AOCM - A friendly and resourceful automotive club for Toyota Avanza owners

Before I made the booking and then purchased my Toyota Avanza 1.5G last year, I did quite a lot of researches about the goods and bads of the car. It is this Avanza Owners' Club Malaysia or AOCM which helped me made up my mind for the final decision.

For the price of around RM70k, which is close to RM10k cheaper than Toyota Vios 1.5 and Honda City 1.5, this car has a lot of impressive features. So far the Toyota Avanza assembled in Perodua's plant is still the cheapest 7-seater MPV in Malaysia. Its seating position gives a good clearance view of the road. It has versatile seat configuration. It's 3SZ-VE DOHC VVT-i engine performs well when carrying 7 adults with luggages. Its 3rd row seat can really sit in 2 adults or 3 children pretty comfortably. It has dedicated air-cond blowers for 2nd and 3rd row seats. During my time of purchase, it come with a free Sony 32" LCD TV or free Aerokit too. In short, it is valued for money.

However, we all aware that this car has some shortcomings too. People find it bouncy, noise insulation is poor, etc. For all those shortcomings, AOCM always has good workaround solution.

If you plan to buy an Avanza, or you are already Avanza owner, and you are not AOCM member yet, do pay a visit to http://www.avanzamalaysia.com/. You can join in free of charge. We have regular technical talks (TT) meetup session every month. This club is really resourceful with knowledgeable sifu, and the members are always ready to help up each other.

I'll tell you what I have learned from the sifu in AOCM and the practical improvements made to my Avanza in the upcoming posts.

SITI outsourced its ICT services for multi-billion ringgit

Shell IT International Sdn Bhd (SITI), the global ICT service delivery hub of the famous petrochemical conglomerates, is one of the pioneer tenant in Cyberjaya and provides thousands of job position for the ICT personnels around the area.

Last week, they announced a multi-billion ringgit outsourcing plan for the provision of its IT infrastructure and telecommunications services in 3 service bundles, starting July 1, 2008, to the 3 global IT and telecommunications suppliers namely AT&T, EDS and T-Systems. EDS has entered Cyberjaya with their own building for quite some times, while the other 2 are expected to enter into Cyberjaya in the near future following this deal with SITI.

AT&T will be taking care of SITI's network and telecommunications functions, while EDS handling their end user computing services including desktop, back-up and disaster recovery, and T-Systems looking after their hosting and storage.

My friends working in SITI informed that both their permanent and contractual staff have seen to be transferred to the outsourced company, and still working normally in their usual workplace. This is a very good arrangement as their job is not affected so much. Probably they have better career path too, as there will be opportunity to serve other global customers of their new employer.

All in all, this move is seen to be beneficial and is a win-win to everyone. In long run, following the presence of AT&T and T-Systems in Cyberjaya, there will be more ICT job opportunities in this MSC region. It was heard that EDS will expand their workforce in Cyberjaya after this deal too.

Is the car loan interest of 3% cheaper than house loan interest of 5%?

Many people are not aware that the interest calculation for car loan and house loan is different, so they cannot be compared directly figure by figure. If we compare the figure directly, is the car loan interest of 3% cheaper than house loan interest of 5%? You'll say 3% is definitely lower than 5%, right? However, the fact might be the other way round. 3% could be higher than 5%.

Let's do some calculation:

The total interest payable for a car loan of RM100k with interest 5% over a period of 9 years will be RM45,000. The monthly installment is RM1,342.60.

The total interest payable for a house loan of RM100k with interest 5% daily compounded over a period of 9 years will be RM24,439.20. The monthly installment is RM1,152.21.

The difference between the 2 calculations above is significant. Why? This is because car loan is calculated based on simple interest formula, and house loan is calculated based on amortized compound interest formula.

The formula for simple interest is straightforward, which is:

Interest = Principal x Rate x Years

What would be the car loan interest equilvalent to a house loan interest rate of 5%?

24,439.20 = 100,000 x Rate x 9
Rate = 2.72%

As a result, the above house loan interest rate of 5% is equilvalent to a car loan interest rate of 2.72%.

Is the car loan interest of 3% cheaper than house loan interest of 5% for the scenario above? The answer is obviously NO! However, there could be situation of the anwer to be yes too, especially when comparing a house loan of 30 years with a car loan of 9 years.

Here are some simple references for you:

For a 5 years 100k loan (the period where most people will take for car loan):
House loan interest of 4% = car loan interest of 2.10%
House loan interest of 5% = car loan interest of 2.65%
House loan interest of 6% = car loan interest of 3.21%
House loan interest of 7% = car loan interest of 3.77%
House loan interest of 8% = car loan interest of 4.35%
House loan interest of 9% = car loan interest of 4.93%


For a 9 years 100k loan (the maximum period for car loan):
House loan interest of 4% = car loan interest of 2.14%
House loan interest of 5% = car loan interest of 2.72%
House loan interest of 6% = car loan interest of 3.30%
House loan interest of 7% = car loan interest of 3.91%
House loan interest of 8% = car loan interest of 4.53%
House loan interest of 9% = car loan interest of 5.16%


For a 30 years 100k loan (the period where most people will take for house loan):
House loan interest of 4% = car loan interest of 2.40%
House loan interest of 5% = car loan interest of 3.12%
House loan interest of 6% = car loan interest of 3.87%
House loan interest of 7% = car loan interest of 4.67%
House loan interest of 8% = car loan interest of 5.49%
House loan interest of 9% = car loan interest of 6.35%