Home Delivery

This week we had an appointment to get the car serviced and the experience highlighted a part of Singaporean life I appreciate.

I got an email last week from the car rental company requesting a service appointment for the Toyota Picnic. I had no idea what the service intervals were for the car but now I know that it's about every 10,000 kilometers. We booked the appointment for Wednesday.

Around 10am that morning, while I was at gym class with Emily, the man from the rental agency arrived in our carpark. Delia gave him the key for the Picnic, tossed one of the car seats in the loaner car and that was it. Emily and I cruised around town in a Honda Odyssey that day, which is nothing like the Odyssey in the States. I prefer the rather conservative interior of the Picnic to the crazy stainless steel with neon blue display on the dash of the Odyssey. It felt like I was driving a small spaceship.

Anyway, around 4pm, the nice man showed up with our car, swapped the car seat back, asked me to sign the paperwork and took off. I was thrilled they had washed the Picnic and vacuumed the interior because it really needed the cleaning.

What was there not to love about this arrangement? They brought me a loaner car with no questions asked. They took my car away without my needing to do anything. I didn't even have to remember to call them! Now, granted, it costs S$2,000 each month for the car, but I don't pay that. I just get to enjoy great service.

Many businesses make "house calls" this way in Singapore. The swim teacher comes to us every week and teaches in our pool. The grocery store offers same-day delivery if you spend at least $150, which is certainly not hard to do here. All the plant stores at the flower market deliver and James (aka the Chicken Man) will deliver to me if I spend at least $20. Even McDonald's delivers here. We tried it out for the girls one night and we were impressed with how quickly our order arrived via motorcycle.

It seems that most businesses I deal with are more than happy to come to me and that's tough to beat. I suppose it's the result of living in a place where the government makes owning a car so expensive that the general population relies on public transit instead. After all, it would be challenging to buy groceries for a family and cart it home by bus or taxi all the time. We're lucky to have a car and also occasionally enjoy the perks of home delivery.