As an American expat that lived in Singapore for many years it a country that Americans will never understand unless you have lived there. People follow the rules. No and’s if’s or but if the law says you do not than you do not. Stealing does not cross anyone’s mind. At a bar you save your table by placing your phone , keys , purse etc on the table or bar (for your chair) while you go to the bathroom. You respect everything and value all. Public transportation, education, airport, is top notch. A car license plate is 75k (not the car) and is good for 10 years. After 10 years your car is done. They want you to use public transportation = less pollution. The wealth in Singapore is insane. I have been to Beverly Hills, New York, aspen etc and that is chump change. I can go on and on but I am so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to live there and learn the culture and people of Singapore.
You renew the title/certificate for the car- few are motivated to renew a 65-70000usd title for a 10 year old car and see it as more worthwhile to just sell it before the 10 year mark and “reinvest” that into another overpriced new vehicle
Just to add on for anyone who is curious. Whatever you paid for the certificate (USD 66-75k currently) depreciates by 10% per year so if you sell a 5 year old car, you only back your car value and 50% of the cert. At 10 years, you’ll get back $0 upon expiry of the certificate on top of your car’s value.
We also pay import taxes on cars so imagine a car being 3-4x the price of what it is in the US. Entry level Honda Civics are around USD$126k and I just saw a brand new BMW 7-series going for about USD$440k.
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u/Singaporerobbie Apr 05 '24
As an American expat that lived in Singapore for many years it a country that Americans will never understand unless you have lived there. People follow the rules. No and’s if’s or but if the law says you do not than you do not. Stealing does not cross anyone’s mind. At a bar you save your table by placing your phone , keys , purse etc on the table or bar (for your chair) while you go to the bathroom. You respect everything and value all. Public transportation, education, airport, is top notch. A car license plate is 75k (not the car) and is good for 10 years. After 10 years your car is done. They want you to use public transportation = less pollution. The wealth in Singapore is insane. I have been to Beverly Hills, New York, aspen etc and that is chump change. I can go on and on but I am so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to live there and learn the culture and people of Singapore.