Owning a Car in SG (4): 3 Options Before Your COE Expires
The time has come for me to say goodbye to the machine that has been faithfully transporting me around for the past few years. That’s right, my COE is expiring soon and I’ve got to sell my car. Hopefully, it’ll go to the next owner who will see it to the end of its COE life.
But it’s never that easy. Before your COE expires, you’ve got to consider all the different options. Should I scrap now or later? Or do I get more money back if I sell it before time is up? Here’s a handy overview of what you can do:
1. Scrapping My Car After 10 Years
Seems a waste to scrap something which has lovingly served you for years, but getting some money back is always a good thing.
First, you’ve got to know your ARF and PARF. Your Additional Registration Fee (ARF) is something you pay when you first register your car. Check with LTA how much the ARF for your car is worth.
The Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) is a mouthful, but good to know because it’s basically the money you’ll get back if you scrap your car. Now, PARF depends on when exactly you scrap that lump of metal. If you keep your car all the way to the end, you’ll get back 50% of your ARF.
Using me as an example, I get 50% of my ARF ($23,775) back, which gives me a handy sum of $11,887.50. Neat!
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2. Scrapping My Car Earlier
Of course, if you scrap your car earlier, you get more of that ARF back. Here’s a handy table:
|
When You Deregister |
PARF Rebate |
|
9-10th year |
50% |
|
8-9th year |
55% |
|
7-8th year |
60% |
|
6-7th year |
65% |
|
5-6th year |
70% |
|
<5 years |
75% |
But that’s not all: you’ve got to add in your COE rebate. Who knew they’d give you money back for your so-called “unused” months of COE? It’s a formula on how many months you’ve got left on your COE and the initial COE premium you paid. Mine was $5,028 – crazy how things change, huh?
Let’s do some math for my car. I’ve got two years left on my COE, which gives me (60% x ARF =) $14,265 AND a COE rebate of (31 months x COE / 120 months =) $1,298. Add that up and scrapping my car earlier will score me a total of $15,563.
To summarise: the earlier you scrap, the more cash you’ll get back... but you’ll have to say goodbye to your car earlier!
3. Selling My Car
So far we’ve talked about scrapping, but there’s yet another way. Selling your car depends on three main things: condition, popularity and rarity. Your old car will fetch a higher price if it’s in tip-top condition, a popular model or a rare and dare I say, vintage, piece.
Practically speaking though, compare your car against those already on the used car market. You can estimate the price your car will fetch by checking out cars similar to yours.
Personally, I’m selling my car at $16,000. That’s very similar to the deregistration price we calculated above, but I’m too nostalgic about the years we’ve spent together to send my car to the scrapyard.
Start the countdown early.
Whichever way you choose, your car isn’t getting any younger. Sadly, we’ve all got to say goodbye some day!
Our advice is to do your sums and do some research. If your car has a high PARF and COE rebate, deregistration is the way to go. If not, you’ve always got the option of selling your car. And if you can’t bear parting with your beloved car, you can always give your car ten years more by renewing your car COE.
