Every driver now should know what COE stands for - Certificate of Entitlement, and yes as its named, its an entitlement to own a car here. But do you know how the COE bidding system works? Let's go a simple guide which does not takes much of your brain juices.
Certificate of Entitlement (COE)
To register any vehicle in Singapore, you'll have to get a COE, which prices of COEs are driven by supply and demand. Meaning if there's a high demand for vehicles, COEs will cost much more and vice versa! One COEs entitles you to drive the vehicle on the roads for a period of 10 years. At the end of the 10 years or before that, you can choose to renew your COE for another five or 10 years by paying the Prevailing Quota Premium(PQP), or you can choose to get rid of it too. PQP is a figure derived using the moving average of the COE in the last three months. COEs which have been renewed for a period of five years are not eligible for another renewal and will have to be de-registered after they expire. Otherwise, there is no limit to the number of times for renewal should you opt 10 years renewal everytime.
How do you obtain one?
To obtain a COE, you'll have to bid for it like antique sales auctions. Bidding exercises happens every twice a month through LTA's bidding system or through the bank COE bidding system.
Things to ensure before you try bidding for it
1. A security deposit of $10,000 is mandatory for every one coe bidding, so should your bid be successful, the deduction of $10,000 will be siphoned off immediately and you have 6 months to pay the rest upon registration of the car. However, if your bid is eventually unsuccessful, it'll be credited back into your account
2. Prepare beforehand and set a reasonable reserve price (the maximum amount you're willing to pay for your COE). If the then COE price exceeds your reserve price, you must alter your reserve price or else you're out
3. Every time you revise or alter your reserve price, there are administrative charges to be accounted for (ranges from $2 to $10)
4. The bidding period lasts for three days and generally the figure doesn't move beyond a dollar until the last 2 hour of the bidding day and normally the last 15mins which is 3.45pm onwards, would be the aggressive players bid. So this should be the crutial time to be looking into if you're bidding one.
Leave the bidding to the dealers
You could also save the hassle and let the dealer do all the work for you since now all car prices are advertised with COE's bidded through the dealer. It saves you all the trouble and also yet leaving the figures to the professional would be a better idea.
