Costs of owning a car in HK

Posted by Frank_HK10 (30 days ago)

Can anybody give me an indication of the costs of owning a car in HK (with HK license). I see lots of cheaper cars for sale but where is the catch? Insurance, road tax?
Thanks.

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Posted by Craig Shergold (30 days ago)

You will pay through your Dutch nose for parking, tunnel fees etc.

Posted by cara (30 days ago)

parking is atrociously expensive, unless you are lucky and manage to find a gov't metred parking space. (ex. parking at the galleria at the peak: $40/hour. metred parking nearby: either $2/15 minutes or $2/30 minutes, i can't remember).

you would have to pay for parking where you live, plus where you work (if you plan on driving)... depending on locations, this could easily set you back $5000/month (total)

insurance totally depends on type of car, can't even guess-timate that without knowing the make & model.

licence depends on the size of the engine. under 1500cc's is the cheapest, 1500-3000cc's is about $6000/yr. over 3000cc's is about $9-10k/year.

petrol is running almost $14/l right now, has been as much as almost $18/l (i don't buy the premium).

Posted by axptguy38 (29 days ago)

"I see lots of cheaper cars for sale but where is the catch?"

There's not really a catch. Here is my take. Relative to, say, the US or a Western European country there aren't as many "cheap" cars. The people who would buy those take public transport instead. Among many locals, there is a culture of "once I'm wealthy enough to have a car, I'll get a new Mercedes or BMW". This leads to an abundance of high quality second hand cars. (The second hand convertible BMW 3-series is ubiquitous among South Side expats.) Furthermore, the fact that distances are short leads to very low average mileages (our 10 year old car had 50000km on the odometer). The climate is also benign with no slush, snow and salts leading to corrosion.

Road tax is a few thousand a year (depending on engine volume). Insurance is cheap (low yearly mileages). A few thousand year for a two liter 5-10 year old car.

All those things are great, but then you have to drive the car. Lots of traffic, expensive parking. Add the fact that you can do just fine without a car. Grocery stores have free same day delivery. Other shops delivery free. Public transport is stellar. Taxis are abundant and cheap.

Before you buy a car, figure out how much you need it (daily commute or not, etc). Where you live is very significant.

Posted by cd (28 days ago)

I don't hink parking is too bad, in fact it hasn't gone up in the 12 years I've been here, and often if you're shopping, going to the cinema etc you can get 2 hours free. We've never had to pay for parking where we live, although in 2 flats in was included in the rental price.
I would say running costs were around $5k a month, that includes insurance, tax, petrol etc.

Posted by Dive bum (28 days ago)

Our parking is 3,700 a month (ICBC Tower, Central) and tolls brings that up to 5K a month. Then there's the insurance, registration, depreciation. Relative fuel consumption probably has the least impact on ongoing running costs. So, buy the Prius if you like the design or want to feel virtuous - but it's not going to make much impact on overall monthly costs.

Posted by Craig Shergold (28 days ago)

Your car is going to have an impact on the already extremely bad air quality in HK.

Your car is going to have an impact on the already very bad traffic congestion in HK, especially HK island.

So what are you going to do as a responsible, caring citizen ?

Posted by axptguy38 (28 days ago)

A modern car will have a negligible impact on air quality. As a rule, modern cars pollute very little. Granted, every little bit counts, but if you're going to take vehicles off the road, those nasty old lorries and buses should go first.

Posted by cara (28 days ago)

not to mention you have no idea where this person is going to live or work. for me, no private car would be nearly impossible from where i live to where i work on a daily basis.