SINGAPORE — Before the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) bidding exercise was suspended in April 2020 due to the circuit breaker imposed back then, prices for some of the categories were at levels that would not be seen again since.
In March that year, COE premiums for small cars , or fully electric cars with output of up to 110kW, were at S$31,210, while premiums for large cars , or fully electric cars with output over 110kW, cost S$30,012.COE bidding result on April 19 this year, where premiums for small cars, or Category A, shot up for the first time past the S$100,000 mark to S$103,721. COE prices for large cars under Category B also rose to S$120,889.
So, he made the fateful decision to extend the car’s COE by five years, instead of 10, and paid only about S$16,000 for it.“I was thinking that we might hit another bottom again. I was looking at the five and 10-year cycles of lows and highs, and by right, this year was supposed to be a low year,” the interior designer said.As he believes that COE prices are unlikely to fall anytime soon, Mr Tan is in two minds about buying a new car, as it would cost over three times the value of a COE in 2018.
Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan, who sits on the Government Parliamentary Committee for transport, said that ultimately, aspiring car owners need to recognise that it is difficult to allow everyone to own a car in Singapore.
There is “no particular reason” why consumers should behave this way, “especially since the average duration a vehicle is kept for will change over time, due to technology or engineering”, said the associate professor from the Singapore University of Social Sciences. Mr Eddie Loo, managing director of CarTimes Automobile, noted that due to the current low supply, the limited quota of cars are going mostly to those who have the money to buy them, rather than those who need the vehicles the most, such as Mr Tan and his young family.
“Singaporeans have a very emotional attachment to cars, not just as a form of transport, but as a status symbol,” said the 31-year-old.While the COE system is intended mainly to control the car population rather than to make cars affordable, some young Singaporeans feel that the system should also not work against those who need cars the most.
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