Singaporeans need to shell out a record US$77k for a license just to be allowed to register, own and use a car

The Certificate of Entitlement (COE) is the quota licence for owning a vehicle in the city-state of Singapore. The licence is obtained from a successful winning bid in an open bid uniform price auction which grants the legal right of the holder to register, own and use a vehicle in Singapore for a period of 10 years. When demand is high, the cost of a COE can exceed the value of the car itself.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_Entitlement

COE premiums for cars continue to break records, with Category A prices topping S$100,000

SINGAPORE: Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums closed mostly higher in the latest bidding exercise on Wednesday (Apr 19), with prices for cars in Category A and B breaking records for the third consecutive tender.

Premiums for Category A, which is for smaller cars, closed at S$103,721 (US$77,693), up by S$7,220 from the previous high of S$96,501 on Apr 5. This is a 7.5 per cent jump - the largest increase among the categories on Wednesday.

Premiums for larger and more powerful cars in Category B rose to S$120,889 from S$118,501 - a 2 per cent increase.

Open category COEs, which can be used for any vehicle type but end up being used mainly for large cars, rose to S$124,501, exceeding its previous all-time high of S$118,990 by about 4.6 per cent.

COEs for commercial vehicles, which include goods vehicles and buses, fell to S$75,334 from S$76,801 in the previous bidding exercise.

Motorcycle premiums closed at S$12,179, up from S$12,001 in the last exercise.

A total of 2,181 bids were received, with a quota of 1,590 COEs available.

SHOW MORE