Expats are less likely than ever before to be given a company car with their job, according to our third annual Motoring Guide survey. According to our findings, the percentage of expats in Malaysia using company cars has dropped. In 2005, it was 35 percent. This matches anecdotal evidence that many companies are cutting costs by no longer providing company cars.

Our latest survey was carried out to determine the current status of car ownership. It also included questions on the readers’ plans to purchase vehicles in the near future. The Expat Group’s ability to carry out reliable surveys among the expat community is due to having maintained a database of many thousands of expats’ names and addresses.

Once again, most expats said they owned their cars, with 86 percent of those asked saying that they’d bought a car. However, the number has declined from previous years with 92 percent recorded in 2006. The reasons were because they felt that cars were quite expensive to purcahse and tax was too high. Of those having a company car, one third chose the cars themselves while others stated the cars were chosen by the company. Of those who had a company car, 73 percent said they also owned personal car.

Indeed, of the 73 percent, 16 percent said they owned two cars. Of this figure, 83 percent chose to buy new cars while 16 percent bought pre-owned vehicles. A total of 26 percent of expats said they also planned to purchase a new car in the next year.

The survey also showed that the expats owned a diverse range of cars. Hyundai topped the list, followed by Toyota, Honda and lower-priced local cars.

The survey also asked expats about how safe they felt about driving in Malaysia. 32 percent said driving here was ‘safe’ while 7 percent said it was ‘very safe’. 32 percent of the expats said the roads were unsafe because of fast, reckless and inconsiderate drivers.

Have your say in our Expat Go Malaysia driving poll.