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Car dealers expect slow sales leading up to festive season
Channel NewsAsia - 1 hour 51 minutes ago
SINGAPORE: The year—end holiday season brought out car buyers in droves in the past years. But dealers said Singaporeans are now holding back on big ticket items like cars because of the economic uncertainty.
Even with lower Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums, most buyers are thinking twice about spending tens of thousands of dollars on a car.
Times are bad if you’re a parallel importer of cars at Singapore’s Ubi Industrial Estate. Most of the customers whom Channel NewsAsia spoke to were merely checking out prices on Monday, unlike a year ago when dealers saw more people booking a new car or buying a used one in time for the Lunar New Year.
Buyers are not willing to part with large sums of money for the downpayment and due to the recent financial meltdown, getting a bank loan is also more difficult.
Jeffrey Ong, sales manager, ApriCar, said: "Presently, the banks are not supportive. A number of buyers had their loans reduced. A lot of them can’t change their cars or buy new ones."
Some car dealers are seeing a 50 per cent drop in business since the financial mess unfolded. Others have made a quick exit, looking for cheaper rental space elsewhere.
But it is not all bad news for them as there are some savvy buyers around.
One said: "Basically, I’m prepared for such situations. In fact, now’s the best time for me to buy. I’ve been saving all this while. I’m waiting for the right moment to strike — the current situation has made it easier for me to buy a car."
But the reality is, such customers are few and far between. For now, dealers are bracing themselves for a rough ride ahead.
— CNA/so
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