In terms of prestige and bragging rights, the car has always been one of Singapore’s most well known ‘C’s. However, from a personal finance point of view, owning a car is not actually such a great investment. In fact, it’s a depreciating asset that bleeds in value the moment you drive off.
Having a car in Singapore is incredibly expensive: the COE alone is about $30,000, so buying a brand new car will set you back by at least $80,000. And that’s just the price you pay to buy the vehicle — when you take it to the road, you’ll need to account for petrol costs, maintenance fees, road taxes, motor insurance, and more.
But what if you need to ferry your children and elderly parents around, or your work requires you to travel around the island daily? You practically need your own car!
That may have been true to an extent in the past, but the concept of car-sharing has been gaining popularity in Singapore. And now that there are as many as five car-sharing companies here, who knows, it may just be the solution to your private transport woes.
Here’s a comparison of the car sharing operators in Singapore — TribeCar, Smove, Car Club, BlueSG, and Whizzcar. Let’s find out how affordable these services are.
Since each car-sharing operator has their own way of charging for rentals, there is no certain way to which one is the absolute cheapest. Since many people are still working from home during this period and run their errands on weekends, let’s use a standard scenario of renter going out for lunch on a Saturday from 12 pm to 3 pm.
Car sharing service
Cost for weekend rental from 12 pm to 3 pm
Additional fees
Tribecar
$20.88
(Economy sedan, based on an hourly rate of $6.96 per hour)
$100 refundable security deposit.
Smove
$50
(based on $10 per hour booking fee + and $0.21 per km mileage charge for 100km)
The actual mileage charge depends on distance traveled
Car Club
$77
(based on $11 per hour booking fee + $0.40 per km distance charge for 100km)
The pre-authorization fee of $200 required (hold on credit card)
BlueSG
$59.40
(based on $0.33 per min)
$8/month for the basic subscription fee
WhizzCar
$73.74
(based on $16.90 for the first hour + $7.76 per half hour for subsequent two hours + $0.43 per km for 60km)
$107 registration fee
TribeCar has no membership fees, you just pay for whatever you use. However, don’t be fooled: the pricing system is still quite confusing. Hang on tight — let’s have a look at their economy sedan (read: cheaper) option:
Period
Economy sedan and MPV
Super off-peak (per hour)
$2.14/h
Off-peak (per hour)
$4.82/h
Peak (per hour)
$6.96/h
Daily rate (Mon to thu)
$69.55
Daily rate (Fri to sun)
$96.30
Weekly
$460.10
Late charges (every 15 mins or part thereof)
$10.70
TribeCar has economic options for other vehicle types too, as well as another set of prices for ‘standard’ (read: more premium) vehicles which you can see on their website.
You’ll notice that there’s a per-hour rental rate, as well as daily and weekly rental prices. For the per-hour rental rates, the price depends not just on the vehicle type, but the time of your booking too.
Super off-peak:
Off-peak:
Peak:
To rent a car, you’ll need to sign up online. Although it is free, TribeCar will collect a $100 security deposit that’s only refunded when you terminate your membership. You can book a car up to four weeks in advance, or do the on-demand booking for immediate use.
Read the article: 7 cheapest cars in Singapore under $70,000
Smove splits its rental fleet of cars into two categories: saver and value. The saver cars are Toyota Aqua, Vios, Altis, Mazda 3 (old), and Mitsubishi Attrage. The value category is supposedly slightly higher-end, and currently only has one car, the new Mazda 3.
Apart from the car categories, Smove prices their rentals based on Smove short term, Smove PHV rental, Smove rental packages, and Smove long term. For most who just need short-term leasing solutions, it is the first one.
Although the rates seem quite reasonable — for the above example of three hours on a weekend it’s only $30 — these are the booking fees only. The total cost actually includes a mileage charge as well, which can be pretty hefty if you drive long distances.
The mileage charge for saver car rentals is $0.21 per km, so assuming you drive 100km, that’s an additional $21 (total $51).
Like some of the rest, Car Club has different tiers of vehicles for different budgets. Since we’re all about saving costs — and let’s be honest, even a 1.2L car is good enough to go from A to B — we will focus on the most affordable ‘economy’ tier.
Signing up for Car Club is free, but there is a $200 pre-authorization charge. It is not an actual charge (it’s a hold on your card, much like what happens when you book a hotel room), but it’s something to take note of.
The total cost of renting from the Car Club is the booking fee + distance-based fee. For Car Club, you’ll also need to make a round-trip booking, meaning you have to return the car to the same spot you picked it up from.
BlueSG is an electric car-sharing service. They recently revised their price plans.
First, you’ll need to pick between basic and premium. Basic has a cheaper monthly subscription fee and no minimum commitment, but it does not come with free rental minutes. Premium costs more per month, but with the free 45 minutes (worth over $14), you’re likely to make your money’s worth within one trip.
You’ll need to sign up online or via the app first, and then proceed to make a booking. You can reserve a car for up to 30 minutes in advance only.
For WhizzCar, you’ll first need to sign up as a member, paying a hefty one-time membership fee of $107.
Thereafter, you pay for car rentals on a per-use basis. There are many tiers of vehicles from the super economy to executive, MPV, and van, but we will focus on the cheapest option.
While Whizz-ezzy sounds like the better, more flexible plan, it comes at a cost — much higher rental fees.
Basically, you pay the rental fees for the duration of the car rental. Then, based on that, you look at the free distance you’re entitled to. For example, you can drive for 10km at no extra cost for the first hour. Anything beyond that will be charged at $0.43 per km.
This one’s a little complicated, so let’s breakdown the maths based on the above example (Saturday, 12 pm to 3 pm).
One-time registration fee for Whizz-ezzy: $107
First hour: $16.90
Subsequent two hours: $7.76 X 4 = $31.04
Distance charge: $0.43 X 60km (because 30km is free) = $25.80
Total = $107 registration fee + $73.74 for this particular rental
Read article: 15 Cheap Parking Spots in Singapore (2020)
Which hourly car rental company should you choose?
From the above price comparison, the cheapest seems to be TribeCar, which doesn’t require any subscription fees or distance-based charges. If it’s a one-off rental, this is your best option.
Next is Smove, but take note — there is a variable mileage charge, so the more distance you clock, the more it’ll cost.
The most expensive one is WhizzCar, which not only has a pricey $107 registration, but also very expensive rental rates. Of course, this assumes you opt for the no-commitment Whizz-Ezzy plan. The individual membership is cheaper, but it requires a 12-month commitment, which is definitely not suitable for first-timers.
At the end of the day, the most suitable car-sharing service would likely depend not just on the price, but on other factors like the vehicles available for rent, how many pick-up stations there are in your area, and more. For these details, you’ll probably have to spend a little more time reading through forums and looking up more details of each operator before making a decision.
Generally, our verdict is that short-term car rental services like car-sharing are not cost-effective. If you are contemplating trying it out for a one-off errand, then you may actually be better off taking a taxi or booking a private hire ride, unless you have to move many things and need the flexibility. If you need a ride regularly and frequently, go have a look at longer-term car leasing — those may give you more bang for your buck.
This article was first published on GoBear Singapore blog.
