The True Cost of Owning a Car in Singapore (Beyond the COE)

Singapore is famously one of the most expensive places in the world to own a car, and the COE gets most of the attention. But the COE is only one part of the total. Here’s the bigger picture.

Upfront Costs

These are the costs you pay to get the car on the road:

Cost	What it is
OMV	The car’s landed value — see our OMV guide
ARF	Additional Registration Fee, a tiered percentage of OMV
Excise duty & GST	Levied at import
COE	The licence to use the car for 10 years
Registration fee	A flat administrative fee
Dealer margin	The dealer’s profit and overheads

The COE portion is the most volatile — it’s set by auction and can swing by tens of thousands of dollars between exercises. You can follow it in the latest results.

Recurring Costs

Owning the car year to year adds:

• Road tax — based on engine capacity (or power for EVs); cars older than 10 years pay an annual surcharge
• Insurance — varies with the car, driver, and claims history
• Fuel or charging — depends on usage and efficiency
• Maintenance & servicing — rises as the car ages
• Parking & ERP — season parking and road usage charges

The Hidden One: Depreciation

For most owners, depreciation is the single largest cost. A big chunk of it is the COE itself, which steadily loses value over its 10-year life. When you deregister before 10 years, a PARF rebate and any unused COE value come back to you — which is why the timing of buying and selling matters.

Putting It Together

A rough way to think about annual cost: (total upfront cost − expected rebates/resale) ÷ years owned + recurring costs. The COE’s level when you buy heavily influences that first term — which is why tracking it pays off.

The free COE Price Tracker app helps with the most movable piece: it shows live COE prices, trends, and alerts so you can time the COE-dependent part of your purchase.

This article is for general information only and is not financial advice. For official fees and road tax figures, refer to the LTA.

Related reading: What Is OMV? · COE Renewal vs Scrapping