Still Time for a Car Before CNY?
Those who want new wheels for the Lunar holidays have to move fast and can’t be choosy
By Justin Lee
BOOK A CAR now, and the chances are very slim that it can be delivered before Chinese New Year in the second week of February. Even if the dealer tries his best to do so.
“The showroom crowd has been quite good in the last few weeks, and we’re doing our best to process the cars as quickly as possible”, a Mitsubishi spokesman for Cycle & Carriage told CarBuyer.
It’s a similar story at the Mazda, Toyota and Honda importers. All of them are hesitant to promise that their cars can be delivered before February, especially for popular models such as the Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla Altis and Honda Civic.
In fact, Mazda claims that for the 3, February delivery is impossible, and cited March as the earliest delivery date.
Nevertheless, the spokesman added that colour choice makes a difference. While stocks of the less popular blue, gold and silver cars are more likely to be available for March delivery, the wait could be even longer for popular colours such as black and red.
Even outside the festive season, a Honda spokesman told CarBuyer that it takes between a month and six weeks from the time a Honda is booked before it can be delivered.
He says this is not because of a shortage of stock, but rather because one has to wait up to two weeks for the next round of COE bidding to take place. Only after attaining a COE will the dealer proceed to prepare a car for delivery, which takes another two weeks to process.
One option that some car dealers suggest for a quick delivery is to pay extra for a transferable Open Category COE (Cat E).
There are potential drawbacks, though. This COE is often used in place of a Category B COE for registering cars with engines larger than 1.6 litres.
But because there was a steep $4,706 drop in Cat B COEs in the last round of bidding, the difference between a Cat B and Cat E COE was $5,293, a large difference for buyers to swallow.
In comparison, the difference between Cat B and Cat E COEs in second December COE bidding was just $346.
However, the thing to watch out for when going for immediate registration is that the rebate value of the Cat E COE is pegged to whatever category it is used in place of, whichever is lower.
This means that you might pay extra for a Cat E COE to register a Cat B car, only to claim back a smaller rebate based on the lower value of your Cat B certificate when your car is later deregistered.
According to a spokesman from a German car importer, even if one is willing to pay the premium for a Cat E COE, it still takes about 10 days for a car to be prepared for delivery. And that’s if the car is already in stock - that is, it’s in the colour and trim and you want.
Nonetheless, even given this 10-day processing time, there is still time to get new set of wheels before the Lunar New Year. All you need is to find a dealer with a Cat E COE in hand, and make sure you’re not too particular about what model you want, or what colour it comes in.
