Cost Comparison: Owning A Car Vs Taking Grab/TADA/Ryde or GetGo

Ride hailing, car sharing or owning a car – which is the more economical option for the average Singaporean commuter? 

Ponder me this: Is it cheaper to get my own car, join a car sharing service, or continue using my favourite ride-hailing app? While common sense tells us that ride-hailing and car sharing is likely cheaper, it is not that simple. 

Owning a car is a fixed cost, but ride-hailing costs go up with every trip you book. Which means that if you’re a heavy user, you may cross a tipping point where owning your own car actually becomes cheaper for you.

Is this the case for most average Singaporeans? Let’s find out.

Table of contents

• Setting the stage
  • How much does driving your car cost per trip?
• Cost comparison: owning a car vs Grab, TADA, Ryde and GetGo
• Which ride-hailing platform was the winner?
• How about GetGo?
  • PROMO: Enjoy S$16 off on your first GetGo booking
• Conclusion

Firstly, let’s set things up

One of the most important sets of data we need would concern the cost of owning, maintaining and driving a car in Singapore. Luckily, we’ve attempted a deep dive on this exact topic earlier this year, and will be borrowing some numbers from the article to help us out today. 

One of the main numbers we need is the distance of a typical trip, as ride-hailing services charge by distance. 

From our reference article, we derive the following: 

• Average annual distance driven per car: 17,500 km
• Average distance per trip: 23.97km (assuming two trips per day)

Thereafter, we can plot a trip with a similar distance into the respective apps - Grab, TADA and Ryde - in order to find out how much each platform would charge for the trip. For GetGo, we derived the estimated cost from the calculator in its website. 

Also, we are testing this using a weekday trip during the evening peak period, to make allowance for surge pricing.  

How much does driving your car cost per trip?

To start, let’s work out how much it would cost to drive your car on a per-trip basis.

Once more, drawing from our reference article:

• Average annual cost of car ownership: $17,499.20* 
• Assuming 2 trips a day, 22 days a month: 44 trips per month
• Average cost per trip: S$33.14

*Note: (First year cost/10years) + (Annual average cost)

Cost comparison: owning a car vs Grab, TADA, Ryde and GetGo

Costs updated 18 Oct 2024

The results are in and - to nobody’s surprise - owning a car is more expensive than using Grab, Ryde or TADA. This also means it’s especially important to a car loan with the best interest rates.

Depending on which service you use, you could save between S$2.64 and S$5.64 per trip if you use Grab, TADA or Ryde for ride-hailing. 

Now you'd have noticed that GetGo offers significantly higher savings of S$19.28 per trip. That's accurate when comparing based on the distance driven of 24km, but there are some caveats to go over, which we will discuss later. 

Which ride-hailing platform was the winner?

Setting aside GetGo for now, when comparing Grab, TADA and Ryde for ride-hailing, our numbers show that TADA emerged the winner, providing the highest savings of S$5.24 for the trip plotted. 

Meanwhile, Ryde took second place with S$2.78 savings, with Grab following closely behind with S$2.64 savings.   

This is, of course, a theoretical example based on figures plotted on a random day. Over the longer term, your individual mileage will vary, so to speak, so you should always run your own numbers before making a decision.   

Ok but how about GetGo?

 At just S$13.85 for the trip, GetGo is clearly the most economical option in our little experiment.

But it operates a little differently. The other two modes of self-driving and ride hailing assume that the 24km trip is end-to-end -- i.e., your pick-up point and drop-point are not the same.

But because GetGo requires you to pick up and return your vehicle at the same parking spot, this means that the 24km driven must be taken as a round-trip. This may or may not suit your needs, depending on where you're trying to go.

Hence, while we've included GetGo for comparison, do be aware of this limitation. But fret not, as GetGo's handy online calculator makes it easy for you to estimate the cost of your trip, so you can quickly compare your options. 

PROMO: Enjoy S$16 off on your first GetGo booking

If you're thinking of giving GetGo a try, here's a special deal for you.

• Get S$16 off your first GetGo drive (new customers only)
• Use code MONEYHEROGG16 to enjoy this deal  
• Applicable for bookings scheduled and completed by 30 June 2025

Do the numbers tell the whole story? 

Given how exorbitant car prices are in Singapore, common sense tells us that ride-hailing and car sharing are more economical options. And indeed, our casual experiment seems to bear this out. 

However, if you currently own a car, you may feel differently. Indeed, for most drivers, the day-to-day costs of driving comes in the form of parking fees, ERP charges and - once every few days - petrol. You likely do not feel you are paying very much more driving your car than if you were to hail a ride instead. 

But don’t forget that you also have a monthly car loan to pay, on top of other periodic costs like maintenance and car insurance. Also, you have already paid 30% of the cost of your car as a downpayment upfront.

These periodic and one-time costs tend to fade into the background of our awareness, such that we don’t really feel the pinch when we’re behind the wheel.

The intangible value of owning a car 

A large part of the value of owning a car actually stems from intangibles, such as convenience, prestige and sense of ownership. 

Even then, cars can take out a substantial amount of money from your stash, which is where a car loan will come in handy.

The biggest advantage of owning your car is convenience - you can use it as much as you like, whenever you like (provided you have money to pay for petrol, at least.) 

Arguably, ride-hailing services can also provide a matching level of convenience, being available 24/7. But you might face some difficulties during peak periods such as festive seasons. Also, there are restrictions on pets, durians, and number and type of passengers. 

Meanwhile, car sharing like GetGo offers more flexibility in that you can book a car for as long as you want, and only pay for what you use. 

In closing, would it surprise you that buying a new car is the “single worst financial decision” you can make (according to a self-made millionaire, no less), given the alarming depreciation rate? 

Yet, as leading car-makers will tell you, the decision to buy a car is an emotional one, and not a rational one. Recall your favourite car commercial - chances are you remember how it made you feel, more than the actual specifications or features of the car. 

This translates to car ownership being not just about function, but also very much about prestige, and owning something that is an extension of you. 

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