schooling days the in thing was Bike and I had a friend who bought one with his marginal financial health.

Then kenna accident. Ended up parking it there without spare cash to repair.
 

winningeleven

New Member
The cost of owning a car is at least $1000.

Per month break down for a rough guide.
Petrol = $250
Car park at HDB = $90
Maintenance = $50
Road Tax $60
Insurance = $150.

Already $600,let say minus with lesser insurance cost and petrol,u still need at least $500 for it and till now ,we are not including ERP, misc car park coupon parking and the instalment.

I feel to own a car comfortablely for a couple, must earn at least $6k combined salary...

Of course i had known someone who earn 2.5K per month and bought himself a 47k brand new car.
 

miloice

Well-Known Member
if u have spare cash that you don't intend to invest, better off taking the min loan period and offset the loan commitment.

This way, u don't need to worry about the monthly commitment and drive without financial woes.
 

royal

New Member
Just think of how often you bring your dad out? does the number of time travelling in cabs for that purpose justify you with buying a car? I think the answer is clear..:)
 

powder

Active Member
when u wanna buy a car, every and Any possible reason - u will throw in, in order to lend more weight to the decision. most times, it's a heart-decision... as long as u have deep pockets and can afford it's fine. But it's funny, becos most times, when we need to find every possible reason, it's also becos we're stretching ourselves... that's why we need these 'reasons'...

it's my observation thru the years in the chase of car ownership... of cos includes myself, where even with a 1.5k pay, i hung on to my car despite costing me 1k/mth in maintaining it, good thing was that COE was skyhigh and i could afford to Sell my car with some money back. Nowadays when most sell their car - they have to PAY pple... meaning they cannot sell, and they forced to maintain monthly... so buying a car is a Huge decision, have to be very careful.
 

cuclainne

New Member
i just found out that my cousin bought a car three weeks back when she got her licence .. say got no money to pay for her dad's medicine (he's suffering from parkinson's, she chased her brother and our grandmother out from the flat) but got money to buy car .. and she has two small children .. haiz ..
 

powder

Active Member
sad isn't it? but it's getting abit more common to hear such stories... there's so much materialism shoved in our face, whereby even if one could ill-afford, one would Want. there's little patience in working for something, and much enthusiasm in getting them immediately according to fancy.
 

miloice

Well-Known Member
No need so many reasons, all you need is the ability to afford. If you cannot, every reason is only an excuse to bluff yourself.

Bottomline, can u afford it? Only then, look at the reasons for owning one.
 

cuclainne

New Member
haiz .. family is on welfare cos father is sick, mom's a housewife .. brother she chase out is developmentally slow - grandmother move out cos she felt it's her responsibility to care for him. aunt don't care about her own son since the roof she's living under is her daughter's - she's afraid of getting kicked out if she say anything .. taking care of the two kids while caring for sick husband. other two kids are in their 20s and constantly job-hopping ..

it's been mentioned that it seemed like she's copying me .. i got preggie, she got preggie (named her 1st child after me some more) .. i got preggie 2nd time, she also got preggie .. i send kids to infantcare, she also sent kids to infantcare etc etc .. they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery but i don't understand why when she and her husband just can't afford it ..
 

dramarama

New Member
Cuclainne, maybe she's envious of you?

A friend of mine was like that too, borrows so that she can maintain her lifestyle of designer clothes, bags, shoes, clubbing. Still, debts eventually caught up with her.

I dont get this 'keeping up with joneses'.
 

powder

Active Member
well cucl,

it's not exactly surprising cos it's like a national obsession, just how far some go and how much in debt some are willing to go into. credit is so readily available in spore, the consequences only get exposure every now and then, so the pull of being There, when u can ill-afford to, is always strong.
 

thiasy

New Member
Just happened to read this thread. To maintain a car and maid, I think the first thing to consider is affordability. Owning a car in Spore can be quite expensive and I have seen so many pple indulging in such luxury items and end up taking so many loans.

For me, my monthly transport expense is only about $120 per mth. I will never ever think of getting myself a car because the money is not well spent. Instead of spending $1k a mth on car instalments and maintenance, I could have spent it on investments that might possibly generate more $$. Furthermore, Singapore is such a small country with easy accessibility. If you need to bring a sick elderly out, you can take taxi which won't cost you as much as a car.

To take care of a sick father, maybe maid is really neccesary especially if no one else is staying at home to take care of him. The elderly might also feel more comfortable at home than going to a nursing home.

I think for strawberry case, maybe you should put the car on hold first.
 

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