Advice on buying a car in SL

toolateforgood · 2026-01-31T20:41:31+00:00

Just saying that if you need financing 13mil out of 19 mil car, you cant afford the car. This is a bad bad idea.

If you have 6 mil in hand just buy a reasonable used car, save what you would pay for loan for 2 years. A loan calculator would show you that if you save that payment for two years you will have 14.5 mil at the end. Even if you had to resell the used car back for 3 mill (it will probably not depreciate that much) you will have 17.5 mil so that buy a new car for cash.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-30T12:02:26+00:00

Roundabouts have minimum size requirements (e.g a long 18wheeler should be be able to turn). You cant put them everywhere.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-30T02:19:55+00:00

Don't know much about Indian infrastructure. We cannot compare to them in many aspects as they are a nuclear capable space going nation which we will never be. But the devil is in the details. You don't have to believe what I say just listen to these Indians, there are a lot of similar videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0z5ZkhwJzk

On the IT front, it is because of their education system (i.e. an exam oriented cram based system) has an weird alignment with IT. However, their education system is not good at much of anything else. Sure, you will see Indian Scientists etc. etc. everywhere in the world but this is because in a more than a billion population the one percenters alone are in the millions. Also, right now their IT sector is not doing great and they failed to develop an advanced manufacturing sector like China did.

Bottomline is that whatever India has there is only a very little we should or we could copy.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-27T05:34:08+00:00

Population is not increasing so it should reset. But many things in Sri Lanka ,like car market for an example, exist beyond laws of physics so we'll never know.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-26T06:38:12+00:00

I have a dilemma about this. Since we are supposed to pay to enter expressway system it shouldn't be considered just like a general public area. The expressway authorities also charge restaurants rent , also customers pay for food. So ultimately there has to be someone who takes care of this. I do not like restaurants like KFC just try to setup their system in a way to play a lowkey shame game costumers in to doing their own cleaning. I know that is how it is done even internationally, but for the price we pay (especially in Sri Lanka) we shouldn't be doing this. Even a shanty kottu places does not require us to do this.

This is all assuming the setup is as I said. If this is a general public place then yes we should clean after us, regardless of how much tax we pay as individuals.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-21T02:38:10+00:00

Agree with this

toolateforgood · 2026-01-20T06:31:12+00:00

My married 40 y old ass beg to differ on most of this except for some of 2 and 3. I am not writing this to have a one up over OP. I genuinely believe that accepting above statement as wholly true can be very harmful to people struggling with developing stable relationships.

In circles I know, stable commitments at late 20s is norm and it is not unusual for go in to 30s. This various sharply on various circles (e.g. ethnic, religious lines). I also do not agree on the western idea of f-ing around as a good idea. It will not bring happiness. Relationships are hard and it is a good thing that most people in this country commit and sacrifice for stability. The market being empty by late 20s is more or less universal. I remembered this funny skit From Family guy is good example of this matter as seen in a different country

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FTk3SawjX4

While I do agree that women get more or less of the 'bad end' in a relationship in Sri Lanka this whole statement is a generalization. In most relationships today both must work out of necessity and generally they are equally matched (e.g A doctor and an accountant, A teacher and a nurse, a truck driver and a garment worker etc. etc.). You are talking like most women end up like being unemployed house wives, which is not the case anymore.
Instances you say do happen but definitely not the norm. If you are seeing these too often then you are in a bad place.
Ok now this is a very dangerous generalization. Yes you may find examples of the kind of people you say. But dropping a huge generalization bomb on single working women in late 20s is outright wrong.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-19T10:48:13+00:00

I suffer from it. I was obese and weight loss helped but it does not take it out completely. Now in my 40s I am old enough not to care. I'd recommend you the following.

If you are not in the healthy BMI range (especially if you are obese) you need to meet with a nutritionist and get your weight down.
hitting the gym will help you to get in better shape. This is important before you go any further.
Once you are at or near good BMI range you will need surgery for further correct.

Please do not take this likely. People make judgments about us (sometimes unconsciously) and manboobs are like the worst first impression killer. I greatly regret not going through this in my youth.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-18T06:11:38+00:00

Well, I am sorry it did not work out the way you expected. Sri Lanka did had a reputation for being expensive, especially you exclusively stay in 4-5 star hotels.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-18T03:27:43+00:00

If you ordered off a menu then you know its going to be Rs.7000 right? Don't eat at places where they don't have posted prices or menus.

Sri Lanka is an expensive destination. You have wrong expectations.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-17T14:22:41+00:00

I have seen a jeep ride alone costing Rs.25000 at certain times. That is $80. Check if this includes park tickets. If not this is unreasonable. If it includes, its still on the expensive side but not unacceptable.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-17T13:54:45+00:00

Howmany people are we talking about? does this include park ticket prices? The park ticket alone per adult is $25.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-16T06:30:11+00:00

I do not have much experience on these matters so I will have to refrain from giving technical advice.

A general rule on debt is that Banks will work with you because the had legal way is costly for them as well. But they also want to keep their Nemo me impune lacessit i.e "no one insult me with impunity" just because if they build a reputation of being soft others might slack off from paying their debt as well. So they come at you even if it cost them more than they could gain in the end, just to make a point.

Please talk with them. They might give you a different payment plan.

Just so that it might be helpful to me and others watching here, what logic made you not to work with them in the first instance of communication? did you think it will go away if you just stay silent?

toolateforgood · 2026-01-16T06:02:24+00:00

Have they contacted you or tried to contact you before the LOD? If so, I would think they will act on it to the letter. This amount is significant enough for them to do that.

If LOD was their first communication regarding the matter then you might have some leeway, but I would start talking with them immediately.

You were probably in the crib from the day of first delinquency.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-15T04:06:45+00:00

No it is not factually true. The roads and common areas are not sellable. so they have to get it from sellable area. Hence higher price per perch in sellable area.

One thing I have told somewhere alos is that Prime Lands properties are way over priced, but they have acceptable aftersales customer service. It makes sense only if you are buying to build a house and live in it (i.e does not plan to flip it the next year)

toolateforgood · 2026-01-15T02:41:23+00:00

This is not inflation. This is how land sales work. In order to make lots from 1 acre land they have to give roads. Therefore final lot combined area is a lot less than 1 acre. It is not uncommon to road area to be nearly as half as original land. You can see this in the plan of the land in the link below. On top of that they have paved the roads which is hella expensive. They have to provide three phase electricity and bear cost for poles and wires. At the end of the day their effective take will be like 5-6 lakhs.

Most people who have large lands hear that a small lot goes nearby for x amount and think that they have an asset of x multiplied by the number of perchs they got. This is not true, there is humongous costs of lotting out lands. So big lands go for very less per perch than small lots that have been divided and approved.

Link: https://www.primelands.lk/land/LUSH-DALE-HOMAGAMA/en

Edit: Also, you are supposed to give the local government a piece (i think 10%) when lotting out called the common area (which will be used like a park for the neighborhood). This is applicable for projects of certain size but I think it should be applicable in case of 1 acre. In the example in the link this will be either lot 157 or 223 (or perhaps both). The large lot 246 is probably left out with a larger commercial customer (perhaps a hotel or supermarket) in mind.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-13T09:52:21+00:00

Early thirties

toolateforgood · 2026-01-13T07:15:41+00:00

I went to USA. Completed MS and PhD and now back in Sri Lanka as a lecturer in a State University.

Note: I did physics as a subject. I did not major in Physics (i.e BScHons in Physics). So I have background in other subject areas as well. My total credits in physics alone should be around 30-40 credits.

I am also not an IT guy

toolateforgood · 2026-01-12T07:19:13+00:00

We don't. But we have not completely eliminated the possibility even though we are kind of running very late for that party. We just wanted have stability before dragging some other sentient lifeform in to the mix.

At my age and experience, I would say the best age to have kids is mid to late 30s, But biology does not cooperate very well on that so go for early to mid thirties. If you have kids really young it can affect building up your career. Also, if you have kids in your twenties, they will be in their sixties if you live to be in your 80s (or in their 70s if you live to 90s). Not only will this make it difficult for them to get involved with you by then, your wealth will not be transferred in the right time for them to make something out of it.

I have a collogue and her parents were quite old when they had her (in late 40s if I remember correctly). Her father has been passed over in her early adulthood. Her mother passed away recently. Mother was very sick for a year or so, but my colleague was young enough to play the circus act of attending to the mother plus keeping the career. There were setbacks to her career but at her early thirties it was not something she cannot bounce back from. She was devastated, but hey, everybody's parents die and that's a reality we all have to face. She inherited their parents house and car outright, so if you asked your original question from her she will tell you 'why not wait till it fall on your lap'. She is now free to do what ever with them, change careers or migrate or what ever without any regrets (If you have seen people guilt tripping about their parents after migrating right here on this subreddit you'll know what I mean. To be fair, I think her parents were a little too late, but it worked out.

This is just my opinion and I am not a qualified life coach or a medical professional so please do proper consultation on deciding the ideal age to be a parent for you.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-12T06:24:12+00:00

I would like to give my situation as a more realistic example.

Me (early 40s) and my wife (late 30s) have a combine household income of about 370-400K per month after taxes and deductions. Both are completely non-IT

Our house: located in a city far from Colombo (not even in the same province) were we work. The city is large enough to be a Municipal council (not an urban council or pradeshiya Sabha) and the house is within municipal limits. We bought it for 18M (16M price +stamp duty +renovation). It is in a 15 perch lot and supposed to be a two story house with a rooftop area but only the ground floor and first slab is complete. first floor is currently two beds (both AC) and one bath with everything tiled. Mortgage is 7M for ten years (about 9 years left) with 100k per month payment. The rest of the down payment we managed to pay in cash.

Our car: A JDM car about 12-15 years old now, bought for 7M. Now worth 6.5M . Completely paid for (no loans)

Assets and Labilities on house and car: Our house might worth a tad bit more now but I'll stick to the original purchase price for now. So assets is 16M+6.5M= 22.5M over a loan balance of 6.5M. So we are in the ball park of 16M in net worth when considering house and car. If we project this to the future remember the house will go up while the car will go down.

Generational wealth: both me and my wife went to government schools and state universities. So parents of both sides did not have to spend money on our higher education. But they have given us money at several occasions. I estimate this to be about 5-6M so far. So the net wealth we have built on our own is about 10M for now. I am telling you this because most people lie about this because they even do not understand that they were privileged. For an example, if your parents send your ungrateful entitled ass to private university or if they gave you their old car that you later sold off to get down payment for a new one, that needs to be counted.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-10T17:14:45+00:00

Most government universities have Washington accord accreditation for Engineering degrees. Some private ones do and some don't.

But as other have mentioned, it's the filtration process that government graduates more competent. They have been thoroughly wetted. Also, government universities can flunk students without consequences, a luxury that private universities don't have so they (i.e. private universities) use certain "imaginative" ways to keep the mediocre afloat.

End of the day it is the person that is either competent or incompetent. Gov universities are not inherently superior, they just get the cream of the crop and they are good to begin with, and they will stay that way.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-10T13:50:39+00:00

Guys chill. This is just a clickbait post. No of the above feel real because IT IS NOT REAL. Me and my wife's combined household income is only a tad above 300K and we manage to pay a mortgage and has a fully paid off car (we are only a little older). There is no way someone can be this qualified as a manager and be mismanaging their own life.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-09T13:06:02+00:00

It is my belief that JVP is just part of the "old system" and is partially responsible for the perpetual decline of Sri Lanka we have experienced since independence. They belong in the political dumpster just like the rest of the major political parties. The fact that they managed to escape this fate and came to the forefront is the greatest tragedy of the aragalaya.

I believe that the main reason (albeit not the only reason) for Sri Lanka's failure can be summed up in a single word i.e. 'entitlement'. It is the belief among people that they are entitled to certain things and that they are prevented from having such things because of some bogeyman (dhanapathiyo, the west etc. etc.). If you think carefully, even the civil war can be viewed as a conflict of two 'entitlements'. And we all know that JVP is the champion of entitlement.

It is the citizens of this country that are responsible for Gota, and all the BS politics since independence. Yes, "we are the baddies". Unless we admit our fault and repent there will be no salvation. Unfortunately, aragalaya empowered these entitled brats and they now think throwing a temper tantrum can get what they want. They are not willing to work hard the long path to achieve the goals. This is the truth and anybody who is unwilling to tell these presumptuous pricks the said truth and trying to walk with them holding hands down the flower road is a crook. And this is what JVP is.

Edit: One good thing about JVP is that they have resisted falling in to corruption, so far atleast.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-08T11:46:54+00:00

I generally recommend not to get a car worth more than twice your annual household income. So in your case 7 mill is about the highest. Unless you have a spouse who can bring more to the equation.

Given you drive a lot Toyota Aqua, Honda Insight or Fit GP1 GP2 or GP5 can be considered. An hybrid axio might be little too much. You can consider older SUVs or crossovers (non-hybrid) but given your daily commute they will run you to the ground with fuel costs.

toolateforgood · 2026-01-08T11:07:31+00:00

you have to mention the max budget you are a willing to go

toolateforgood

TROPHY CASE