Whether you are buying a van or lorry for the first time, we are sure the answers here will clear some of your doubts. So, without further delay, let’s dive into it!

Do I have to use a company name to buy a van or lorry?

Based on Land Transport Authority (LTA) requirements, a business or company is required to buy a commercial vehicle. So, if you are looking to buy a van or a lorry, yes you need a business or a company.

Can I use my personal name (NOT a company) to purchase a commercial vehicle?

If you are looking to buy a van or lorry, the answer is NO. The only 2 types of commercial vehicles that does not require a business or company is a double-cab pick-up or vehicles registered under the “Private Hire” scheme.

How much is the minimum down payment amount required to buy a van or lorry?

The good thing about buying a van or a lorry is that you are allowed to apply for a full loan. By doing so, the total out-of-pocket amount can be as low as just paying the first instalment and insurance premium for the first year.

For example, you applied for a full loan for the purchase of a Toyota Hiace van and the monthly instalment works out to be $950 per month. The insurance premium for the first year is $1,650. The total you need to fork out to drive back the van is $950 + $1,650 = $2,600.

What are the documents needed to apply for a loan to purchase a commercial vehicle?

For loans equals or lesser than 70% of the selling price, some but not all financial institutions do not need to see any supporting documents. However, if you are applying for a loan that is higher than that, the documents required will be as follows:

• Copy of NRIC both sides
• Latest 2 years personal notice of assessment (NOA/Income Tax)
• Latest 3 months company bank statements

My business or company is new, how do I provide 2 years of income tax assessment?

It is ok. The income on your tax assessment could be income generated from your previous or other business or employment. it does not have to be from this business or company. As long as you have your latest 2 years income tax assessment, we are still able to submit the application for you.

My business or company is new, how do I provide 3 months company bank statements?

If your company is new or your company does not have a bank account, you can use your latest 3 months personal bank statements to replace your company bank statements.

What if I do not have one or both of the income documents required?

If you do not have any one or even both of the income documents stated above, there is a high chance that a guarantor may be required. But again, it depends on situation. For this, we would recommend that we speak over the phone, through a video call or face to face so that we can have a better understanding and consult you with the best advice.

Do I have to place a deposit to apply for a loan?

Yes, a fully refundable deposit is required in order to try to apply for a loan. Typically, the deposit is at least $1,000 and it can be used to offset your balance payment (insurance or first instalment) once the loan is approved.

What happens to my deposit if the desired loan amount is not approved?

A deposit is fully refundable if the desired loan amount is NOT approved. Before you sign an agreement, you have to make sure that the dealer put this in writing on the agreement. Typically, dealers are very open to put this into writing. A sample statement to put on the agreement can be as follows:

“Deposit of “Amount” is 100% refundable if the loan amount of “Desired Amount” at the loan interest rate of “Agreed Interest Rate” for the tenure of “Agreed Tenure” years is NOT approved unless with the permission of “Your Name” to proceed with another loan arrangement in writing.”

Okay, I am ready to buy a van or lorry, what should I do next?

Now that you have decided on the make and model. Simply contact the dealer of your choice and go through a quick buying process:

1. Sign agreement and place a fully refundable deposit
2. Submit income documents to the dealer to apply for the loan
3. Upon loan approval, receive insurance quotation and choose the preferred company
4. Make the balance payment (first instalment + insurance premium + difference of selling price and loan amount – deposit)
5. Collect your vehicle

Above are the top 10 questions that we have been asked by first time buyers over the years of selling vans and lorries. We hope we have covered all or if not, most of them. If there are still questions that you have in your mind, please feel free to let us know.

We can be contactable in various ways:

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SingaporeVanDeals
Contact us form: http://sgautoconcierge.com/contact
Email Us: contact@sgautoconcierge.com
Whatsapp Us: 9136 6333

By letting us know what your questions are, not only can we help to resolve your doubts. We can also use the questions to update it here so that other first-time buyers can benefit too!

We hope that you have enjoyed the post so far and if you like this post, please help us share it with more people whom you think may need the information.

Alternatively, do feel free to check out our blog for more contents and tips for vehicle owners including car insurance.

The post Frequently Asked Questions for First-Timers Buying A Van Or Lorry in Singapore appeared first on SGAutoConcierge.

What is No Claim Discount (NCD)?

The No Claim Discount (NCD) is a form of “reward” given to drivers who have been driving safely and have no claim being made under his/her policy. It is calculated yearly and the benefit of accumulating NCD is that you will enjoy lower car insurance renewal for the following year.

NCD is accumulated differently for passenger cars/private cars and commercial vehicles. To make it easier to understand, the table below illustrates how you can earn NCD and how much discount can you accumulate and earn year after year.

Passenger Cars/Private Vehicles

Commercial Vehicles

Although NCD is one of the factors affecting the premium, it is not the only one. If you wish, you may also want to read up on the 18 factors that we have compiled that will affect how car insurance premium is calculated in our blog.

Can I keep my NCD for life?

The answer is Yes and No. It depends on your driving pattern. The answer is Yes if you have always been a safe driver and stay as one, your NCD will keep increasing until you reached the maximum NCD of 50% of private cars and 20% for commercial vehicles.

But if you do not practice safe driving and get into an accident, you will lose a huge part or all of your NCD depending on how much you have accumulated. You will see how your NCD is deducted if a claim is made under your policy at the next point.

What if I make a claim, will my NCD be lost?

Well, your NCD will definitely be affected if a claim is made to your policy. The reductions of your NCD is as per below table:

Passenger Cars/Private Vehicles

Commercial Vehicles

As the above table shows, each claim made to your policy will make you lose 30% of your NCD. So, if there are 2 claims made to your policy in a year, then your NCD will be reduced to 0 even if you have 50% NCD. The good news is, there is no negative NCD. However, this is just a general guideline according to the General Insurance Association. You are welcome to check with your insurer again if you wish.

Another good news is that your NCD may not be affected if you are found not at any fault in the accident. But, please make sure you did your accident reporting within 24 hours of the accident as some insurers may drop your NCD if you fail to do so.

Is there any way to protect my NCD?

Yes, there is! Many insurers have a protection plan for your NCD. They call it the “NCD Protector”. Some insurers may include the NCD Protector in their quotation at no cost but some does not. For those who does not, you may still get from them a NCD Protector by paying for a little extra to protect your hard earned NCD in case of an accident.

Most but not all insurers have a NCD protector plan but each of them have different criteria. Many of them only offer it to people with 50% NCD. If you are interested in the NCD protector plan, do check with your insurer for the eligibility of if you are getting quotes from any one, they will normally state if the NCD Protector is included because it is an additional selling point.  

How does NCD Protector works?

To put it in the simplest terms, the NCD Protector protects your NCD so that it will NOT be reduced even you get into an accident. However, the protection is normally for ONE accident only. After the first claim, everything is back to normal and reduction will apply according to the third point of this article. See example below:

Assuming you now have 50% NCD and you gotten a NCD protector. During the year, you make a claim to your policy (Touchwood). And because you have a NCD protector, your NCD will still remain at 50% even after the claim. But if you make second claim in the same year, your NCD will drop from 50% to 20%. So it only covers your NCD from the first claim. After a claim is made, the protector is as good as zero for the remaining duration until your next renewal. Got to drive safer if you want to keep your hard earned NCD.

Can I transfer my NCD to another vehicle?

The NCD actually follows you and not your car so Yes, it is possible to transfer your NCD over to the new car you bought. All you have to do is to let the dealer or insurance broker knows about your existing insurer and NCD and he or she can settle the rest for you.

 But if you have a few cars or wish to keep your old car while getting another one, you are unable to transfer your NCD to all the vehicles. You have to choose one main vehicle to transfer the existing NCD to and rebuild NCD for each of the additional vehicles you have.  

Can I transfer my NCD to another person?

In principle, NCD can only be transferred to your spouse (husband or wife) and it must be within the current insurer. However, in our years of experience, we have also seen transfers of NCD to children and other closely related family members. Requests like this are normally difficult unless special reasons and is subjected to approval of the insurer. Also, not all insurers will entertain such appeals.

How long can I keep my NCD after I stop driving?

Some people may be posted overseas or some may want to stop driving for a while. The most common question is how long can one keep their NCD if they want to take a break from driving? So here’s the answer.

Again, every insurer is different. Most gives a 12 months allowance but some gives up to 24 months. The best way is to call your current insurer to check with them. Alternatively, you can also use 12 months as a guideline.

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With this, we think we have more or less covered most of the commonly asked questions about no claims discount (NCD) and we hope that this quick guide has helped answered some of your questions.

We are constantly improving to add more value to our clients and visitors, so please let us know if you can think of any other questions that we should include in this quick guide to benefit other readers by using our contact form.

If you wish to receive competitive quotes for your next renewal, feel free to use our car insurance renewal quotation form to submit your details and we will be in touch with you about 1 month before your renewal is due.

The post A Quick Guide to No Claim Discount (NCD) For Singapore Drivers appeared first on SGAutoConcierge.

According to the General Insurance Association Singapore, insurance companies use an assessment system called the Risk Factor Rating System. In simple terms, what the Risk Factor Rating System does is to put together multiple factors to evaluate the risk of insuring your vehicle. The higher your risk, the higher the car insurance premium.  

In this article, we will be discussing the various factors affecting your car insurance premium. There’s 18 of them so let’s cut to the chase and dive right into the details to find out what are the factors that may affect your car insurance premium.

1. Make and Model

Generally, cars with a higher engine capacity, higher horse power and car models that have higher accident rates will end up with higher premiums. This is the reason why the insurance of sports cars is so expensive. Additionally, the cost of the parts of the insured car model also plays a part in your insurance premium as well.

2. Age of the Car

Normally, as the car turns older, the lower the insurance premium. But this is only up to the first COE ends which is 10 years. After 10 years, the premium will start to go up because higher risk of technical faults that may cause accidents and parts may be more difficult and expensive to get.  

3. Usage of Vehicle

Certain usage have higher premiums. If the insurers think that you will be driving regularly or have additional potential risks, they will charge a higher or extra premium. For example, private hire cars and commercial vehicles with tailgate or are in the courier and logistics industry.

4. Age of Driver

Drivers between 30 to 60 years old normally get better insurance premium. This is because it is believed that if one is under year of 30 years old, he or she may not be as experienced and may have a higher tendency to drive like Dominic Toretto (Fast and Furious). As for above 60 years old, eye sight, response speed and health poses as an additional risk although they are very experienced drivers.

5. Marital Status

Although it is not known how accurate this is but the system believes that if a person is married, he or she tends to be more responsible in driving. Therefore, they get to enjoy cheaper premiums for their car insurance. So does this gives us another reason to get married?

6. Gender

This is the point that some people may argue or disagree but it does seem like the ladies are enjoying a lower premium because the impression of them is that they are a safer driver than the guys. Guys, please do not shoot us. We are just stating from our experience.

7. Experience

One thing troublesome about quoting car insurance is that they will ask when did you pass your driving license. Who remembers the date right? But they do this for a reason. Because there is no other way to prove how experienced you are in driving, they use the license passed date as a benchmark. The longer you passed your license, the lower risk points you will score and that may help you get a lower and cheaper premium.

8. Occupation

Many times, insurers also ask if your occupation requires you to be indoors or outdoors. The reason why they ask is because if your occupation is outdoor, it means you will have a longer period on the roads which leads to a high possibility of an accident.

9. Demerit Points Accumulated

Not all but some insurers do take this into consideration. If you are free from demerit points for the past 3 years, some insurers give additional discount on the insurance premium.

10. Claim History or Impending Claims

If you have been previously claimed by a third party, your car insurance renewal is definitely going to increase as well. Even if you were to switch to another insurance company, the insurance premium will still be high. Insurance companies share a central database for claims so it is unlikely that the other insurance company is unaware of your claims.

If you have an impending claim, you may be quoted and charged with a higher premium to renew your insurance first. After you have settled the claim and if you are proven that you are not liable for the impending claim, it is possible to request for a refund of the difference in the premium.   

11.  Type of Coverage

This is the easy part. The lesser the coverage, the cheaper the premium. So, the premium for a Third Party Only (TPO) coverage is definitely a lot cheaper than a Comprehensive coverage because it does not cover own damages.

Do take note that if your car is still under hire purchase, you may not be able to choose the lowest coverage. At the very least, your policy has to cover fire and theft. This is to protect the hire purchase company.  

12. Insurance Excess Amount

Excess is the amount that you will pay from your pocket for your own damage repairs in the event of an accident. For example, if your repair bills amounted to be $3,000 and your excess amount is $500, this means that you need to fork out $500 from your own pocket and the insurer will pay the remaining $2,500. This is one of the ways insurers do to minimize abuse of the policy.

So naturally if you choose a higher excess, Insurers will be more than willing to give you a lower premium since you have helped them reduced a huge part of their risk.

13. Workshop Selection

Another factor that will affect your car insurance premium is the selection of workshops. Typically, there are 2 types of plans (Any Workshops or Authorized Workshops) to choose from. The “Any Workshop” plan allows you to go to any of your preferred workshop to repair your vehicle in the event of an accident. The “Authorized Workshop” plan requires you to go to the authorized workshops appointed by the insurers ONLY to do any accidental repairs.

The reason why Any Workshop plans are more expensive because of a number of abuse or misuse cases in the past. This is also why many insurers prefers you to take up their Authorized Workshop plans and go to their appointed workshops. To encourage drivers to take that up, they charge a lower premium for it.

14. Named Drivers

Insurers normally have additional excess if you are not the person driving the vehicle. For example, if your excess is $500 and the additional excess for unnamed driver is $500 and your friend drives your car and hits something. In total, the excess will be $500 + $500 = $1,000. Note, this is just an example. Every insurer has a different additional excess for unnamed drivers and to avoid this, some drivers add named drivers into the plan but it also means higher premium.  

15. NCD Protector

NCD Protector is something that protects your NCD. In short, this protector allows you to keep your hard earned NCD in the event of any claim. If you have accumulated 50% and wish to protect it, this is a good option. But you have to pay a slightly higher premium for it. You can also read more about NCD and NCD protector here.

16. Off Peak Cars

Besides the huge discounts on COE and road tax, off peak car owners also enjoy lower insurance premiums because the duration of them on the roads is very short. Lesser time on the roads = Lower possibility of accidents.

17. No Claim Discounts

Every year, drivers can accumulate a no claim discount (NCD) as a form of a reward for safe driving. If there are no claims on their policy during the insured year, they accumulate no claim discount every year. No claim discounts can be accumulated to up to 50% for private cars and 20% for commercial vehicles.

18. Loyalty Discounts

Some insurers offer it’s loyal customers who have been with them for years an additional loyalty discount on top of the NCD that you are enjoying. This way, they get to keep you as a customer and you get to enjoy cheaper premium. It is definitely a win-win for both parties.

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Still reading? Impressive!!! Give yourself a pat on the shoulder for reading till this far. We hope that the information in this article provides you with an understanding of how and why each factor affect your car insurance premium.

Do note that based on the statistics and past claims information acquired, every insurer will give a different weightage to each factor. Therefore, not all insurance companies will come up to a same premium amount for your insurance renewal.  

Lastly, if your car insurance renewal is due soon, please feel free to submit your details through our car insurance renewal quotation page to receive competitive quotations for your renewal. We have a network of insurers who we work with. After receiving your particulars, we will get a few quotations from them to compare and send the lowest to you to shorten your sourcing journey.

Even if your insurance is not due, you are welcome to key in your details here. What we will do is to automatically get the quotes from the insurers and get in touch with you nearer to your car insurance renewal due date.  

Once again, thank you for reading and we really appreciate your time. We hope to be able to share more information to benefit car owners like yourself. Do check out our other articles in our blog page.  

The post How Is Car Insurance Premium Calculated? (18 Factors) appeared first on SGAutoConcierge.

So what vehicle is that? It is the 6th generation Toyota Hiace!

Although it does receive relatively good response in Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico and Thailand, it failed very badly in the Singapore markets due to its’ unsuitability to the Singapore markets. It is so unsuitable to the local market that we decided to discourage 98% of our customers to avoid it at all costs!

In this article, we would like to discuss some reasons why we do not recommend most of our customers to get it. But instead of writing about the technical aspects of it which you can easily find online, we will discuss the more practical reasons why one should not get the latest new Toyota Hiace (6th generation). Specifications can be found at the end of this article.

Reason 1. Navigation Difficulties

Although the latest Toyota Hiace offers a larger cargo space, the vehicle length is much longer than it’s predecessor. And because it is longer, it makes navigation more difficult on the roads and in places where the space is extremely limited like the loading bays.

Reason 2. Length Issues

Another issue that length of the latest Toyota Hiace face in Singapore is the parking space limitations. There are many places in Singapore that does not allow vehicles that are longer than a certain length to park. This will make delivery, loading and unloading very difficult. Even if you were to just use the van for personal use, you may likely face problems also when you drive to public carparks.

Reason 3. Unladen Weight Issues

Unless you are staying in a private property or have your own personal parking space, this is going to be another pain in the neck. Because the unladen weight of the new Toyota Hiace (6th generation) is higher than 1800kg, you are not qualified to enjoy the normal parking rates. The season parking rate for this new van is much higher than your normal Toyota Hiace. Well, this may not be an issue if you have a lot of spare cash.

Oh, one more! Because of its’ weight, the 6th generation Toyota Hiace is also not allowed to be parked in multi-story car parks (MSCP).

Reason 4. Price Issues

This is one thing that we personally cannot accept. The vehicle is way overpriced! It is easily 40% more expensive than it’s predecessor! Therefore, we do not think it makes any business sense to buy the 6th generation Toyota Hiace. Well again, unless you have a lot of money to spare or you desperately need the space. But even if you need the space and have the money, do take note of the other points as well.

Reason 5. Resale Value

Due to the low demand of the 6th generation Toyota Hiace in Singapore, the resale value is going to be crap when you want to resell it a few years later. The price of anything is determined by supply and demand. Look at the demand of this vehicle now. Don’t take our word for it. Look at the roads and see how many of the 6th generation Toyota Hiace you see in a month and ask yourself if the demand is there. Based on our experience, we haven’t seen any of these on the road for the past 3 months! So can you imagine the demand?

Reason 6. High Loan Difficulty

When running a business, many of the business owners will choose to have lower upfront and this is the reason why many business go for higher loans to as high as 100%.

But for this vehicle, business owners definitely face issue getting high loans. The reason is simple, the banks or financial institutions have to also calculate their risks. If any one were to default the payments and they tow back the vehicle, are there any demand for the vehicle when they auction it away. If not, then risk is high. In short, the 6th generation Toyota Hiace’s selling price and it’s value DOES NOT MATCH!

These are the reasons why we discourage majority of of customers to buy this vehicle. Well, unless they really want, we will not recommend it to any one at the moment. In case you wish to know the specifications of the van we are talking about, here you go:

WAIT! Before you go off, we want to clarify that we are not saying that this is lousy vehicle. Actually, the 6th generation Toyota Hiace is a very good van! However, it is just not so suitable for the Singapore markets. Otherwise, we will definitely recommend it and we believe it will sell like hot cakes!

Lastly, if you do not mind the above-mentioned points and still wants to get one, you are welcome to contact us and we can arrange something for you. But please do not say we did not warn you of the above reasons ya.

We hope this article helps some of you better understand the suitability of the new 6th generation Toyota Hiace in Singapore. Do feel free to search for and look around for other articles. See you on the other page! Cheers!

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Is your insurance due for renewal soon? Let us get insurance quotations from our network of insurance companies to find one that is of best value for you. Visit www.SGAutoConcierge.com/quote for competitive insurance renewal quotations.

P.S. Even if your insurance is not due soon, you are welcome to key in your particulars and we will follow up with you with the quotations automatically when your insurance renewal in due soon.

The post 6 Reasons Why You SHOULD NOT Buy The Latest New Toyota Hiace – Singapore Market appeared first on SGAutoConcierge.

There are many elderly who have no children and are living alone now. Many of them are lonely, frail and are in need of people to talk to, look out for and take care of them.

Volunteering is definitely better than a donation. But it is understandable that many younger people are fighting for their career now or have their own elderly at home to take care of. Therefore, most younger people are unable to pull out a lot of time to volunteer and spend time with these people.

So how can you help? 

If we do not have the time to do volunteer work, the least we can help and contribute to improving the lives of the lonely elderly is by making a small donation to support TOUCH who has the people and resources to organize activities, look out and take care of them.

Donate here: https://bit.ly/2xEPWHF

Never look down on your donation amount. It plays a BIG part no matter what amount you donate.

Last but not least, if you have an elderly at home, do spend more time with them and give them more patience. Trust me as I am speaking from my own experience. You will miss them when the time comes.

Corporate Social Responsibility

As part of our corporate social responsibility, we have also launched a campaign to support this cause. SGAutoConcierge will contribute $50 from our pockets for every motor insurance renewal with us in the name of the client’s name so that the client can enjoy 250% tax deductions.

The valid promotion period is extended to 30th June 2020.

To receive multiple quotations from different insurance companies, please feel free to contact us through our “Contact” page or click here.

The post Let’s Not Forget Them appeared first on SGAutoConcierge.