When your car approaches its tenth year, you have three options: renew the COE and keep driving, deregister and claim your rebates, or sell the car before the deadline. Each closes off the others, and one of them — renewal — permanently forfeits a rebate that can run into tens of thousands of dollars.

This guide explains what the PARF rebate actually is, how much you’re likely to get, how COE renewal is priced, and the trade-off most owners only discover after they’ve already committed. Budget 2026 changed the PARF schedule significantly, so we’ve also set out which rules apply to which cars — because three different schedules are now running in parallel.

Quick Navigation

• What Is the PARF Rebate?
• How Much PARF Rebate Will You Get?
• What Is the COE Rebate, and How Is It Different?
• How Does COE Renewal Work? PQP Explained
• The Trade-Off Most Owners Miss
• Renew, Deregister, or Sell? A Decision Framework
• What Budget 2026 Means for Your Next Car
• Frequently Asked Questions

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What Is the PARF Rebate?

The Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) rebate is a partial refund of the Additional Registration Fee (ARF) you paid when your car was first registered. LTA pays it back when you deregister the car — but only under specific conditions.

Three conditions govern it:

• The car must be deregistered before it turns ten. Past the ten-year mark, PARF is gone entirely. There is no partial or late entitlement.
• The COE must never have been renewed. Renewing extinguishes PARF eligibility permanently — more on this below.
• The vehicle must be PARF-eligible. Goods-cum-Passenger Vehicles (GPVs), classic and vintage cars, and vehicles that have been laid up do not qualify.

LTA’s stated rationale is that PARF encourages timely renewal of the vehicle population, keeping it safer and less pollutive. That rationale is also why the scheme was scaled back in Budget 2026: as EVs become more commonplace and the fleet gets cleaner, the case for paying owners to deregister early weakens.

One point worth fixing early, because it causes a lot of confusion: PARF and the COE rebate are two separate refunds. Many owners receive both, some receive only one. We’ll cover the COE rebate separately below.

How Much PARF Rebate Will You Get?

Your rebate is a percentage of the net ARF you paid, and the percentage steps down each year your car ages. Which schedule applies depends entirely on when your car was registered — and as of 2026, three schedules are running in parallel.

Three PARF schedules, side by side

Which column applies to you? The revised schedule and $30,000 cap apply to cars registered with COEs obtained from the second COE bidding exercise of February 2026 onwards. For vehicles that don’t require a COE to register — taxis and COE-exempt cars — the cut-off is registration on or after 13 February 2026.

If your car is approaching its first COE expiry now, it was registered around 2016. That places you firmly in the first column: 75% down to 50%, with no cap at all. The Budget 2026 changes do not affect your entitlement. This is worth stating plainly, because coverage of the cut has left some owners assuming their rebate has shrunk. It hasn’t.

How to find your ARF

Your rebate is calculated on the net ARF paid at registration, not on what the car is worth today. You can find the ARF on your vehicle log card, available through LTA OneMotoring with your Singpass. ARF is itself a tiered percentage of the car’s Open Market Value (OMV), which is why two cars of the same age can have very different rebates.

A worked example: a car with $40,000 ARF, deregistered in its ninth year under the pre-2023 schedule, returns 55% — $22,000. The same car under the new schedule would return 10%, or $4,000.

What Is the COE Rebate, and How Is It Different?

The COE rebate is a pro-rated refund of the unused portion of your COE. If you deregister with eighteen months left on a ten-year certificate, you get back roughly eighteen months’ worth of what you paid for it.

The differences that matter:

• PARF refunds part of your ARF. Available only if you deregister before ten years and have never renewed.
• COE rebate refunds unused COE time. Available whenever you deregister early — including after a renewal.

Together they’re often called your car’s “paper value”. For an owner deregistering just before the ten-year mark, the COE rebate is usually small (little time remains) while PARF is the substantial component. That asymmetry is exactly why the renewal decision carries the weight it does.

How Does COE Renewal Work? PQP Explained

Renewing means paying the Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP) for your vehicle’s category.

How PQP is calculated. It’s the moving average of Quota Premiums from the last three months in which bidding exercises were conducted. Months without bidding are excluded. LTA publishes the rate at the start of each month, and it holds for that whole month — which means PQP lags the market rather than leading it. If premiums have been climbing, PQP catches up a month or two later.

PQP rates — September 2026

PQP changes every month. The figures above are for September 2026 and will be different next month. Always confirm the current rate on LTA OneMotoring before making any decision or signing anything.

Five years or ten?

Ten-year renewal costs 100% of PQP. For cars, there’s no statutory lifespan, so you can keep renewing for ten-year terms indefinitely.

Five-year renewal costs 50% of PQP, rounded up to the nearest dollar. But it comes with a hard condition: for cars, a five-year renewal is final. When those five years end, the vehicle must be deregistered. You cannot renew again. Renewal terms differ by vehicle category, so if yours isn’t a standard private car, confirm the rule for your specific category with LTA before committing

Five years or ten?

Ten-year renewal costs 100% of PQP. For cars, there’s no statutory lifespan, so you can keep renewing for ten-year terms indefinitely.

Five-year renewal costs 50% of PQP, rounded up to the nearest dollar — and for a private car, it is final. LTA states plainly that a five-year renewal can be done only once: when those five years end, the vehicle must be deregistered, with no option to renew again. In practice that caps the car’s life at fifteen years from first registration.

This rule is not universal across vehicle types. Some categories — notably Category C goods vehicles and buses — can continue renewing in successive five-year blocks, though only up to their statutory lifespan, after which deregistration is compulsory regardless of how much COE validity remains. If your vehicle isn’t a standard private car, check the rule for your specific category on LTA OneMotoring before committing.

The practical read: five years suits owners who already know their exit date — a car being kept until a child finishes school, or until a planned relocation. Ten years suits anyone who wants the option to keep going, or who may want to deregister partway through and recover a COE rebate on the unused balance.

Timing your renewal

• Renew before expiry. Most owners renew within the final month, because renewing earlier forfeits whatever is left on the current COE.
• There’s a one-month window after expiry, but it carries a late renewal fee. Published late fees are tiered by engine capacity, commonly cited as $50 for cars up to 1,000cc rising to $250 for cars above 3,000cc.
  • Renew before expiry. Most owners renew within the final month, because renewing earlier forfeits whatever is left on the current COE.
  • There’s a one-month grace window after expiry — but the vehicle is automatically deregistered the moment the COE lapses, so it cannot legally be driven until you’ve renewed. You’ll pay the PQP for the month your COE expired (not the month you renew), plus a late renewal fee. That fee is a one-off charge tiered by engine capacity, commonly cited in the range of $50 to $250, with larger engines at the upper end. LTA does not publish the full schedule on its website — it appears on the renewal form itself — so confirm your exact figure with LTA before assuming a number.
  • Miss that window entirely and the vehicle must be deregistered and disposed of immediately, with no appeal. Driving a car with an expired COE is an offence.
• Miss that window entirely and the vehicle must be deregistered and disposed of. Driving a car with an expired COE is an offence.
• Road tax surcharges apply once a car passes ten years, increasing annually.
  

  Road tax after ten years

  Renewing keeps the car on the road, but it doesn’t reset the clock. Road tax surcharges are calculated from the date of first registration, not from the renewal — so a renewed car carries an escalating surcharge for the whole of its next term.

  Vehicle age	Surcharge on base road tax
  Up to 10 years	None
  More than 10 years	+10%
  More than 11 years	+20%
  More than 12 years	+30%
  More than 13 years	+40%
  More than 14 years	+50% (maximum)

  The surcharge applies to your base road tax, which is set by engine capacity for petrol and diesel cars, or by maximum motor power for EVs. On a 1,600cc car paying roughly $950 a year, the surcharge adds about $95 in year eleven, rising to roughly $475 a year once the car passes fourteen. On a larger-engined car, or an EV with a high power rating, the same percentages translate into considerably more.

  It’s a modest line item next to the PQP, but it belongs in the ten-year sum — and it’s one of the few costs on the renewal path that is certain to rise every year.

The Trade-Off Most Owners Miss

Renewing your COE forfeits your PARF rebate permanently.

This is the single most consequential fact on this page, and it’s the one owners most often discover too late. Once you renew, PARF is gone for good. If you deregister the car five or ten years later, you’ll receive only the pro-rated COE rebate — never the PARF portion.

So the real comparison isn’t “renewal cost versus a new car”. It’s:

Renewal cost + the PARF rebate you’re giving up versus what a replacement actually costs you after rebates and trade-in

For an owner with, say, $25,000 of PARF entitlement, renewing a Cat A COE at September 2026 rates means committing roughly $126,000 and walking away from $25,000 — an effective cost of around $151,000 for another ten years in a car that’s already a decade old.

That maths sometimes still favours renewal, particularly for owners who drive very little or own a car they’re genuinely attached to. But it should be a decision made with both numbers visible, not just the PQP.

Renew, Deregister, or Sell? A Decision Framework

There’s no universal answer here. What follows is how the decision typically resolves for different situations.

Renewal often makes sense when…

Your car is in genuinely good mechanical condition with a clean service history; you drive relatively little, so depreciation on a new car would be poor value; your PARF entitlement is modest because the original ARF was low; and you’re content to keep this specific car for another five to ten years. Owners of well-maintained, low-ARF cars who have no particular desire to change often come out ahead renewing.

Deregistering and replacing often makes sense when…

Your PARF rebate is substantial — a high-ARF car in its ninth year on the pre-2023 schedule can return a significant sum; your car has started needing meaningful repairs; you drive enough that fuel and maintenance savings from a newer car are material; or you want current safety and driver-assistance technology. The rebate lands as a cash offset against your next car, which changes the monthly figure more than most people expect.

Selling before the deadline often makes sense when…

Your car is a model that holds strong resale value, and the market will pay more than the deregistration rebates would return. Worth comparing both routes — exporting can also pay better than scrapping for cars desirable in overseas markets. Get a trade-in or resale valuation alongside your rebate estimate before assuming deregistration is the best exit.

If your car has already passed ten years

PARF is no longer in play — that decision has effectively been made. Your choice narrows to renewing again, or deregistering for the COE rebate and any scrap or export value. Without PARF in the equation, the maths is considerably simpler.

The three questions that usually settle it

1. What is your actual PARF entitlement? Check your ARF on your log card and apply the right schedule. Estimate nothing.
2. What will this car cost you over the next five years? Ask your workshop. That figure belongs in the comparison, and it’s often the one that decides it.
3. What’s the monthly difference? Financing a PQP renewal versus financing a replacement with your rebate and trade-in applied. Sometimes the gap is far smaller than owners assume.

We’ll run both scenarios for you with real numbers — your rebate estimate, your trade-in valuation, and the monthly instalment on either path. It takes about twenty minutes and costs nothing.

What Budget 2026 Means for Your Next Car

We should be straightforward about something, because it cuts against the obvious sales pitch.

If you’re deciding now, your own PARF is almost certainly on the old schedule and still worth real money. But the new car you buy today sits on the revised schedule — 30% stepping down to 5%, capped at $30,000. In its ninth year, that car will return 5% of ARF, not 50%. The residual-value cushion that Singaporean buyers have quietly relied on for two decades is substantially thinner going forward.

That reality doesn’t make buying a bad decision. But it does change how you should evaluate one:

• Paper value matters less; total cost of ownership matters more. Fuel or electricity, servicing, insurance, financing rate and warranty coverage now carry proportionally more weight in the ten-year sum than the end-of-life rebate does.
• Long warranty and servicing coverage is worth more than it used to be. If the rebate at year nine is thin, protection against costs in years three through nine becomes correspondingly more valuable.
• Running-cost differences compound. Over ten years, the gap between an efficient car and a thirsty one can exceed the entire revised PARF cap.
• High-ARF cars are hit hardest. The $30,000 cap bites most on expensive vehicles, which previously could recover close to $60,000. If you’re considering a higher-end car, model your ten-year cost without assuming a generous rebate at the end.

In short: the question has shifted from “what will this car give me back?” to “what will this car cost me to run?” That’s a more honest basis for a decision anyway.

If you’re replacing your car

Our current offers include overtrade up to $8,000 above your car’s valuation, rates from 0.98%, a free first instalment and a free first year of insurance, plus 10 years unlimited mileage warranty and servicing.

Given the revised PARF schedule, that long warranty and servicing coverage is worth paying attention to — it protects the years where costs used to be offset by a healthier rebate. See our current promotions for full details. T&Cs apply.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the PARF rebate calculated?

It’s a percentage of the net ARF you paid at registration, based on your car’s age when you deregister. For cars registered before February 2026, the rate runs from 75% at up to five years down to 50% in the ninth to tenth year. For cars registered from the second February 2026 bidding exercise onwards, it runs from 30% down to 5%, capped at $30,000. You’ll find your ARF on your vehicle log card via LTA OneMotoring.

How much PARF rebate will I get?

Multiply your net ARF by the percentage for your car’s age under the schedule that applies to your registration date — see the comparison table above. Cars registered before 15 February 2023 have no rebate cap; those registered between then and 12 February 2026 are capped at $60,000; those from February 2026 onwards are capped at $30,000.

What is PQP in Singapore?

The Prevailing Quota Premium is what you pay to renew a COE. It’s the moving average of Quota Premiums from the last three months in which bidding was conducted, published monthly by LTA. As at September 2026 it stands at $126,208 for Cat A and $128,697 for Cat B, but it changes every month.

Does renewing my COE forfeit the PARF rebate?

Yes, permanently. Once a COE has been renewed, the car is no longer PARF-eligible. If you deregister it later you’ll receive only a pro-rated COE rebate. This is the single most important factor in the renewal decision, and it can’t be reversed.

Should I renew my COE for 5 years or 10 years?

A ten-year renewal costs the full PQP and can be repeated indefinitely for cars. A five-year renewal costs half the PQP but is final — the car must be deregistered when it ends. Five years suits owners with a definite exit date in mind; ten years suits those who want to keep the option open.

What happens if I don’t renew my COE?

Your car must be deregistered and disposed of. There’s a one-month window after expiry to renew with a late fee, but beyond that the vehicle must go. Driving a car with an expired COE is an offence.

Is the PARF rebate the same as the COE rebate?

No — they’re two separate refunds. PARF returns part of the ARF you paid and requires deregistration before ten years with no prior COE renewal. The COE rebate returns the unused portion of your COE and is available whenever you deregister early, including after a renewal.

Can I still get PARF if my car is over 10 years old?

No. PARF eligibility ends at the ten-year mark with no exceptions or partial entitlement. If your car has passed ten years, only the COE rebate and any scrap or export value remain.

How did Budget 2026 change the PARF rebate?

LTA confirmed on 12 February 2026 that the schedule was reduced by 45 percentage points across the board — from 75%–50% down to 30%–5% — and the cap halved from $60,000 to $30,000. This applies to cars registered with COEs from the second February 2026 bidding exercise onwards, and to COE-exempt vehicles and taxis registered from 13 February 2026. Cars already on the road are unaffected.

Can I finance a COE renewal?

Yes. COE renewal can be financed rather than paid as a lump sum, with the PQP spread across monthly instalments. We can work out that figure alongside the monthly cost of a replacement car so you can compare both directly.

Get Your Actual Numbers

Everything above is general information, and the right answer depends on figures specific to your car — your ARF, your car’s condition, your mileage, and what it’s worth today.

Bring your car and your log card to Royal Motor Grandeur at 61 Ubi Avenue 2, Automobile Megamart #01-21, Singapore 408898. We’ll estimate your PARF rebate, value your car for trade-in, and put the renewal cost and replacement cost side by side. No obligation either way — plenty of owners leave having decided renewal is the better option, and that’s a fine outcome.

WhatsApp: Chat with us · Phone: 65 6741 4911 · Estimate your financing · Browse pre-owned cars

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Last updated: September 2026 · PQP figures as at September 2026.

Disclaimer: This guide is general information, not financial advice. PARF and COE rebate amounts are determined by LTA at the point of deregistration based on your vehicle’s actual ARF, age and eligibility. PQP rates change monthly. Always verify current figures and your specific entitlement directly with LTA OneMotoring before making a decision.

Sources

• LTA — Revision of Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) Rebate Schedule and Cap, 12 February 2026: lta.gov.sg
• LTA OneMotoring — Certificate of Entitlement (COE) Renewal: onemotoring.lta.gov.sg
• LTA OneMotoring — Enquire PQP Rates to Renew COE: onemotoring.lta.gov.sg
• LTA OneMotoring — COE Open Bidding: onemotoring.lta.gov.sg