Buying a car - is there a catch?

[mumto2]

Do we need a car firstly? Living on HK Island with 2 kids. Given I am coming from Tokyo where we did not have a car and I get the train everywhere with the children.

If yes to a car, what prices are we looking at? Is registration etc. horrendously expensive?

Is it best to just go through a dealer for ease regarding paperwork etc?

Many thanks

[ontheroad]

Do we need a car firstly? Living on HK Island with 2 kids. Given I am coming from Tokyo where we did not have a car and I get the train everywhere with the children.

If yes to a car, what prices are we looking at? Is registration etc. horrendously expensive?

Is it best to just go through a dealer for ease regarding paperwork etc?

Many thanks

It depends where you live and what kind of activities you do on weekends...
Second-hand cars are cheap and super easy to find (lots of ads on supermarket classified boards). Registration, insurance etc, easy to organise and cheap.
No need to go through a dealer, lots of expats selling cars to expats. Some dealers are reknowned for their shady practices (North Point).

[mumto2]

thanks for replying so quick!

Um, how cheap...like could I get just an ordinary used car for like $2K? how much would rego and insurance be on that?

What's parking like? Is there tollways?

[back2HK]

Need is a subjective term depending on lifestyle. Public transport, including taxis, are plentiful and cheap. However, its nice to have one.

Parking costs are more relevant than the cost of the car, registration etc..

[ontheroad]

What's parking like? Is there tollways?

It depends where you lived before Tokyo. After living in NY and London, I find parking dirt cheap (street parking is super super cheap and mall parkings and garages are not too bad. A lot of malls and supermarkets offer free parking with a certain amount of spending)....

Don't think about it in advance, decide when you get here: a lot of insurance companies won't insure you until you have a HKID and HK drivers licence, and that will give you time to decide if you need one or not.

[Skyhook]

a lot of insurance companies won't insure you until you have a HKID and HK drivers licence, and that will give you time to decide if you need one or not.

That's not entirely true. You only need a valid HK drivers licence and a copy of your previous insurance companies NCB rating.

It's not a proviso that you need a HKID to insure a car in Hong Kong. Otherwise tourists who hire cars using international licences wouldn't be insurable even under blanket coverage.

I suggest the original poster contact Anthony Hill from Kwiksure on 3113 2112 who we use for our cars.

[wtbhotia]

change of ownership - 1K

road permit (tax): Below 1500cc - 3.7K / 1501 - 2500cc 5.8K / 2501 - 3500 cc 7.8K / 3501 above nearly 10K

Insurance - if your are just buying a normal road car and nothing too fancy like SKYLINE GTR/SUBARU WRX/Evolution then your first time 3rd party insurance should be aprox 3-5K depending on your age / profession.

MOT before you can get a road permit (this can cost you a lot of money if the car u buy is a piece of S@#T).

Best cheap cars to buy are eg. honda civi 1500cc - 10 years old can cost less than 10K/ toyota corolla/ mazada 323, spare parts are very easy to find and very very cheap. to get everything up and runing u should expect to spend around 20K (car price/road tax/insurace/change of ownership).

[mumto2]

thank you WTB - that was so helpful - thanks for the effort!

[gert]

Having taken the plunge myself about 5 months ago I can offer my perspectives on car ownership in HK.

First issue to consider is how useful a car might be to you. Driving into the city (Central, Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, etc.) is anything but pleasant due to general traffic congestion and confusing street layout with lots of one way streets.

However, what a car would do is enable you to live out in the far corners of HK where living conditions are better than in the high density population centres, but where public transportation is also less convenient.

If you are living right on top of public transportation the only real use of a car would be to go to the above mentioned far corners of HK for recreation on weekends. Also the feeling of driving on your own is a nice change of pace from public transportation every now and then.

Public transportation in HK is plentiful, affordable, and reliable. Parking is NOT, especially in the commercial centres. In Causeway Bay where I work, a full day's parking can easily set you back around $200. Be aware that free parking is not necessarily included with your accomodation, so you might have to pay a monthly parking fee for your home parking as well. Also, there are tunnel fees that need to be paid whenever you use one of the many tunnels around HK, especially the three harbour tunnels.

Apart from that I found the process of buying the car reasonably easy and affordable. Fuel can seem expensive depending on where you are from, but you will not be driving long distances anyway, so a full tank will last you for a while.

In conclusion, most people in HK would easily be able to get by without a car, so it would be a luxury rather than a necessity. So better wait and see how you feel about your situation when you get here and make your decision then.

[mumto2]

Gert, thankyou, very helpful advice! We did live in Beijing a few years ago and got by absolutely fine without a car due to the plentiful cheap cabs so I did wonder if it would be the same in HK...