COE and Car Prices

One of my cousins who is a m-sized used car dealers is happy that he has very little "stocks " and that many dealers will close shop after this new measure. It is depend which side of the fence is one sitting now.

(12-03-2013, 10:58 AM)godjira1 Wrote: As a majority shareholder in a used car dealer I can say a lot of dealers will shut down - personally we are working thru some alternate plans to see if its worth continuing. As a businessman, legislative risk is one of those u take so I will live with it.

For those who only have bad things to say, just think - my staff are human too. Some people in the industry will be laid off. How would you feel if someone said you deserve to lose your job? Might be true but not nice to hear nonetheless. Maybe '将心比心' is a thing of the past?

As for trends - I have no doubt car prices will come off and coe prices will drop. Just matter of when and how far.

Dear Friend, I know these are tough times.

I remember when the quotas were suddenly reduced, car dealers were rejoicing as it really boosted they expected the increase in revenues & suddenly the prices of there stocks went up. Car dealers welcomed the move. the present scenario is a direct result of that reduction. life has come full circle. One man's meat is another man's poison. DOnt get me wrong but that is how life is. just like stock market. sometime bullish & sometimes bearish. but you have to move on.

agree. life has its ups n downs. my uncle who owns one of the largest used car company in s'pore also lamented that life is getting harder. but due to his resources n contacts, he will still survive.

Maybe these used car dealers will export their stock to reduce their losses.

The extent of COE drop for the current bidding that is underway will dictate whether it is better value to de-register and export the used cars or resell locally. I guess that is the reason everyone is holding back and waiting for tomorrow COE results.

I will not sympathise with you but my sympathies are with your staff. The car retailing industry here is one of the most volatile in the world. When COEs dropped from >100k to less than 30k, one can only imagine how many folks have to exit the industry. Given the cooling measures in the second-hand car market, I reckon transaction volumes will come down significantly too.

However, I cannot sympathise with the "poor" second hand car dealer quoted by Lee Bee Wah who have 235 cars. This guy is just a speculator (nothing wrong in that). If he had been loading up on his inventory ever since COE prices are rising, he would have made a killing. Now that he is going to lose money, he wants to socialise the loss?

(12-03-2013, 10:58 AM)godjira1 Wrote: As a majority shareholder in a used car dealer I can say a lot of dealers will shut down - personally we are working thru some alternate plans to see if its worth continuing. As a businessman, legislative risk is one of those u take so I will live with it.

For those who only have bad things to say, just think - my staff are human too. Some people in the industry will be laid off. How would you feel if someone said you deserve to lose your job? Might be true but not nice to hear nonetheless. Maybe '将心比心' is a thing of the past?

As for trends - I have no doubt car prices will come off and coe prices will drop. Just matter of when and how far.

Not asking for sympathy at all, but am just making the point that sometimes just pause a moment before making hurtful sweeping comments. Not just about car retailers but in all things.

As for the guy under Lee Bee Wah, agree that he overextended himself so tough sh*t.

(13-03-2013, 10:31 AM)godjira1 Wrote: Not asking for sympathy at all, but am just making the point that sometimes just pause a moment before making hurtful sweeping comments. Not just about car retailers but in all things.

As for the guy under Lee Bee Wah, agree that he overextended himself so tough sh*t.

In life, there are up and down, it seems apply both to employees and employers. It is not only tough life for worker group, but also for entrepreneurs.

Wish you all the best during the down time, and tomorrow will be better.

(13-03-2013, 10:57 AM)CityFarmer Wrote:

(13-03-2013, 10:31 AM)godjira1 Wrote: Not asking for sympathy at all, but am just making the point that sometimes just pause a moment before making hurtful sweeping comments. Not just about car retailers but in all things.

As for the guy under Lee Bee Wah, agree that he overextended himself so tough sh*t.

In life, there are up and down, it seems apply both to employees and employers. It is not only tough life for worker group, but also for entrepreneurs.

Wish you all the best during the down time, and tomorrow will be better.

Our G has this tendency to change rules suddenly with tagline, effective today midnight. this does lead to some ups & downs & everyone faces it. one day it HDB owners, next day it Car owner & on some days it is the Car dealers.
What I feel is that COE system in itself needs a revamp like pay as you bid so as to bring down the volatility in the system.

As for Second hand car dealers, i feel that it is not going to be such big deal in the long run, its just that now they are stuck with cars for which they paid high prices. but over the period of time, i think the volumes may come up the recent levels as the quotas have not been cut.

it is just that how many car dealer have the time & patience to sit out this crisis period.

(13-03-2013, 11:39 AM)viruskbs Wrote: Our G has this tendency to change rules suddenly with tagline, effective today midnight. this does lead to some ups & downs & everyone faces it. one day it HDB owners, next day it Car owner & on some days it is the Car dealers.
What I feel is that COE system in itself needs a revamp like pay as you bid so as to bring down the volatility in the system.

As for Second hand car dealers, i feel that it is not going to be such big deal in the long run, its just that now they are stuck with cars for which they paid high prices. but over the period of time, i think the volumes may come up the recent levels as the quotas have not been cut.

it is just that how many car dealer have the time & patience to sit out this crisis period.

Why G has this tendency to interfere in the markets? It is because we are used to being in a nanny state with an omnipotent G. In fact, folks like yourself even demand it! {see your suggestion on pay as you bid}

As for why it is a big deal for second-hand car dealers, it is NOT just an inventory problem. It is a gross margin problem too. If an average dealer achieves a gross margin of say, $50k per month, he might only have to contend with just $25k per month now. So his cost structure is turned upside down...