Car COE Renewals in Q1 Highest for Same Quarter Since 2020

Uncertain economic outlook prompting owners to put off buying new vehicles

- Lee Nian Tjoe

Some 2,834 cars had their certificates of entitlement (COEs) renewed in the first three months of 2025, more than double the number for the same period in 2024.

The figure is also the highest for the quarter since 2020, when there were 5,558 renewals.

Since then, first-quarter COE renewals had decreased—from 2,730 units in 2021 to 1,825 in 2022 and 1,129 in 2023. The figure climbed to 1,378 in 2024.

Experts attribute the higher renewals to the uncertain economic outlook, which prompted owners to hold off new car purchases.

Others are biding their time for electric vehicle (EV) technology to mature before they switch from their existing cars that run on petrol.

This comes at a time when there is a larger population of cars reaching the end of their COE lifespan in 2025 than in the past few years.

A COE is a requirement for a car to be used on the road. It has an initial lifespan of 10 years, and can be renewed by five or 10 years.

Data published by the Land Transport Authority on May 13 showed that in the first quarter of 2025, five-year renewals accounted for 67 per cent of the 1,204 renewals in Category A, which is for smaller or less powerful cars.

In contrast, 74.4 per cent of the 1,630 renewals in Category B—which is for larger, more powerful cars—were for 10 years.

Dr Zafar Momin, an automotive industry consultant and adjunct professor at NUS Business School, said the recent renewals may have been driven by risk-averse owners who are concerned about the economic uncertainty and want to avoid shelling out for a new car, which will be costlier than renewing the COE of their existing cars.