Anyone watching the bidding results on the afternoon of 9 September 2026 had the same reaction. Category A, the bracket that covers ordinary family saloons, closed at $133,009, a fresh all-time high and a jump of $4,009 on the previous record set on 8 July 2026.
If your Certificate of Entitlement (COE) runs out in the next few months, that headline is less interesting than the question sitting behind it. Keep the car, hand it back, or start again with something new. Running the figures through a COE renewal loan calculator before you decide will tell you more than any market commentary, so let us walk through what each path actually costs.
What the September 2026 result actually said
At the first bidding exercise of September 2026, which closed on 9 September, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) recorded Category A at $133,009, Category B at $135,001, Category C for goods vehicles and buses at $93,101, and the Open Category at $137,890. Every category rose on the exercise that closed on 19 August 2026, when Category A stood at $128,501.
The number that governs renewal is a different one. The Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP) is a moving average of the quota premiums in the last three months with bidding exercises, published monthly by LTA, and for September 2026 it sat at $126,208 for Category A and $128,697 for Category B.
Because the PQP trails the market, a run of record results feeds into it with a lag. An owner renewing in a rising market pays an average of recent months, and the figure moves again with each new exercise, so the quote you get in October will not be the quote you saw in September.
Renewing keeps the car, at a price
A ten-year renewal costs the full PQP, and a five-year renewal costs half of it, rounded up, under the rules set out on LTA’s COE renewal page. Cars renewed for five years cannot be renewed again and must be deregistered at the end of that term, while a ten-year renewal can be repeated. Renewal also forfeits the Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) rebate permanently, and road tax climbs by 10% once a car passes ten years, rising in steps to 50% past fourteen.
Scrapping hands you a rebate you cannot get later
Deregistering a car before its tenth birthday releases the PARF rebate, calculated as a percentage of the Additional Registration Fee (ARF) originally paid. Between the ninth and tenth year that is half the ARF for cars registered before February 2026, which on a typical Category A saloon can run well into five figures.
Miss the window and the rebate is nil. That single deadline is why the renew-versus-scrap conversation tends to arrive in a rush, and why owners who start thinking about it six months out generally end up with better options than owners who start six weeks out.
Buying new means paying today’s premium
Replacing the car resets the clock, and it does so at whatever the market charges on the day. At the 9 September 2026 level, the COE component alone was $133,009 before the Open Market Value (OMV), the ARF, and Goods and Services Tax (GST) were added on top.
Financing rules apply here in a way they do not to a renewal. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) caps a motor vehicle loan at 70% of the purchase price where the OMV is $20,000 or below and 60% where it is above, with a maximum tenure of seven years, as set out in MAS’s explainer on motor vehicle loans.
A pre-owned replacement sidesteps some of that premium, though it brings its own pricing. Used car loan interest rates are quoted on a different basis again, and an older vehicle carries a shorter runway before its own COE question arrives.
Putting the options side by side
The table below uses the September 2026 figures published by LTA for a Category A car. Treat it as an illustration of the shape of the decision, not as a quote, since your own ARF, mileage, and condition all move the answer.
| Option | Upfront cost | What you give up |
|---|---|---|
| Renew for 5 years | $63,104, half the September 2026 Category A PQP of $126,208 | The PARF rebate, permanently; the car must be deregistered after five years |
| Renew for 10 years | $126,208, the September 2026 Category A PQP | The PARF rebate, permanently; road tax rising by 10% to 50% as the car ages |
| Deregister and scrap | Nothing upfront | The car itself; you collect the PARF rebate plus any unused COE rebate |
| Buy a new Category A car | COE of $133,009 at the 9 September 2026 exercise, plus OMV, ARF, and GST | Your existing car; a fresh ten-year clock begins |
Where the financing sits in all this
Once you have picked a direction, the money side is straightforward enough. At Accord Motor Enterprise we arrange COE renewal loans, refinancing, used car financing, and new car financing. We prepare and submit the LTA paperwork so you never queue for it, and the financing company assesses and approves the application. We do not decide the outcome, and we will not pretend otherwise.
On pricing, the agreement you sign states a contractual rate of 2.78% p.a., and the 2.45% p.a. promotional figure advertised on our site is what you pay after a rebate we fund separately ourselves.
Talk it through before the deadline does it for you
Records make for good headlines and poor deadlines. Come and see us, bring your vehicle registration details, and we will lay the options out with your own figures attached. Whichever way you go, you will have seen the sums before you commit to anything.
