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SINGAPORE — Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums rose to a new high in Category A as it closed at $119,003 following the tender exercise on Wednesday (17 September). Cat A – for cars up to 1,600cc and 130bhp, and electric vehicles up to 110kW – jumped 10.3 per cent from the $107,889 mark set in the last tender (3 September).
Premiums for Category B – for cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp, and electric vehicles above 110kW – closed at $136,890 which was an increase of 7.4 per cent from the last exercise.
The open category (Cat E) settled at $140,502, marking a 9.9 per cent increase from the $127,901 recorded previously.
Wednesday's tender was the first since the announcement that rebates for buying electric vehicles will be decreased from 2026.
Corinne Chua, managing director of Volvo Car Singapore, told Motorist, “I did expect Cat A to go up, considering there’s increased demand due to the announcements of the EEAI and VES changes, but I definitely didn’t expect Cat A to go up by so much.”
You can see the full set of COE prices below for 17 September:
COE Categories
17 Sept
3 Sept
A: Car ≤ 1600cc & 130bhp, or 110kW
$119,003
$107,889
B: Car > 1600cc & 130bhp, or 110kW
$136,890
$127,501
C: Commercial vehicles
$72,501
$71,556
D: Motorcycles
$9,209
$9,101
E: Open
$140,502
$127,901
The COE gives the owner the right to register and use a vehicle in Singapore for 10 years. It can be obtained through an online open auction conducted twice a month. Bidding exercises usually start at 12pm on the first and third Monday of the month, and last for three working days. Each bidding will end at 4pm on Wednesday, if there is no public holiday in between.
The vehicle quota in each category will be announced before the start of each bidding exercise.
After 10 years, when the COE expires, an owner can choose to de-register the vehicle or renew the COE.
Since 1 February 2023, the number of COEs available for bidding in the corresponding vehicle category in each quarter is the rolling average of the number of vehicles deregistered over the previous four quarters.
COE prices, of course, can drop – it is dependent on supply and demand.
Since 2017, the Ministry of Transport has been freezing vehicle population growth for all categories except Category C for goods vehicles and buses. The current rates will be maintained until 31 January 2028.
Singapore is one of the costliest places in the world to buy a car – in fact, in 2022, the Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2022, released by Swiss private bank Julius Baer, found Singapore cars were the most expensive globally.
