Do I bring my car or buy a new one?

[ALAU]

Donna,

My two cents, in point form (although interesting, the other long-winded posts are a bit tedious to read).

Your situation:

1) Your current car is 6 years old already, rather large.

2) You will be living in the New Territories, and your child will be studying there also. Note that distances within the NT are, for HK standard, substantial.

3) Where will you/your husband work? On HK island or in Kowloon I presume? Or from home?

Regardless of the above, my suggestion is this:

4) Yes, drive in HK (makes it worth it because of point 2 above)

5) Do not import your car here. It is too much hassle, is costly, and if you don't mind me saying, your car is not exactly new, so unless you are keeping it for sentimental reasons, get another car here in HK. But be careful if you are thinking about second hand (I suggest a new thread to discuss this if this is what you are going for).

6) Drive within the NT, and between NT and town. If you are spending a day say, shopping in Causeway Bay and then having tea in Central etc., I would leave your car at an MTR station somewhere between your home and town, and take public transport from there (unless you are going to buy something bulky).

C'est tout.

[jaykay]

Overall and back to the original question. Should you bring your current car - then the answer is no. Even after factoring in the shipping cost you will have a first registration tax to pay on the car which will be determined by it's value. So get rid and buy here.

Will you need a car here, well that's another question. HK does have excellent transport links but sometimes as a family it certainly comes into it's own.

There are downsides to car ownership, car parking is expensive and in some areas can be a pain in the arse to find. You can't just park in the street here. Fuel costs are similar to the UK and there are costs such as tunnel fees. Insurance here is cheap BUT is nowhere near as comprehensive as what you are used to. Have an accident and expect to do a lot of running around even with fully comp (going through it myself at the moment). Yearly road tax fee's vary with the size of the car's engine so bear that in mind. If you live in a high rise you'll probably pay a monthly parking fee and another if you drive to work. However some places do come with parking spots, especially village houses or low density developments.

Now the upsides. I have a 2 year old and a 6 month old. Traveling to see the inlaws using my car saves me around 2hrs 40 mins on a return journey. Going shopping is made so much easier, especially when going with a stroller and coming back with a car load of shopping. These things are nigh on impossible from where I live using the public transport. Pretty much everything is made easier when it comes to transporting the kids, strollers and other assorted paraphernalia. So with the kids life is made so much easier. However in saying that when I am traveling around during the week meeting customers, etc then I always use public transport as it is super convenient when I am on my own. I will not bother with the car and parking hassles (even with park'n'ride).

So overall it will depend on where you live, age of the kids, where you go, what you do rather than any particular generic formula which will determine whether you need a car or not.

[PDLM]

Note also that pretty much all supermarkets offer free delivery for orders over $500. So you can do all your bulk/non-fresh shopping online (or go to the store and then leave it there for them to deliver later).

[dropdedfwed]

Note also that pretty much all supermarkets offer free delivery for orders over $500. So you can do all your bulk/non-fresh shopping online (or go to the store and then leave it there for them to deliver later).

awesome - will they bring the kids back later too?

[PDLM]

There isn't much of a gap between "small enough to carry" and "big enough to make their own way on the bus".

(He says as someone who, in the UK, was doing a 20 min walk+30 mins on the train+15 min walk to and from school every day from the age of 7.)

[dropdedfwed]

There isn't much of a gap between "small enough to carry" and "big enough to make their own way on the bus".

how many kids do you have?

[Mat]

There isn't much of a gap between "small enough to carry" and "big enough to make their own way on the bus".

(He says as someone who, in the UK, was doing a 20 min walk+30 mins on the train+15 min walk to and from school every day from the age of 7.)

and before? from 2 to 7?

[PDLM]

I have a daughter who was still well within my (1.93m 100kg) carrying ability at 5 (not that I would have needed to - she was perfectly OK at just following me at that age), and who I would have been happy to let loose on HK public transport at 6 or 7.

(At 10 she was bigger (and some might say more responsible) than my wife!)

[carang]

let loose on public transport at the age of 6? seriously?

man, we certainly have different parenting styles...

[PDLM]

She happens to be in California where I wouldn't have let her loose of course, but in HK (or even the UK of my youth - I'm not sure how much it's changed these days), no big deal.